The STL-1A (or also called the STL-A1) rifle is an assault rifle made in

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

. It is produced at the

Z111 Factory ) , romanized_name = , former_name = , type = State-owned enterprise , traded_as = , ISIN = , industry = Arms industry , genre = , fate = , predecessor = , successor = , founded = 1957 , founder = , defunct = , hq_location = ...

. The rifle is an improved copy of the

AKM The AKM () is an assault rifle designed by Soviet small arms designer Mikhail Kalashnikov in 1959. It is the most ubiquitous rifle of the Kalashnikov rifles. It was developed as a replacement to the AK-47 introduced a decade prior. Introduced ...

rifle, but is commonly compared to an

AK-103 The AK-103 is a Russian assault rifle designed by small arms designer Mikhail Kalashnikov. History The AK-103 was officially offered for export in March 1993 Design details It is an AK-100 derivative of the AK-74M that is chambered for th ...

. The rifle is chambered in 7.62x39mm.

History

It was originally announced in 2015 that the

would begin producing STL-1A rifles in an occasion to celebrate Vietnamese National Day for Vietnamese defense industry accomplishments. As the STL-1A is based on the older

rifles, the factory would convert AKMs and its variants into the new STL-1A rifles. The factory also has the ability to produce these new rifles from scratch. At the Indo Defence Expo 2018 event, a new variant which combined the STL-1A and the

Galil ACE The IMI Galil ( he, גליל) is a family of Israeli-made automatic rifles chambered for the 5.56×45mm NATO and 7.62×51mm NATO cartridges. Originally designed by Yisrael Galili and Yakov Lior in the late 1960s, the Galil was first produced ...

was announced under the name GK3. In 2019, after several phases of testing, the People's Army of Vietnam started to equip soldiers with the STL-1A. As of recent, it is unknown whether or not the rifle continues to be manufactured. Due to the more recent creation of the

STV Rifles The STV rifle, short for ''Súng Trường Việt Nam'' () or ''Súng Tiểu liên Việt Nam'' (), is a family of Vietnamese assault rifles. They are products of the Z111 Factory and are chambered in 7.62x39mm. As of 2021, the STV-215 and the S ...

and their adoption as the new standard issued service rifle, it is likely the

has prioritized production of those over the development of the STL-1A.

Design

Although the rifle itself is a copy of the

that highly resembles a

Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia ** A citizen of Vietnam. See Demographics of Vietnam. * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overse ...

version of an

, it's upgraded in many areas such as new polymer handguards, folding stock, a new ergonomic pistol grip and muzzle brake based on the AK-74 with side-mounted rails to attach scopes. A suppressor and an M203 underbarrel grenade launcher can be attached to the STL-1A.

Variants

STL-1B

A version of the STL-1A with picatinny rails.

References

{{Kalashnikov rifle 7.62×39mm assault rifles Kalashnikov derivatives Russia–Vietnam relations Weapons of Vietnam