German military rifles during the Cold War. Adopted and standardized in 1947, it was designed by Mikhail Kalashnikov and originally produced by Russian manufacturer Izhmash. Compared with most auto-loading rifles of World War II, the AK-47 is compact, of comparable range, moderate power, and capable of selective fire. It was one of the first true assault rifles and remains the most widely used, known as the "Best Automatic Assault Rifle". More AK-type rifles have been produced than of any other assault rifle type. East German AK copies served with the National People's Army throughout its existence. The MPi-K and MPi-KS were derived from
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,