Soldier of Fortune Magazine The Journal of Professional Adventurers
The rifle is billed as a domestic weapon, but building the production capability required Belarus to look beyond its borders, sources say.
by A.R. Fomenko
VIENNA BUREAU – When Belarusian leader Aleksandr Lukashenko visited a weapons plant in the Minsk region over the summer, he was shown a rifle presented as an entirely domestic product.
Manufactured by Kidma Tech, the VSK-100B is descended from the Kalashnikov family of weapons. But the claim that it is entirely Belarusian-made raises a more basic question: how much of the industrial machinery required to produce it is actually available inside Belarus?
“Do they have the capacity to build it themselves entirely, and if not, where did the materials come from?” said a contact who previously worked in the arms industry in Eastern Europe. “What does ‘entirely Belarusian’ mean in practical terms? Are all major components genuinely being manufactured in Belarus?”
Kidma Tech has produced the VSK-100 since 2020, but earlier versions incorporated components sourced from outside Belarus. The company has also faced difficulties obtaining the specialized machinery needed to establish a complete domestic production cycle.
Some of that equipment is not manufactured in Belarus and is only partially available from Russia. Other machinery has been difficult to obtain from Western suppliers because of sanctions and export controls.
One important piece of equipment is a rotary forging machine. Belarusian officials reportedly attempted to negotiate its purchase from Austrian manufacturer GFM GmbH, with the Belarusian embassy in Austria involved in the talks.
The negotiations stalled after the Austrian side sought guarantees that the equipment would not be used for military or dual-use production.
Sanctions Meet the Factory Floor
Kidma Tech is subject to multiple sanctions, adding another obstacle to its efforts to acquire specialized manufacturing equipment. The company was sanctioned by the United States and Canada in 2024 and by the European Union in 2021.
Russia’s Kalashnikov Concern indicated that it could satisfy at least part of Kidma Tech’s equipment requirements, although not immediately.
The result is a practical problem for a company seeking to make a rifle entirely inside Belarus: producing the weapon requires not only the components themselves, but also specialized machinery capable of manufacturing them.
The crucial machinery was obtained from Iran when other sourcing failed, according to Uladzimer Zhyhar, a representative of BelPol, an organization of former Belarusian security officials. The group made that claim in an analysis of the VSK-100.
If true, the process would have been accomplished via third party intermediaries that are not under US and EU sanctions, the arms industry contact said. The contact has no direct knowledge of the arrangement, but observed that this is how it would occur.
“A lot of negotiating goes into such matters,” the contact said.
From VSK-100 to VSK-100B
The original VSK-100 entered production in 2020. Its design is derived from the Kalashnikov pattern, while Kidma Tech has promoted differences from comparable AK-pattern rifles.
The company says the VSK-100 uses a heavier barrel, which it claims increases barrel life and improves accuracy. It has also developed a bullpup version of the weapon, in which the magazine and breech are positioned behind the trigger.
The VSK-100 overall is a modernized AK-47, Zhyhar told RFE/RL.
“Kidma Tech is simply fitting the rifle with the same things it already produces,” Zhyhar told the outlet’s Belarus Service.
The VSK-100B is expected to enter mass production by the end of 2026, according to Belarusian officials.
A.R. Fomenko is based out of Soldier of Fortune’s Vienna Bureau.
