Закавказский военный округ
In 1977, the GRAU decided to adopt Kalashnikov's model, which was largely a shortened AKS-74, because its performance was no worse than the competition, and promised significant production cost savings by utilizing existing equipment for the AK-74 line. A final round of large scale testing with Kalashnikov's model was performed by airborne divisions in the Transcaucasian Military District in March 1977. The AKS-74U ("U"—Russian: ; "Ukorochenniy", or "shortened") was officially adopted in 1979, and given the official, but seldom used GRAU designation 6P26. In 1993 production stopped.