[Partner 2025] New CN 20 Service Rifle From Romania
The Warsaw Pact was disbanded 34 years ago, but one significant part of it remains almost intact to this day. While the Warsaw Pact was primarily a military treaty organisation, created by the Soviet Union as a counterweight to NATO, there was another part to it - a joint military-industrial complex.
Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and East Germany received Soviet technology to manufacture everything from rifle ammo to tanks and helicopters. After the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union, the defense industry in those countries faced many challenges: some of the factories closed forever, and many (but not all) continued to manufacture old arms they inherited from the old days.
But the times are changing, and increased defense spending in the EU motivates factories to go into R&D. One great example is the Romanian factory called “Cugir”, which is known for affordable AKs.
At the Partner 2025 expo in Belgrade, at the Romanian booth, Cigur presented the new rifle called CN 20. It is chambered in 5.56x45 and uses STANAG magazines. Despite a somewhat unusual look, the rifle is pretty conventional: 16-inch barrel with 1 in 7 twist, the weight is 3.3 kg (7.2 pounds), and the rate of fire of 600 rounds per minute.
It was developed in response to the Romanian army's request that seeks to replace its fleet of older service rifles. CN 20 was designed as a collaboration between two Romanian defense manufacturers. The first one is STIMPEX S.A., which was founded in 1991 and specialises in the production of ballistic protection, armored vehicles, and electronics, and the second is Fabrica de Arme Cugir, the oldest and the most well-known firearms manufacturer in Romania, which I mentioned extensively in my articles about Romanian AKs.
The design looks interesting, and the big order from the Romanian army seems plausible; however, there is a question that any rifle manufacturer these days has to answer. The question is simple: “What does your rifle do that an AR-15 doesn’t?”. If the manufacturer has the answer, there is a chance we will see this rifle in mass production.
Vladimir Onokoy is a small arms subject matter expert and firearms instructor. Over the years he worked in 20 different countries as a security contractor, armorer, field analyst, product manager, and consultant. His articles were published in the Recoil magazine, Small Arms Review, Small Arms Defence Journal, Overt Defense and Silah Report. He also worked as the historical consultant for movies and weapon history books, namely "Vickers Guide: Kalashnikov" series, "Small Arms of WW2: Soviet Union" and the 3rd edition of "AK-47: The Grim Reaper". Email: machaksilver at gmail dot com
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Clamshell 556 AK with stanag magwell?
Aside the stock, this rifle looks very decent. I call it the Ugly, but reliable, ACR (if he can prove it by testing this weapon.)