East German
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
series of assault rifles loosely based upon the Kalashnikov
AK-74
The AK-74 ( Russian: , tr. ''Avtomat Kalashnikova obraztsa 1974 goda'', lit. 'Kalashnikov assault rifle model 1974) is an assault rifle designed by small arms designer Mikhail Kalashnikov in 1974. While primarily associated with the Soviet ...
. The weapon was intended for export.
The brand name is a
portmanteau
A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of words
History
The weapon was tested but not officially adopted by the East German Army. It was conceived and developed from 1981 and produced between 1985 and 1990, during the final phase of
East Germany
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
's existence as a state. This was based on licensing agreements that the USSR and East Germany agreed to in 1981. The StG rifles were manufactured at the VEB Gerate-und Sonderwerkzeugbau Wiesa factory. Plans were made to produce 200,000 StGs annually.
Before the Berlin Wall collapsed, East Germany was in need of foreign currency. This gave the East German government the idea to develop and market the StG rifles.
After the two Germanies were unified in 1990, the factories involved in production of the StG-940s were closed as they were not interested in further marketing small arms of the former East German government. Any working models were promptly sold off to surplus markets overseas. Some were destroyed in 1992. Orders made by India and Peru were rendered invalid and the new German government agreed to pay penalty fees due to the cancellation of contracts.
It was reported that
Federal Intelligence Service
The Federal Intelligence Service (German: ; , BND) is the foreign intelligence agency of Germany, directly subordinate to the Chancellor's Office. The BND headquarters is located in central Berlin and is the world's largest intelligence head ...
agents removed confidential files related to the StG rifles in 1993 without sharing the information to the rest of the German government. This came after
Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk
Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (MDR; ''Central German Broadcasting'') is the public broadcaster for the federal states of Thuringia, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt in Germany. Established in January 1991, its headquarters are in Leipzig, with regional studi ...
aired a report by Andreas Wolter, who was looking for more information from East German government files.
Design
The StG-940's design are based on the
AK-74
The AK-74 ( Russian: , tr. ''Avtomat Kalashnikova obraztsa 1974 goda'', lit. 'Kalashnikov assault rifle model 1974) is an assault rifle designed by small arms designer Mikhail Kalashnikov in 1974. While primarily associated with the Soviet ...
, albeit modified. This was done to go over restrictions placed on East German assault rifle production of their AK-74 variants imposed in order to prevent competition against the Soviets based on their licensing agreement to not export any AK-74s made in East German soil abroad.
The rifles can be equipped with a bayonet of unknown type.
Variants
* StG-941: Assault rifle with fixed stock.
* StG-942: Assault rifle with folding stock and regular barrel.
* StG-943: Assault rifle with folding stock and short barrel.
* StG-944: Heavy machine gun version.
* STG-214: American-made semi-auto clone made by Inter Ordnance. Sometimes known as the STG-2000C and StG-2003-C, chambered in
7.62×39mm
The 7.62×39mm (aka 7.62 Soviet, formerly .30 Russian Short) round is a rimless bottlenecked intermediate cartridge of Soviet origin. The cartridge is widely used due to the worldwide proliferation of Russian SKS and AK-47 pattern rifles, as ...
. According to IO representatives, they used StG rifles already in the market as a basis for creating their clone rifle without seeing any blueprints.
Users
* : Reports of the StG-943 were used by Stasi forces. According to Ralph Hope, the
Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment
The Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment (German: ''Wachregiment "Feliks E. Dzierzynski"'') was the paramilitary wing of the Ministry for State Security (''Stasi''), the security service of the German Democratic Republic (GDR).
The Felix Dzerzhin ...
are the only confirmed users of the 943.
* : Ordered unknown amount for the Indian military. Around 7,500 StG-94s delivered before contracts were cancelled.
* : Ordered unknown amount for Peruvian National Police in 1989. Around 2,000 StG-942s delivered before contracts were cancelled.