Quote:
Originally Posted by Raellus
I find it odd that Warsaw Pact nations didn't follow the USSR's lead and adopt a 5.45x39mm version of RPK (i.e. the RPK-74). It's not like the USSR gave its client states much of a choice. From what I can find online, only Bulgaria and Romania produced 5.45x39mm RPKs, and production in the latter country didn't begin until 1993, after the Cold War ended (IRL). It seems even odder since most of the WP nations that produced copies of the AK-74 also produced carbine versions (i.e. the AKSU-74). Why not change the entire panoply? It seems like that would have been a more efficient, cost-effective approach, and, as VW pointed out, would have simplified logistics as well.
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Why would the other Pact nations have no choice? The Warsaw Pact wasn't exactly a homogenous organziation? Yes, divisions were structured similarly, but in the end, these nations each decided what they wanted for their armies, especially in terms of acquisition and budgets. Also, by the mid-80s the Pact was in a bad shape, thanks to economical decline and corruption in higher party levels. Everyone tried doing their own things first, including buying national: Poland and CSSR had their own upgrade programs for T-55s and T-72s, Romania was practically out of the Pact and produced its own tanks, that while the looked like T-55 knock-offs were not. Poland and CSSR built their own APCs and Poland was about to introduce the Tantal, which wasn't even an AK-74 clone.
Case in point, Poland had never introduced the RPK, remaining with the PKT on squad level instead. As such, they did what the Bundeswehr did as well and did not follow the lead nation of their respective alliance in going all squad automatic weapon. Sure, that means using two calibers and cartridges in a squad, but apparently that worked well before, too: AKM and PKT don't share ammo either.
In the end, we must not forget that all these nations were bitterly poor by US standards. Their defense spendings ate up considerable amounts of their coffers all the while their people starved or at least had troubles finding food let alone items of commodity. And none of them wanted a war, because they all knew: It would be them first, before the Soviet Union got the beating. And everyone was fed up with the Soviets anyway. So why buy their stuff and enrich one's own captors?