Infantry Rifles in Modern Armies: A Comparison

Understanding what rifles modern armies use requires looking beyond the classic image of the AK-47: most military powers have renewed their individual weapons over the past two decades, and some are in the midst of changing calibre altogether. This overview surveys the standard-issue assault rifles of the world's leading armed forces, drawing on publicly available service data, without going into handling, modification or applied ballistics.

Russia and the Kalashnikov family

The Russian Army's standard rifle remains the AK-74M, chambered in 5.45x39mm, introduced in the 1970s as an evolution of the 7.62x39mm AK-47/AKM. Since the mid-2010s, the AK-12 has gradually been introduced, a modernised version with ergonomic and accuracy improvements that retains the same 5.45mm calibre. The Kalashnikov family, across its many variants, remains the most widely used rifle series in the world by number of countries employing it, a legacy of decades of licensed production and Soviet-era export.

United States: from the M4 to the NGSW programme

The US Army has relied for decades on the M16 rifle and its M4 carbine variant, both chambered in 5.56x45mm NATO. The Next Generation Squad Weapon (NGSW) programme has led to the adoption of the XM7 (based on the SIG Sauer SPEAR) to progressively replace the M4 in combat units, alongside the XM250 machine gun. The most significant change is the calibre itself: the XM7 fires 6.8x51mm ammunition, designed to improve penetration against modern body armour at greater distances, at the cost of increased weight and recoil.

Europe: HK416, G36 and the Spanish case

France adopted the HK416F, manufactured by Heckler & Koch under licence in France, to replace the venerable FAMAS, while Norway also adopted the HK416 for its armed forces. Germany, whose Bundeswehr was equipped with the Heckler & Koch-developed G36, faced a prolonged controversy over the weapon's loss of accuracy under conditions of extreme heat, which led to a replacement process in which Haenel (with the MK556) was awarded the contract over Heckler & Koch, though the process has been marked by legal challenges and delays. Spain, for its part, combines rifles from the HK G36E family as its main general-issue weapon with earlier-generation CETME rifles retained for residual roles and specific units, within an inventory that has been modernised in phases.

Asia and the Middle East: China and Israel

China has replaced the veteran Type 81 with the QBZ-95 family and its successor, the QBZ-191, rifles in a bullpup configuration (with the exception of the QBZ-191, which abandons that layout) chambered in 5.8x42mm, a proprietary calibre developed to reduce reliance on foreign standards. Israel, meanwhile, employs the IWI Tavor (TAR-21 and X95 variants) in 5.56mm, a bullpup rifle that combines compactness with the NATO standard, progressively replacing Israel's historic M16.

Calibres: 5.56, 5.45, 7.62 and the intermediate trend

During the Cold War, a divide became entrenched between the Western bloc, which adopted 5.56x45mm NATO as its light intermediate calibre, and the Soviet bloc, which did the same with 5.45x39mm, both evolving from heavier assault-rifle calibres such as 7.62x39mm (AK-47) or 7.62x51mm NATO, the latter now reserved mostly for precision rifles and squad machine guns. The US NGSW programme represents the most significant attempt to partially reverse that trend, introducing a more powerful calibre (6.8mm) designed for medium- and long-range combat scenarios against advanced ballistic protection, although its widespread adoption remains a subject of debate within and beyond the US armed forces.

• 5.56x45mm NATO: the Western standard since the 1980s, found in the M4, HK416, G36 and Tavor.
• 5.45x39mm: the Russian standard since 1974, used in the AK-74 and AK-12.
• 7.62x39mm: the original AK-47 calibre, still in use in export variants and militia forces.
• 6.8x51mm: the new US intermediate calibre for the XM7, aimed at greater penetration.
• 5.8x42mm: China's own calibre for the QBZ family.

This patchwork of calibres and rifle families reflects both national industrial trajectories and doctrinal decisions about the type of combat envisaged, from close-quarters urban engagements to longer-range scenarios in open terrain, a debate directly connected to the evolution of infantry units and how they operate in combat.