AKS-74U

The AKS-74u is a Carbine that was developed in the late 1970's from the AKS-74 Assault Rifle firing the 5.45x39mm M43 cartrige. The "U" in AKs-74u means Ukorochennyj, or shortened, in Russian. The weapon was intended to be used as a PDW, or Personal Defence Weapon, for tank, gun, helicopter, and other vehicle crews. It was also created for use among Special Operations Forces, which required a compact, powerful weapon. The AKS-74u was the mix of both the Sub-Machine Gun and the Assault Rifle; It had the effective range and high ROF (Rate Of Fire) of a Sub-Machine Gun, but had the stopping power and penetration of an Assault Rifle.

Battlefield 2
The AK-74U in Battlefield 2 is the standard primary weapon for the Spec Ops kit on the MEC team. It comes with a Kobra Red Dot Sight attached to it. It also sports desert camouflage. It has the highest stopping power of all the standard Spec Ops kit weapons. When compared to it's American counterpart, the M4A1 Carbine, it has far better power, at the cost of lower accuracy and the low magnification reflex sight. This result is also identical when comparing it to the Chinese Type 95 Carbine.

Battlefield 2: Modern Combat
The AKS 74U appears in the hands of the MEC Special Forces kit. It is equipped with a red dot sight and a silencer. It has a high rate of fire, good power, high accuracy and little recoil making it an easy gun to use.

Battlefield: Bad Company
In Battlefield: Bad Companys singleplayer, the AKS-74U' can be found off of dead Russian Specialists. Like all the compact assault rifles, it comes with a permanently attached silencer.

In multiplayer, it is the default compact assault rifle issued to the Russian Specialist kit. Its American counterpart is the SCAR and the MEC counterpart is the 9A-91. It has a 60 round magazine, a good fire rate and can kill in around 10-15 shots.

Battlefield Heroes
The AKS-74u Krinkov is available for purchase in Battlefield Heroes to players using the soldier class of the National Army. The Royal Army counterpart is the M16.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2
In Battlefield: Bad Company 2s singleplayer, the AKS-74u Krinkov' can be acquired easily in the final mission, Airborne. The player is immediately forced to pick up and use the weapon, and it is used by enemies with it standard iron sights, or equipped with a Red Dot Sight.

In multiplayer, the AKS-74u Krinkov can be unlocked by gaining 16000 points for the Engineer kit, or if the player had pre-ordered from GameStop or BartSmit, it is immediately unlocked after redeeming the pre-order code. It has a 30 round magazine and is equipped with a suppressor.

Its moderate damage and high rate of fire can make it very effective at close ranges, however, at long ranges, it is difficult to use because its recoil can still quickly cut a user off from its target and its high rate of fire can be overwhelming. For this reason, it is advised to burst fire at long & even medium range.

The only difference between this and the XM8 Compact is rate of fire and accuracy. Whichever weapon you choose is up to you.

Trivia

 * The AKS-74u isn't a submachine gun. It's the shortened carbine version of the AK-74 Service rifle, much like the M4/M4A1 is the carbine version of the M16 Assault Rifle.
 * Officialy it is called AKS-74U (Russian: АКС-74у), without "Krinkov". Krinkov is a nickname made by the Afghan Mujahideen.