FdA-25 rifle

The FdA-25 (Fusil de Automático-25), also known as the Type-97, KN-97, Krukov, and a variety of other names, is a comrifle chambered for the 3.9×46mm metallic round. Developed in the Interstellar Union by small-arms desginer Arkady Fernandez Krukov, it is the originating firearm of a widespread family of weapons. After over a century, the FdA-25 model and its variants remain some of the most popular and widely used comrifles in the Human Sphere. The model is the basis for the development of many other types of individual, crew-served and specialised firearms.

In accordance with Interstellar Union conventions, the number 25 refers to the weapon as the 25th comrifle design accepted by the United Front. Design work on the FdA-25 began in 193. It was presented for official military trials the following year in 196, and in 197 the comrifle was introduced into active service for the United Front Ground Forces. In 220, the schematics of the original FdA-25 were uploaded to the Exonet as an open source packet, somehow making it past the Great Firewall and leading to mass proliferation of unauthorised copies by weapons manufacturers across the Human Sphere, typically under the name Type-97 or KN-97. The common nickname "Krukov" for the weapon arose as Arkady Krukov was not well-known outside of the Interstellar Union, and his name on the schematics was mistaken by some private gunsmiths in the Federation for the name of the weapon.

The FdA-25 was upgraded in United Front Ground Force service until the M4 model, when it was replaced by the United Front Ground Forces by the FdA-32 in 260 as the Red Army's primary service rifle. It still remains in use by law enforcement and other paramilitary forces, such as the People's Guards. Large-scale state production of the FdA-25 has fully ceased in the Interstellar Union.

Following the independence of the Chunmin Republic from the Interstellar Union, the FdA-25M2 remained the service weapon of the Chunmin People's Army Ground Force, re-designated the Type-44 rifle. It was later replaced in 288 by the derivative Type-88.

The model and its variants remain the most popular and widely used comrifles in the Human Sphere because of their reliability under harsh conditions, low production cost, availability in virtually every region, and ease of use. The FdA-25 has been manufactured privately in all of the hyperpowers and many secondary powers, and has seen service with armed forces as well as irregular forces and insurgencies throughout the Human Sphere. The largest modern state producer of the FdA-25 is the Chunmin Republic, which continues to produce Type-44-3 iterations at the state-owned Hanyang Arsenal largely for export.

Design
The device on top of the barrel, on which the front sight is mounted, is the weapon's micrometer-band radar for the comrifle's integrated computer systems, a rugged though occasionally unreliable unit on the original design. The system was the first thing to be upgraded on the FdA-25M2 model, though due to their copying the original M1 design many foreign-produced FdA-25s lacked this upgrade and replaced the system with proprietary versions, or in rarer cases maintained the original radar unit. Some of the most egregious examples include "garage guns" made illegally in home fabricators, often by insurgents, criminals, or hobbyists. Lacking the ability to build proper radar units, some of these "garage guns" lack them altogether or simply replace them with non-functioning pieces of metal, making the weapons "blind" and completely incapable of basic firer-assistance.