Group - Comparison of the AK-47 and M16

The two most common assault rifles in the world are the Colt AR-15 (designated the M16 by the United States military) and its variants, and the Avtomat Kalashnikova Model 1947 (AK-47). These two have been compared since the late 1960s as rival models, and so have spawned controversy and comparison. World War II combat experience indicated that in the future, the combatant with higher firepower and mobility would be in a better position to successfully attain his goals, which was a shift from the previous doctrine of static wars favoring the defender. Bolt-action rifles and revolvers became obsolete in the face of semi-automatic and fully automatic weapons, and machine guns became lighter and more mobile. In particular, the American M1 Garand semi-automatic rifle, the Russian SVT-40 self-loading rifle and the German Sturmgewehr 44 assault rifle would revolutionize future infantry weapon designs. Both the USA and the USSR realized the need to adapt their current weaponry to the newly adopted doctrines and tactics, and they took different approaches to the same problem, which resulted in the eventual adoption by both sides of the assault rifle concept. The AK-47 design work was completed shortly after World War II, as can be seen by the origin of its model number (47 representing the year it was first built) and was in service in the Soviet army from the early 1950s. The design was influenced by contemporary and previous weapons such as the FG 42, Sturmgewehr 44, and early Russian attempts to build a lighter, automatic rifle based on the Japanese 6.5 mm Arisaka round, such as the AVS-36 Simonov and early 1916 Avtomat by Fedorov. The AK-47 was adopted as the standard issue Red Army infantry weapon due to its firepower, ease of use, low production costs, and reliability, which fit the Soviet concept of operational art as well as being suited for the new mobile warfare doctrines. The AK-47 was widely supplied or sold to nations allied with the USSR and the blueprints were shared with several friendly nations (the People's Republic of China standing out among these).