The CTS9 (Competition Tactical Shooting) is a 9x19mm AK variant made by Nova Modul in Romania. Specifically, in Cugir Romania – the same town that houses the massive small arms factory complex that made millions of small arms during the communist era. Nova Modul, despite being in the same city, is a much more recent privately-owned company that began as a machine shop specializing in making complex gears (such as those used for vehicle transmissions). They got into the small arms field initially making drum magazines for the AK for export, and then ended up creating a full line of tools to produce their own complete AKs. They currently supply a number of US importers with pistols and parts kits.
One of Nova Modul’s employees recognized an opportunity to use the large volume US export production to also produce a competition-focused version for the Romanian sport shooting community. They took the basic 9mm AK platform (design for CZ Skorpion magazines) and added a good optics mount on the top cover, a large flared magazine well, and a bolt hold open and release control to the left side of the receiver. This became the CTS9, and it is a pretty affordable domestic option for Romanian shooters. The possibility is certainly open to US export, but we will have to see if it can be cost-competitive against the other options currently available in the US.
Many thanks to Strategic Defense SRL in Târgoviște, Romania for giving me access to their shop and inventory for filming! Also to ANCA, the Romanian collectors’ association for arranging my trip and Nova Modul for letting me tour their facility.
So just how savvy is the Nova Modul marketing manager? If he had his act together he would make a overboard tactical version of the CTS9 to magically appear in Tucson. If this happened, Ian would not be able to help himself and he would take the gun to matches and instantly there would be a US market for the gun.
P. S. I do expect to get a commission from the company for coming up with the idea.
If a mysterious conex full of machining equipment follows him home, I guess we’ll know.
Bit of insight for folks who wonder, like Ian does, why all these weapons plants are in mountain valleys.
Two things, really: Water power, and defenses. When you’re in the hills around a valley, getting water dammed up and available for running your trip hammers and machinery is relatively simple. That’s why a lot of the UK’s arms industry had to wait on the steam engine before they could really do things on more than an artisanal basis… Meanwhile, the forebears of Beretta and Benelli are simply channeling water to turn waterwheels to turn machinery. Same with a lot of the industrial areas of the US and around the world.
As well, if you’re going to build great big arsenals, you don’t want them to be vulnerable to the neighbors, so you put them in mountainous and inaccessible terrain.
Like as not, even the plants established after the steam engine were placed where they were so that water could be used as a backup, and so they’d have plenty of water for running the steam plant.