Ukraine's state-owned enterprise Ukroboronservice sees the units of the Special Operations Forces as major customers of U.S. assault rifles M16 in the M4 WAC-47 model, assembled in Ukraine under a license of the U.S. government.

Yaroslav Moskaliuk, an official representative of the company, told Interfax-Ukraine during the Arms and Security 2017 exhibition, which was held in Kyiv on October 10-13, that today the company was linking a business plan of the project for the mass production of M4s in Ukraine, first of all, to the needs for new small arms of the units of the Special Operations Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

"The Special Operations Forces are currently the main customer, at which we are oriented," he said.

According to Moskaliuk, Ukroboronservice expects that the tests of the experimental batch of M4s assembled in Ukraine and transferred to security forces for trials in October will be completed by the end of the year. The business plan of the project will be formed depending on their results, he said.

"Depending on the volume of the state order, the decision [on the business plan] will be made," he said.

As reported, Ukroboronservice and Aeroscraft signed in Kyiv in early January 2017 a memorandum on cooperation in the joint production of U.S. assault rifles M16 in the M4 WAC 47 model in Ukraine. In October, the Ukrainian side announced the transfer of the pilot batch of M4s, assembled in Ukraine under a license from the U.S. government, for testing by law enforcement agencies.