If there may be ever a zombie apocalypse in Florida, you might want to head to the Palm Bay headquarters of Inter Ordnance Inc.

Simply down the highway from a Krispy Krunchy fried hen retailer, in a nondescript east coast business park, the 60,000-square-foot manufacturing unit produces about 2,500 AK-47 rifles a month.

Ulrich "Uli" Wiegand, a German immigrant who began the company, sees a vibrant future for the American-made version of the Kalashnikov, the basic Soviet-bloc weapon with the iconic banana-formed ammo journal. It is the world's hottest weapon. There have been as many as one hundred fifty million Kalashnikovs as of 2012, in accordance with Aaron Karp, senior guide to the Small Arms Survey, a Geneva-based mostly research institute.

However Wiegand needs to put Florida on the map as the place where the most effective AKs are made, combining trendy American manufacturing prowess with the original design by Russian Lt. Gen. Mikhail Kalashnikov. With the help of a Tampa-registered company called Purple Shovel, he needs to double his capacity and his workforce, and switch the majority of his business from shoppers to governments.

"We are taking the perfect options of American manufacturing and infusing them into an AK-47, with a hundred % American-made parts," mentioned Wiegand, who moved the corporate to Florida from North Carolina in 2013.

Purple Shovel is the unique government distributor of the corporate's AK-47s.

To succeed in his goal, Wiegand has invested about $5 million within the plant and estimates he needs to take a position one other $three million to $5 million for brand spanking new equipment and work stations.

The investments have garnered the eye of the Florida House Coast Economic Development Fee.

"Their investment additional enhances our manufacturing base and provides a constructive influence for the region," mentioned Lynda Weatherman, the fee's president and CEO.

It's a transfer that has some native gun manufacturers scratching their heads.

" sig sauer scope do not see that as a sensible investment," stated Greg Frazee, owner of the Tampa-based Trident Arms.

Frazee mentioned he prefers to persist with the American-designed civilian line of rifles recognized as the AR-15 platform, arguing that the AK-47 "is an excessive amount of of a distinct segment product."

Wiegand and Benjamin Worrell, owner of Purple Shovel, see issues in a different way.

Purple Shovel, named for a kid's seashore toy, already has more than $a hundred and ten million dollars price of contracts with U.S. Particular Operations Command, headquartered at MacDill Air Pressure Base in Tampa, for "small arms, ordnance and ordnance equipment manufacturing," in line with federal procurement documents.

Worrell and Wiegand are prohibited by legislation from talking about these contracts. SOCom, citing "operational sensitivities," declined to comment on what varieties of weapons Purple Shovel is offering.

However SOCom has a strong interest in American-made Soviet-bloc weapons.

A year in the past, the command sent out a market analysis request concerning what it calls "non-standard weapons." This consists of Russian-designed guns just like the AK-47 and other comparable assault rifles, in addition to sniper rifles like the Dragunov, mild machine guns like the PKM, and heavy machine guns like the DShK and the KPV. They are weapons most popular by U.S. allies and foes alike for their comparatively low price and simplicity of operation.

SOCom, tasked with coaching and equipping commandos and synchronizing the conflict on terror, offers weapons to allies on the behest of commands like U.S. Central Command. CentCom, additionally based mostly at MacDill, has overall control of U.S. army operations within the Center East.

As with the prevailing contracts, Worrell and Wiegand cannot discuss whether or not they submitted proposals to SOCom to sell it American-made AK-47s.

"It remains to be an ongoing effort," mentioned SOCom spokesman Ken McGraw. "No manufacturers have been identified."

Regardless of what SOCom decides, overseas authorities sales remain a key option, Wiegand said.

Wiegand lately attended the IDEX international defense trade convention within the United Arab Emirates, considered one of the most important occasions on the protection contracting calender. The convention proved to be a fantastic showcase for the Inter Ordnance AK-47s, he said.

"They looked at our guns and actually liked them," Wiegand said. "We saw an enormous want for American products in the Arabian world. They looked at the quality of what we make and had been sort of blown away that we make the AK within the U.S."

Wiegand stated the Saudis, Jordanians, Egyptians, Kuwaitis and Emirates have been among these showing eager curiosity in his weapon.

U.S. weapons are more expensive to provide, Worrell acknowledged, but the logistics, administrative prices and related actions lower with U.S.-made production, resulting in a comparable worth.

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The unmistakably tangy candy scent of metalwork wafts out of the production rooms of the Inter Ordnance plant, the place about 50 employees in eight rooms, working in two shifts, go through the numerous phases of turning some a hundred elements into a Kalashnikov.

The guns are made from the original knowledge package, Wiegand said, plopping a 5-inch thick binder on a convention room desk containing drawings and specs for each half that goes into the gun.

Along with the jobs created in Florida, Wiegand said the corporate is contributing to the national economic system by buying components - once bought overseas - from U.S. corporations.

Inter Ordnance will not be the only Florida firm in the market. About 140 miles to the south, in Pompano Seaside, Kalashnikov USA has plans to make the AK-47s as well. The corporate, not connected to the Russian firm prohibited from U.S. gross sales by sanctions, is making Kalashnikov shotguns however plans to roll out AK-47s later this year, said Laura Burgess, a company spokeswoman.

Like Wiegand, she said there may be a powerful market for the weapons.

As for including to the global proliferation of the AK-47, Karp, the Small Arms Survey analyst, said Florida-primarily based production is just not a serious concern.

"Given the scale of the market, it doesn't add up to very much in case you look at it," he said.