Developed during the early 1980s by the 1980s by the state-owned TsNIITochMash (Central Institute for Precision Machine Building) the AS Val and VSS were specially designed to fill the Russian special forces and intelligence agencies need for a suppressed assault rifle and marksman’s rifle. The Val has an integral suppressor and spurred development of a family of suppressed weapons. With the increasing use of body armour by NATO forces Russian special forces teams requested a silent weapon which had the capability of also penetrating armour, while offering the firepower needed for covert infiltration operations against NATO command and control centres. The Soviets developed two new 9x39 mm armour piercing rounds: SP-6 for suppressed assault rifles and the more accurate SP-5 for suppressed sniper rifles.
The VSS and AS Val began development in the mid 1980s with the Val adapted into the assault rifle role and officially adopted in 1987. The VSS shares approximately 70-75% parts commonality with the Val with some differences in stock furniture and optics mounts to allow it to fill a designated marksman role. Both are select fire and have integral suppressors which use a conventional ported barrel, expansion chamber and baffle system layout. The AS Val and VSS proved to be very effective and remain in service with Russian special forces, intelligence and security forces. The suppressed rifles were first fielded during the last years of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and were later extensively used during the Chechen Wars and during the conflict in Georgia. Most recently they have seen action during Russia’s interventions in the Crimea and Syria.
During the early 1990s the VSS and AS Val were also supplemented with the lower cost VSK-94 (see image #3). The VSK-94 is based on the 9A-91 carbine and its suppressor is not integral.
