President Uhuru Kenyatta's visit to Camp Bravo at the KWS Law Enforcement Academy in Manyani, Taita Taveta County brought to the limelight Kenya's capacity to manufacture weapons.
President Kenyatta got a chance to learn about the CMZ 4 Assault Rifle which grabbed his curiosity on how the gun operates, going on to inspect it.
Kenyans.co.ke also got to learn about the inner workings of the weapon which we'll break down in this article.
Watch the video of Uhuru inspecting the CMZ 4 Assault Rifle
{"preview_thumbnail":"/files/styles/video_embed_wysiwyg_preview/public/video_thumbnails/VROIHafjMkQ.jpg?itok=K9yLGLQX","video_url":"
The internal diameter of the gun barrel is 5.56×45mm and complies with NATO standards.
It shoots bullets which are prone to yaw in soft tissue. A bullet shot with the gun's muzzle velocity of 875 m/s is likely to yaw and disperse some fragments through flesh and bone, inflicting additional internal injuries to a victim.
Its effective range is 400 meters, which means an average shooter can accurately fire at a target within the distance.
However, a bullet shot from the CMZ 4 Assault Rifle will travel 600m before loosing enough inertia to be lethal.
The gun, which some can be used as a semi or fully automatic rifle, has a standard trigger force of 15-30 Newtons. The trigger force refers to how much force has to be applied to pull the trigger.
The higher the number, the harder it is to pull the trigger which often results in less accurate shots.
The Kenyan-made CMZ 4's magazine can hold upto 30 rounds which are loaded using a gas or direct impingement principle.
This refers to the systems used to fire a bullet, eject the spent cartridge, and cycle through to chamber a new round.
One of the gun specialists at Uhuru's event explained that the gun was capable of using standard accessories from other manufacturers in the European market.
The rifle has been tested and approved by the Kenya Defence Forces after being tested under extreme conditions.
President Uhuru also got to see drones, geo-mapping systems, a digital occurrence book and several cyber-security projects designed by Kenyans.
