It has been said that Russian is a great language for paranoids. If you are paranoid, you don’t care much for creature comforts, or bells and whistles. You want weapons that are rugged, reliable, and that can be produced in large quantities. Add in the fact that the Russian military is largely made up of poorly educated conscripts and the KISS principle becomes not just desirable but essential.
The “KISS” principles are what the Russians use because it works for them.
During WWII the Germans had better tanks...but the Germans had fewer NUMBERS by about 3-4 to 1. The Russians produced more quantities and lesser quality. The casualties of Russian v Germans makes the point that they will tolerate casualties in order to win.
The AK-47 sucks in comparison to the M-16, it’s less accurate in auto and semi auto with a bullet that can reach out and touch someone accurately.... but that AK can be thrown in a swamp and because most of their conscripts don’t care or don’t know gun maintenance the gas operation of the AK makes the M-16 look like a Ferrari racing a old Ford truck with mud tires. One is better but not necessarily...better.
Cheap parts that can be stamped out by the millions and millions of spare parts all over the world make the cheap, crappy AK-47 a good weapon.
I think that everything in war has a place. Sometimes I’d rather have a shotgun than a rifle...sometimes a shovel or K-bar instead of another type of weapon due to the situation. Sometimes a radio is the deadliest weapon a man can have in a firefight.
I think this is just a way of stirring up trouble and doubt into our armed forces and typical of propaganda. I’d ask any man currently in FOB what they’d rather take a hop in....that would be like asking cops where the best coffee and donuts are...they know, because they are in the mix.