Enhancing the Swedish Defence : Development of a Modernized Hanguard for AK 4B Battle Rifle

This master thesis report describes the development process of a modernized handguard for the AK4B battle rifle, which is the main armament for the Swedish Home Guard. The project was carried out in cooperation with ALTEN Sweden AB. The goal of the project was to develop a new, competitive handguard design and to establish a complete design documentation as a foundation for production. This documentation consisted of a final material selection, process plan with suitable manufacturing methods and engineering drawings. The project was initiated with a problem definition to establish a thorough understanding of the product to be improved and enabling a determination of aspects that might be of importance to the product development. From this, research areas could be selected and studied to acquire necessary insights to complete the project goals. The product development process implemented is mainly inspired by Ulrich & Eppinger, and includes the stages concept development, detail design and testing & refinement. Thus, well-established methodology was implemented, ensuring credibility and a qualitative result. Throughout the stages ofthe product development process, a product specification was established, before generating concepts and selecting a final candidate which were refined based on the selection of materials and elaborated process plan. Finally, a verification of the requirements was concluded using several methods to prove the performance of the product. The results presents a developed product fulfilling established requirements and includes required documentation for production. Overall, the product is considered to have great potential for customer satisfaction, and to perform well in a final testing according to military standards.