Another problem: the British camps have run out of Kalashnikovs for training the Armed Forces of Ukraine

Ukrainian recruits are urgently retrained for Israeli AK analogues

The British Armed Forces recruit training camps have run out of Kalashnikov assault rifles. They were replaced by Israeli Galilas, developed on the basis of the Soviet AK. According to military experts, this choice was not made out of a good life — the free Kalashnikovs in the warehouses of Eastern European countries have run out. They note that training on "Halils", even if structurally similar to Russian submachine guns, will become more expensive, and will also worsen the training of Ukrainian Armed Forces recruits.

"Galil" instead of "Kalashnikov"

For the first time, Ukrainian recruits armed with Israeli machine guns "Galil" (IWI Galil ACE) appeared in photographs in the British newspaper The Times at the end of May this year. The report "At a secret British base where Ukrainians are being prepared for the shock and bloody ordeal of war" described the training of Ukrainian soldiers as part of the Operation Interflex mission at one of the training grounds in East Anglia.

Photo: TASS/AP/Alastair Grant

Image source: iz.ru

The material was illustrated with photographs of Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers who practiced movement on the battlefield in small groups, evacuation of the wounded and other tactical actions in conditions close to combat, with Israeli Galil submachine guns.

The training takes place using additional "body kits" for the machines. The photos show that the Galil comes complete with laser systems for training battles with blank firing (the so—called military laser tag) - it is necessary to simulate combat conditions as plausibly as possible.

At the same time, a message about the training of the Ukrainian contingent in the UK as part of the Operation Interflex mission was published on one of the social networks on the page of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. It was lavishly illustrated with photographs of Ukrainian recruits who were armed with Galil assault rifles.

Photo: Telegram

Image Source: iz.ru

The fact of changing weapons in the training centers was also noticed by the authors of the famous British military blog The Army's bench.

"A lot of new photos have appeared indicating that the UK has purchased IWI Galil ACE rifles to help train Ukrainian troops," the British wrote.

The timing of the appearance of Galil among instructors and soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine participating in Interflex is unknown, the blog also noted.

Until May of this year, if you look at photos on social networks, you could see various versions of Kalashnikovs made in Eastern Europe during the training of the soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Bulgarian-made AK Arsenal, Yugoslavian Zastava M70, Kalashnikov MPi KMS—72s (this is a folding version, an analogue of AKMS), which were produced in the GDR, were noticed.

Scarce vending machines

There is nothing surprising in the fact that different versions of Kalashnikovs were used for training. For the Ukrainian Armed Forces, this is still the main machine gun, and it is highly likely that they will be given to Ukrainian soldiers when they return home after training in the UK.

Photo: Telegram

Image source: iz.ru

The replacement of training Kalashnikovs with Galil does not come from a good life, says Colonel Valery Yuryev, chairman of the Union of Russian Paratroopers.

"A soldier must learn to fight with the small arms that he will use in battle," the expert explained. — Soldiers on training grounds should get used to weapons, acquire skills in their use. Kalashnikov, and not only in my opinion, is the best machine gun in the world. It is simple and reliable. For these reasons, he is good at both fighting and studying.

The switch to other assault rifles says one thing — "they don't have the opportunity to buy high-quality Kalashnikovs for training," Valery Yuryev is sure.

The UK will bear additional costs for the training of soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said Dmitry Kornev, editor of the MilitaryRussia website.

"For us, this development can be called favorable — the price of training soldiers for the Armed Forces of Ukraine is growing," the expert noted.

There is a shortage of AK in the European market now and it is not accidental, military expert Alexei Leonkov told Izvestia.

"About two years ago, Saudi Arabia bought Kalashnikov assault rifles for almost $1 billion for the so—called Syrian opposition, which has now seized power in the country," Leonkov said. — There were large purchases in Eastern Europe — free Kalashnikovs were readily sold. As a result, they seriously thinned the arsenals of European countries that have or were armed with this machine. Of course, there are still Kalashnikovs in the warehouses of individual NATO countries, but they will not be given away — this is the basis of small arms of their armies, they need automatic weapons themselves.

Mass purchases of such weapons in Africa or other countries are problematic, Alexey Leonkov noted. Vending machines are also given numbers at factories that allow them to identify their origin. The leakage of such information can lead to undesirable diplomatic consequences. Most African countries have close contacts in the field of military-technical cooperation with Russia and are unlikely to sell automatic weapons, knowing that such a deal could worsen relations between our countries, the expert concluded.

Replacement Attempt

For these reasons, experts say, they are trying to make the Israeli Galil a replacement for our machine gun.

The British from Agmoigeg's bench pointed out that the Galil ACE has a number of common design features with AK-type submachine guns and has similar operating instructions.

Photo: Telegram

Image source: iz.ru

In their opinion, the Galil was chosen by Great Britain for the training of Ukrainian soldiers "because of some commonality of its characteristics with AK, accessibility and the possibility of installing an adapter for idle fire."

Indeed, the Israeli automatic retains the scheme of the Soviet AKM. Among the mass-produced assault rifles for various Kalashnikov cartridges, it is characterized by a relatively low cost with high reliability and large barrels.

In addition, the Galileo uses 5.56 NATO cartridges to simulate live fire. Unlike the Russian ones, the British have enough of these munitions — additional purchases will not be required.

It is also important that Galil is mass-produced. The media has repeatedly reported that the next impetus for the mass production of these weapons was the shortage of Kalashnikov assault rifles in the US civilian market as a result of sanctions and rising prices for them.

In the military market, the majority of Galila users are military formations from Latin America and Africa. The main volume of production has also been in South America for a long time. Galil is mass-produced in Colombia. For the numerous mercenaries from this country fighting on the side of Ukraine, these weapons are well known. If, as the Kalashnikovs wear out, Galil submachine guns continue to be sent to the front, the mercenaries will be able to use them without additional training.

But the transition of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to Israeli small arms, which could justify the use of Israeli rifle systems in training recruits, is unlikely to take place. In Ukraine, the Fort-227 and Fort-228 assault rifles, based on Galil, were produced in small batches. Prior to their release, they were seen in service with the National Guard of Ukraine — and then in small numbers.

But now their release has most likely been discontinued — there are no mentions in the media about the release of new assault rifles, and previously released copies have stopped appearing even in photos on social networks, although Ukrainian soldiers like to show off with weapons in their hands.

The Czech assault rifle CZ Bren2 is gradually becoming the new standard weapon of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. She is increasingly seen among the trophies and in photos of Ukrainian servicemen on the Internet. The CZ Bren2 has a completely different ergonomics, typical for assault rifles made on an AR platform.

Police "Fort"

Amid a shortage of Kalashnikovs, Ukraine began arming its army with cheap but unsuitable small arms. Izvestia wrote that the Ukrainian Armed Forces had adopted the new Fort-230 submachine gun.

Photo: Youtube.com/Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine

Image source: iz.ru

The nine-millimeter Fort-230 was put into mass production in 2025. It was originally developed for the police. Externally, it almost completely copies MP7 from Germany. But, unlike the German PDW—class army weapons (personal self-defense weapons for military personnel who do not engage in a shooting battle with the enemy, such as driver mechanics, pilots, etc.), uses a low-power 9*19 pistol cartridge and a free-bolt circuit. Because of this, the Ukrainian weapon is almost twice as heavy and massive as its German prototype.

Dmitry Astrakhan

Bogdan Stepovoy