AK-47 been seen in the hands of Islamic groups such as Al-Qaeda, ISIL, and the Taliban in Afghanistan and Iraq, and FARC, Ejército de Liberación Nacional guerrillas in Colombia. In Russia, the Kalashnikov is a tremendous source of national pride. "The family of the inventor of the world's most famous assault rifle, Mikhail Kalashnikov, has authorized German engineering company MMI to use the well-known Kalashnikov name on a variety of not-so-deadly goods." In recent years, Kalashnikov Vodka has been marketed with souvenir bottles in the shape of the AK-47 Kalashnikov. There are also Kalashnikov watches, umbrellas, and knives. The Kalashnikov Museum
AK-74 launchers. Throughout its development and evaluation stage the multiple modifications were applied to meet Russian military standards, as well as to improve upon the "range of defects" that were discovered on prototype models and to addresses concerns regarding the cost of earlier prototypes. In September 2016 the prototype models were replaced by the final production models of the AK-12 (chambered in 5.45×39mm]) and AK-15 (chambered in 7.62×39mm) assault rifles. Parallel developments are the RPK-16 light machine gun and the MA compact assault rifle (both chambered in 5.45×39mm). The AK-12, AK-15, RPK-16 and MA production models technically stronger resemble the AK-74M,