AEK-971

The AEK-971, or Avtomat Experimental Koksharov-971, is a Russian-made selective-fire prototype assault rifle designed by Sergey I. Koksharov in the 1970s at the Kovrov Machinebuilding Plant in Kovrov, Russia. The rifle was designed for the Russian Army's "Abakan" test trial in the 1980s to replace the AK-74 with a more accurate and modernized assault rifle. Despite failing the Army's trial, it went on to be produced for Russian police forces and for export. It fires the 5.45x39mm round, fed from a standard 30-round magazine, and is compatible with all magazines used by the AK-74 model. It fires at an approximate 900 rounds/minute rate with an effective range of 400+ metres.

Battlefield: Bad Company
In Battlefield: Bad Companys singleplayer, the AEK971' is the standard issue rifle of both Russian and Serdaristani soldiers. It is probably the most common weapon in the game - especially in the first few missions - making ammunition easy to come by, though it cannot be found during Ghost Town where the AUG replaces it. It is a decent replacement for the default M416 as its sights are more open, but its stats are exactly the same. It also comes equipped with a GP-30 with 40mm grenades.

In multiplayer, the AEK971 is issued as the default assault rifle to the Russian Assault Kit. Its US Army counterpart is the M416 and its MEC counterpart is the AUG. Like all assault rifles in the game, it has 50 rounds in each magazine and the player will have 150 rounds in reserve. It will have the GP-30 as its grenade launcher with 8 grenades. It has very average stats, balanced between moderate power, moderate fire rate and mediocre accuracy, as well as open sights. It can kill in about 8-10 shots.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2
"The Russian armys gold standard, the AEK971 assault rifle was designed to enable shooters to maintain accuracy during fully automatic fire."

- In-game description.

In Battlefield: Bad Company 2s singleplayer, the AEK-971 Vintovka' is no longer the standard weapon for Russian infantry, unlike in the previous game, having been replaced in that role by the AN-94. Instead, it is primarily found in the hands of the Latin American Militia. It can be found either with iron sights or a Red Dot Sight. The version with the Red Dot Sight can be found as a collectible in Upriver, underneath the destroyed bridge.

In multiplayer, the AEK-971 Vintovka is the first assault rifle issued to the Assault kit. It is nearly the same as the M16A2 in terms of stats. It has 30 rounds per magazine. It has medium firepower and decently low spread. The recoil is very low for its rate of fire, but is enough to throw off the player's aim beyond medium range. But, short controlled bursts can make the gun deadly at long range. The iron sights are very open, but the recoil pattern makes the gun move back and forth in first person, and resettles very slowly, meaning continuous fire leaves the player with nothing to rely on for aiming besides their eyes.

For the iOS edition, AEK-971 is the primary weapon for both the Russians and the Latin American Militia. It has a 30 round magazine and 120 in reserve. Despite it being an assault rifle, it doesn't have an under-barrel grenade launcher.

Battlefield Play4Free
In Battlefield Play4Free, the AEK-971 is available as a buyable weapon for the Assault Kit. It is one of the most common weapons seen in games due to the decent damage and accuracy, as well as being one of the first fully automatic assault rifles in the game. The AEK-971 has average stats and only performs marginally better than the default G3A4, much to the older Elite's AEK-971 before the December 1st Update that was far improved.

The AEK-971 can be bought for 300 for a day or 45,000  to have forever with credits. It can also be bought for 69 for a day, 179  for a week, and 499  for a month with Play4Free Funds. The AEK-971 is one of the only assault rifles that cannot be bought fully with Play4Free Funds.

Battlefield 3
In Battlefield 3, the AEK-971 is a rifle of Russian origin. It has somewhat changed in appearance compared to its counterpart in Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and Battlefield Play4Free, it now has a folding wire stock and a different handguard, with also an all black finish. It has a high rate of fire with open sights and moderate recoil. The reload animation of the AEK-971 is nearly identical to the AN-94, with the player hitting the magazine release with the new magazine.

Singleplayer
It is seen widely during the campaign, found with a variety of optics and last seen in The Great Destroyer.

Co-Op
It can be found during the Co-Op campaign in Hit and Run without optics.

Multiplayer
It is the fourth Assault Rifle unlocked at 72,000 Assault points. It has three firing modes; semi-automatic, burst and fully automatic. The weapon's very high rate of fire makes it most effective at close range, and has the lowest vertical recoil of all vanilla (pre-DLC) assault weapons. However, the high horizontal recoil combined with the high first shot recoil can make fully automatic fire difficult at medium to long range. The high rate of fire also causes the weapon to recoil and come off target rather quickly. This high rate of fire also makes it easy to empty the magazine quickly even on individual targets.

The AEK-971 also supports the Underslung Rail attachment which can be used to attach the M320 grenade launcher, which conjucts into the GP-30. However, the rail cannot fit the M26 MASS shotgun to the rifle. This is because of its larger size than the M320.

Trivia

 * A gold plated AEK-971 can be seen in President Serdar's palace.
 * If a player equips the Red Dot Sight or 4X Rifle Scope on the AEK-971 as well as the 40mm Shotgun and switches to the shotgun attachment, the attached optic will disappear. It will reappear when the player switches back, however.
 * The AEK-971 has the most open sights out of any assault rifle in both Battlefield: Bad Company as well as Battlefield: Bad Company 2.
 * The Play4Free version of the AEK-971 shows the AEK-971's rear ironsight as much further away from the wielder's face than in Bad Company 2, similar to the difference between the ironsights of the M416 and G3 in the latter game.
 * The AEK-971 recieved in the Battlefield 3 mission Kaffarov oddly has both the laser and tactical flashlight equipped at the same time.
 * After the patch for Battlefield 3, when the AEK-971 has the GP-30 equipped, the hand that holds the underbarrel grenade launcher will not be shown touching the grenade launcher until you switch to the GP-30 and back.
 * Also, the AEK-971 has an unique reload animation in which the player character inserts the new magazine by flicking the magazine from the gun by using a fresh magazine before then inserting it. Interestingly, despite the magazine is thrown away, no ammunition is lost. This trait is shared with AN-94, which has similar (If not exactly the same) animations to AEK-971.

Videos
Video:AEK-971 Vintovka|Gameplay with the AEK-971 Vintovka at Arica Harbor on Rush mode Video:AEK971 BFP4F|Gameplay with the AEK971 on Oman Video:Battlefield 3 AEK 971| AEK 971 with attachments Video:Battlefield_Bad_Company_2_-_AEK-971|Quick video showcasing the handling Video:Battlefield Bad Company 2 - AEK-971 Reload Animations|Reload animations in Bad Company 2 Video:Battlefield 3 - AEK-971 Sound|Firing signature from the AEK-971 in Battlefield 3