Rostec Announces The Latest Modification of The ADS Amphibious Assault Rifle, Mainstay of The Russian Frog Troops

Although it was only mass-produced in 2019, the ADS Amphibious Rifle, an amphibious assault rifle, has been used by combat divers and Russian special forces such as Spetsnaz since 2013.

And after several years of being a mainstay for Russian frogmen, at the International Maritime Defense Show (IMDS 2023) in Krostatd, near St. Petersburg, Rostec announced a new modification of the ADS assault rifle variant.

The ADS Amphibious Rifle is a unique weapon, designed with the bullpup design and capable of being used on the surface and under water, making ADS a pioneer in the design of amphibious bullpup weapons.

The existence of the ADS is none other than to replace the APS (Avtomat Podvodnyy Spetsialnyy), namely an underwater automatic rifle, which has also been used by the Indonesian Navy's Frog Squad Command (Kopaska).

On the website of the Russian News Agency Tass (tass.ru, June 22, 2023), Rostec introduced an upgraded variant of the ADS assault rifle.

Based on the results of operational trials, it was decided to modify this assault rifle to improve its ergonomic characteristics.

"Modernization work is underway, with the product design to be confirmed by tests," Rostec said in a press release.

Production started for the ADS assault rifle in 2019.

The rifle is built according to the "bullpup" layout principle, which provides a shorter weapon length compared to the traditional scheme with the same barrel length, better balance, and also eliminates the need to open and fold the stock.

When used on land, as is usually the case with conventional assault rifles, the ADS can fire conventional 5.45 x 39 mm bullets.

The ADS uses a magazine with AK-74 (5.45 x 39 mm)-capable ammunition.

Although the magazine is similar to that of the AK-74 (with 30 bullets), there are different types of cartridges for underwater and above-surface shooting missions.

With a special shell, underwater shooting has a range of 25 meters at a depth of 5 meters.

Then the shooting range becomes 18 meters at a depth of 20 meters.

For underwater shooting, the TsKIB design bureau developed special casings for the PSP and PSP-UD in the same size.

As such, the machine uses the standard 30-round magazine from the AK-74 for both types of ammunition.

The ADS is equipped with a standard 40-mm grenade launcher.

What has changed compared to the old ADS variant is the picatinny rail design.

In the new ADS variant, it is clear that the Picatinny rail is longer to attach various types of accessories and aiming aids.

When used as a surface weapon, the ADS's effective firing range with standard cartridges is up to 500 meters.

To increase its destructive power, ADS is also equipped with a 40-mm caliber grenade launcher with VOG-25 munitions.

Especially for the grenade launcher, it is not stated whether it can be fired underwater or vice versa.

In general, the ADS Amphibious Rifle carries a gas-operated and rotating bolt action pattern.

In theory, the rate of fire is up to 700 projectiles per minute.

In a simulation of shooting on water, the projectile launch speed reaches 900 meters per second.

The quite obvious difference between the new ADS variant and the old variant lies in the picatinny rail design, where the new ADS variant has a longer picatinny rail to the barrel.

With a longer Picatinny rail, ADS can be more flexible in using sights and additional accessories.

According to its history, this assault rifle was developed by the Tula Arms Plant, which is also an APS manufacturer.

An assault rifle called the ADS Amphibious Rifle emerged.

Through a series of trials firing above and below the surface of the water, in 2005, this weapon was declared to have passed the design test using the M74 caliber 5.45 x 39 mm ammunition.

Proceeding to the final design and production stage by the KBP Instrument Design Bureau, this rifle has been officially used by Russian frogmen since 2013.

For the record, the Tula Arms Plant and the KBP Instrument Design Bureau are both members of High Precision Systems (part of Rostec).