Does anyone think the QBZ191 can become as ubiquitous as the Russian AK and American M4 one day?
In addition to the reason given above. There is also the fact that the AK became so ubiquitous as the Soviets gave away not just the rifles but the production capacity for a song. If you had so much as an inclination that you might be willing to tell the Western world to sit down and rotate the Soviets would show up and build an AK factory for you.
The Russians are major small arms exporters but with the unfortunate situation in Ukraine, they need every weapon and accompanying ammo they produce in house these days. Apparently Chinese arms exports to Africa have exceeded Russian product just this year. And the Americans just love to giving away their M4 rifles like candy during Halloween, everyone from the Israelis to Taiwan to the Taliban have gotten free M4s and 5.56 ammo for their birthdays.
The IDF gets military aide from the U.S.. that comes in many forms but often with the catch that the money has to be spent in the United States. Farther over the years the IDF has been transitioning away from M4 rifles and to increasingly their own design the X95.
Taiwan does get M4 but they also produce their own rifles of their own design. These resemble M4 but internally use a piston system.
The Taliban got rifles and weapons intended for the Afghan national army. That organization however fell apart as the national leadership of the country failed to act as leaders.
Maybe the Chinese can start with their neighbors, the North Koreans, maybe even the South Koreans, the Japanese, Mongols and ASEAN members? The Mideast, Venezuela (they use QBZ95s apparently) and Cuba maybe??
Thoughts?
The North Koreans adopted the 5.45x39mm Ak74 series and manufacture them for their own use. They don’t need Chinese small arms besides well they like to play with both the Russians and Chinese they don’t like to have reliance on either.
South Korea is NATO compliant and has been selling NATO spec weapons with its own industry base one that is gaining ground as an international exporter and supplier of NATO weapons.
The Japanese? Are you kidding? Again NATO compliant, US Ally they manufacture their own.
Mongolia. The country is too poor and money would be better spent on other modernizations.
ASEAN? Really ambitious considering many have rocky relations with China.
The Middle East. That’s a region not a country many have indigenous AK and small arms production or stockpiles of Soviet ammunition.
Venezuela Latin American is America’s back yard and getting arms shipments in is a tall order. Not impossible just difficult. As a result the Soviets didn’t make the AK as popular as they would have liked. Still in recent history the Russians built an AK103 factory in Venezuela.
Cuba… too poor to modernize. If they needed new rifles they would likely buy from Venezuela.
Overall the biggest problem with your logic is establishment of a new cartridge the AK series has a strong establishment in Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Europe but until recently almost a unicorn in the Americas. It has taken decades to establish a cartridge as universally recognized. Even today some NATO states still use 7.62x51mm or 7.62x39mm as their primary infantry cartridge.
The Russians never completely transitioned to 5.45x39mm and still issue 7.62x39mm. Pushing 5.8x42mm isn’t really viable especially as the cartridge doesn’t really offer a substantial difference in performance compared to the 5.56x45mm NATO. Offering QBZ191 as in 5.56 or 7.62x39mm might sweeten the pot but with the sheer volume of alternatives available including Chinese made AR and AK derived rifles? The head start of the Stoner rifle and Kalashnikov rifle doesn’t help either. These are proven designs with massive establishments of production and support systems internationally.
That’s something you are missing because Well you see the Colt or FN M4 you missed the Canadian C8 or the German HK416, the French Lebel VCD 15, the Swiss Sig M400, the Emerati Caracal Car 816, The Taiwanese T91, the Iranian Masaf 1, the Turkish MKE Mpt 55 the Israeli IWI ARAD and so many more. Even the Russians produce M4 clones the VEPR 15. You have one Chinese producer of the QBZ191 vs hundreds of AR15 clones built to military specifications the same for the AK.
