In general, Bosnian defense manufacturers are not very well known in the US. But there is one important exception – AC Unity, a company from the town of Goražde, known to US and international customers for its polymer magazines for AK, AR-15, and MP5s, which TFB reviewed several years ago.
Unlike many other Bosnian defense companies that were established as state enterprises in the time of Yugoslavia, AC-Unity is a private company that was founded in 2015. Like most private companies, they have to innovate and expand to stay in business, and at the recent Balkan Shield expo in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia, AC-Unity showcased a lot of interesting prototypes.
A few years ago, AC-Unity started manufacturing an AR-based 9x19 mm pistol-caliber carbine called Alfa AC-SMG9. This PCC was covered in a TFB ‘Photo Of The Day’ post. The most unusual part of this carbine is the polymer receiver.
Now, the company went one step further and developed its first 5.56 rifle. Essentially, it is the first service rifle/assault rifle (whatever term you prefer) produced in Bosnia.
Even in the time of Yugoslavia, when Bosnian military-industrial production was massive by European standards, there was no small arms production in Bosnia. Firearms were produced at the Zastava factory in Kragujevac, Serbia.
According to Erwin Bekto, the technical director of AC-Unity, the company is planning to produce two versions of the 5.56 rifle: one with a traditional mil-spec aluminum receiver and another one with a lightweight polymer receiver that will be available on the US civilian market. He also mentioned that all components of the rifle are made in Bosnia and that the rifle was already tested in the Middle East.
There is no information about military sales yet, but now, when the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is clearly aligning with NATO, the domestically made AR-15 variant seems like a logical option for the country’s armed forces.
