At this year's ASEAN Military Shooting Tournament, the Lao and Indonesian teams both used the same assault rifle with a rather special history.
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| Accordingly, competing in the assault rifle competitions for both men and women, the Lao team used assault rifles brought by the country like other teams participating in the tournament, and what makes this assault rifle model special is that it was manufactured by a Southeast Asian country. Photo source: AARM |
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| And at this year's AARM, the Lao team continues to use the Pindad SS2-V1 assault rifle, a model that Lao shooters have been associated with in recent AARM appearances. So where do the Lao SS2-V1s come from? In the photo is a Lao shooter with an SS2-V1 at AARM 2017. Photo source: AARM. |
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| Pindad SS2-V1 is one of the first variants of the Pindad SS2 assault rifle series designed and manufactured by Indonesian company PT Pindad for the Indonesian armed forces as well as some export markets, with Laos being one of the rare customers of this model. Photo source: AARM. |
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| Previously in 2014, there was information that Laos ordered a small number (about 70 guns) of Pindad SS1 assault rifles, the predecessor of Pindad SS2, from Indonesia. However, based on the images at AARM 2017, it shows that they also own Pindad SS2, specifically the Pindad SS2-V1 variant. Photo source: AARM |
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| Also at AARM 2017, the Indonesian team also used the Pindad SS2 assault rifle model, but it was the Pindad SS2-V4 variant with certain improvements compared to the previous version. In the photo is an Indonesian shooter with the Pindad SS2-V4 at AARM 2017. Photo source: AARM. |
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| And at AARM 2017, Pindad SS2-V4 is bringing the Indonesian team some certain achievements, especially in the men's rifle event. Photo source: AARM |
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| Back to the Pindad SS2, this Indonesian assault rifle model was developed by PT Pindad to replace its predecessor Pindad SS1, which quickly became obsolete after just over 10 years of use, and was mass-equipped by the Indonesian Army since 2006 with many different variations. Photo source: Pinterest |
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| In terms of design, the Pindad SS2 has a combat weight of about 4.2kg including ammunition, the standard length of the gun is 990mm and 740mm when the stock is folded. The base barrel length of the Pindad SS2 variants is 460mm and is different only with the Pindad SS2-V5 (carbine variant) at 252mm. Photo source: Wartainfo |
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| The Pindad SS2 is designed to use the NATO standard 5.56x45mm ammunition, using the standard 30-round STANAG magazine. In terms of overall design, the Pindad SS2 looks quite similar to variants of the American M16 assault rifle, but it is actually derived from the Belgian FN FNC assault rifle. Photo source: Merdeka |
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| Regarding the operating mechanism, the Pindad SS2 uses a pneumatic loading mechanism, a rotating breech with a long gas extraction mechanism, and a drive rod on top of the barrel. The gun has an effective range of about 500 meters with a rate of fire of about 650 rounds/minute. Photo source: Kumpulan |
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| Currently, although the Pindad SS2 has been developed into many different variants, in general, they still maintain the common standard design of the Pindad SS2-V1. The highlight of the new Pindad SS2 variants is that they are equipped with additional rails with integrated support equipment and a change in the design of the front handle cover, besides, the gun manufacturing materials are also changed. Photo source: blogspot.com |
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| In general, the Pindad SS2 is considered a fairly good assault rifle but is not really user-friendly. In addition, the gun's performance is not really effective in the field and its reliability is low. For this reason, the Indonesian Army only put into limited service about 40,000 Pindad SS2s. Photo source: militerhankam.com |
According to Kienthuc
