The EMER K-1, sometimes known as the EMER K1 or EMERK-1, was a prototype

bullpup A bullpup firearm is one with its firing grip located in front of the Chamber (firearms), breech of the weapon, instead of behind it. This creates a weapon with a shorter overall length for a given barrel length, and one that is often lighter, ...

assault rifle made in

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

by the Electrical Mechanical and Engineering Corps (EMEC).

Reverse engineered Reverse engineering (also known as backwards engineering or back engineering) is a process or method through which one attempts to understand through deductive reasoning how a previously made device, process, system, or piece of software accompli ...

in 1995 from the Chinese

QBZ-97 The Type 95 automatic rifle () or QBZ-95 is a bullpup assault rifle designed and manufactured by Norinco, and issued since 1995 as the service rifle for the People's Liberation Army, People's Armed Police and various paramilitary law enforcement ...

assault rifle, the EMER K-1 was prone to stoppage.

History

The EMER K-1's development started after Ng Chung-Keung, a subsidiary of Chinese defense contractor

Norinco China North Industries Group Corporation Limited, doing business internationally as Norinco Group (North Industries Corporation), and known within China as China Ordnance Industries Group Corporation Limited (), is a Chinese state-owned defense ...

, exported a batch of

assault rifles to Myanmar. Norinco decided not to export any more QBZ-97s due to arms sanctions placed on the country. Myanmar, in response, refused to return them and subsequently were used as the basis for reverse engineering studies. It was designed by EMEC engineers in 1995 with a batch of 15-16 firearms made for testing and evaluation. Some EMER-K1s were issued to elite Myanmar troops on guard duty at the

Yadana gas field The Yadana gas field is an offshore gas field in the Andaman Sea. It is located about offshore to the nearest landfall in Myanmar.Yadana means "treasure" in Burmese. The gas field is an important source of revenue for the Myanmar Army. Gas fro ...

, according to

Yangon Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...

-based diplomats in 1998. The EMER-K1 was not adopted by the

Tatmadaw Tatmadaw (, , ) is the official name of the armed forces of Myanmar (formerly Burma). It is administered by the Ministry of Defence and composed of the Myanmar Army, the Myanmar Navy and the Myanmar Air Force. Auxiliary services include th ...

due to various problems on reliability and multiple incidents of stoppages and gun jams. The QBZ-97 was reexamined in order to reverse engineer it once again. This time, the decision was made to use the QBZ-97 as the basis for the MA-1 MK III assault rifle family.

Design

Reports suggested that the development of the EMER-K1 was made possible due to technical assistance from

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

, in violation of

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

arms sanctions. This was also made possible due to machinery allegedly supplied by Singapore. Construction of the EMER-K1s were done via stamping with all-metal bodies. The design was based on other assault rifles like the SAR21, SA80, M16,

IMI Tavor The IWI Tavor TAR-21 is an Israeli bullpup assault rifle chambered in 5.56×45mm NATO caliber with a selective fire system, selecting between semi-automatic mode and full automatic fire mode. The Tavor is designed and produced by Israel Weap ...

and the

Steyr AUG The Steyr AUG () is an Austrian bullpup assault rifle chambered for the 5.56×45mm NATO intermediate cartridge, designed in the 1960s by Steyr-Daimler-Puch, and now manufactured by Steyr Arms GmbH & Co KG. It was adopted by the Austrian Arm ...

. The EMER-K1's

flash hider A flash suppressor, also known as a flash guard, flash eliminator, flash hider, or flash cone, is a muzzle device attached to the muzzle of a rifle that reduces its visible signature while firing by cooling or dispersing the burning gases that ...

, carry handle, magazine housing, bayonet stud, sling swivels and flip aperture sights are based on the

M16 The M16 rifle (officially designated Rifle, Caliber 5.56 mm, M16) is a family of military rifles adapted from the ArmaLite AR-15 rifle for the United States military. The original M16 rifle was a 5.56×45mm automatic rifle with a 20-roun ...

series. The pistol grip, trigger, trigger guard, stock and vent holes are based on the

SA80 The SA80 (Small Arms for the 1980s) is a British family of 5.56×45mm NATO service weapons used by the British Army. The L85 Rifle variant has been the standard issue service rifle of the British Armed Forces since 1987, replacing the L1A1 Se ...

series. The rifle’s

action Action may refer to: * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video game Film * Action film, a genre of film * ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford * ''Action'' (1980 fil ...

appears to be based on the

QBZ-95 The Type 95 automatic rifle () or QBZ-95 is a bullpup assault rifle designed and manufactured by Norinco, and issued since 1995 as the service rifle for the People's Liberation Army, People's Armed Police and various paramilitary law enforcemen ...

's gas piston. The fire selector has three settings and is positioned on the left side behind the magazine well with the charging handle position on the right side.

Variants

EMER-K1 Assault Rifle

The basic version of the EMER-K1.

EMER-K1 LMG

An LMG version of the EMER-K1. The barrel appears to be an AKM-based muzzle-climb compensator while having a different handguard.

References

Bibliography

* * {{Bullpup Firearms Post–Cold War weapons of Myanmar 5.56 mm assault rifles Bullpup rifles Carbines Weapons and ammunition introduced in 1995 Trial and research firearms