AK-74 be used by the majority of countries of the former Soviet Union. Additionally, licensed copies were produced in Bulgaria (AK-74, AKS-74 and AKS-74U), and the former East Germany (MPi-AK-74N, MPi-AKS-74N, MPi-AKS-74NK). Besides former Soviet republics and eastern European countries, Mongolia, North Korean Special Forces, and Vietnamese People's Naval infantry use AK-74s. The AK-74 was designed by А. D. Kryakushin's group under the design supervision of Mikhail Kalashnikov and is an adaptation of the 7.62×39mm AKM assault rifle and features several important design improvements. These improvements were primarily the result of converting the rifle to the intermediate-caliber high velocity 5.45×39mm cartridge.
AK-74 AK-100 series and RPK-74M than the earlier prototypes and the arms manufacturer Kalashnikov concern hopes they will replace these Russian service guns. In late 2016 it was reported the AK-12 production model was undergoing troop trials with the Russian Army, where it competes against the Degtyarov A-545 balanced action assault rifle in Ratnik program trials. The AK-12 completed its operational testing and passed military field tests in June 2017, paving the way to Russian Army adoption, potentially under the Ratnik program. Both AK-12 and AK-15 completed testing in December 2017. In January 2018 it was announced that the AK-12 and