The EMER K-1, sometimes known as the EMER K1 or EMERK-1, was a prototype

bullpup A bullpup firearm is one with its firing grip located in front of the Chamber (firearms), breech of the weapon, instead of behind it. This creates a weapon with a shorter overall length for a given barrel length, and one that is often lighter, ...

assault rifle An assault rifle is a select fire rifle that uses an intermediate cartridge, intermediate-rifle cartridge and a Magazine (firearms), detachable magazine.C. Taylor, ''The Fighting Rifle: A Complete Study of the Rifle in Combat'', F.A. Moyer '' ...

made in

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

by the Electrical Mechanical and Engineering Corps (EMEC).

Reverse engineered Reverse engineering (also known as backwards engineering or back engineering) is a process or method through which one attempts to understand through deductive reasoning how a previously made device, process, system, or piece of software accompl ...

in 1995 from the Chinese

QBZ-97 The Type 95 automatic rifle () or QBZ-95 is a bullpup assault rifle designed and manufactured by Norinco, and issued since 1995 as the service rifle for the People's Liberation Army, People's Armed Police, and various law enforcement agencies in ...

assault rifle, the EMER K-1 was prone to stoppage.

History

The EMER K-1's development started after Ng Chung-Keung, a subsidiary of Chinese defense contractor

Norinco China North Industries Group Corporation Limited, doing business internationally as Norinco Group (an abbreviation of "North Industries Corporation"), and known within China as China Ordnance Industries Group Corporation Limited (), is a Chinese ...

, exported a batch of

assault rifles to Myanmar. Norinco decided not to export any more QBZ-97s due to arms sanctions placed on the country. Myanmar, in response, refused to return them and subsequently were used as the basis for reverse engineering studies. It was designed by EMEC engineers in 1995 with a batch of 15-16 firearms made for testing and evaluation. Some EMER-K1s were issued to elite Myanmar troops on guard duty at the Yadana gas field, according to

Yangon Yangon, formerly romanized as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar. Yangon was the List of capitals of Myanmar, capital of Myanmar until 2005 and served as such until 2006, when the State Peace and Dev ...

-based diplomats in 1998. The EMER-K1 was not adopted by the

Tatmadaw The Tatmadaw, also known as the Sit-Tat, is the armed forces of Myanmar (formerly Burma). It is administered by the Ministry of Defence and composed of the Myanmar Army, the Myanmar Navy and the Myanmar Air Force. Auxiliary services include ...

due to various problems on reliability and multiple incidents of stoppages and gun jams. The QBZ-97 was reexamined in order to reverse engineer it once again. This time, the decision was made to use the QBZ-97 as the basis for the MA-1 MK III assault rifle family.

Design

Reports suggested that the development of the EMER-K1 was made possible due to technical assistance from

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

, in violation of

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

arms sanctions. This was also made possible due to machinery allegedly supplied by Singapore. Construction of the EMER-K1s were done via stamping with all-metal bodies. The design was based on other assault rifles like the SAR21, SA80, M16, IMI Tavor and the

Steyr AUG The Steyr AUG () is an Austrian bullpup assault rifle chambered for the 5.56×45mm NATO intermediate cartridge, designed in the 1960s by Steyr-Daimler-Puch, and now manufactured by Steyr Arms GmbH & Co KG. The AUG was adopted by the Austri ...

. The EMER-K1's

flash hider A flash suppressor, also known as a flash guard, flash eliminator, flash hider, or flash cone, is a device attached to the muzzle of a rifle that reduces its visible signature while firing by cooling or dispersing the burning gases that exit t ...

, carry handle, magazine housing, bayonet stud, sling swivels and flip aperture sights are based on the M16 series. The pistol grip, trigger, trigger guard, stock and vent holes are based on the

SA80 The SA80 (Small Arms for the 1980s) is a British family of 5.56×45mm NATO service weapons used by the British Army. The L85 Rifle variant has been the standard issue service rifle of the British Armed Forces since 1987, replacing the L1A1 Sel ...

series. The rifle’s

action Action may refer to: * Action (philosophy), something which is done by a person * Action principles the heart of fundamental physics * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video gam ...

appears to be based on the

QBZ-95 The Type 95 automatic rifle () or QBZ-95 is a bullpup assault rifle designed and manufactured by Norinco, and issued since 1995 as the service rifle for the People's Liberation Army, People's Armed Police, and various law enforcement in China, la ...

's gas piston. The fire selector has three settings and is positioned on the left side behind the magazine well with the charging handle position on the right side.

Variants

EMER-K1 Assault Rifle

The basic version of the EMER-K1. It, like the LMG version, are 832mm in length with effective range and firing rate as 400m and 650 rounds per minute. Its weight is 4 kg.

EMER-K1 LMG

An LMG version of the EMER-K1. The barrel appears to be an AKM-based muzzle-climb compensator while having a different handguard. It is 500g heavier at 4.5kg with no magazine.

References

Bibliography

* * {{Bullpup Firearms Post–Cold War weapons of Myanmar 5.56×45mm NATO assault rifles 5.56×45mm NATO machine guns Assault rifles of Myanmar Bullpup rifles Carbines Weapons and ammunition introduced in 1995 Trial and research firearms