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55-414: The VHS ( Croatian : Višenamjenska Hrvatska Strojnica , lit. multifunctional Croatian machine gun) is a 5.56×45mm NATO bullpup assault rifle designed and manufactured by HS Produkt of Croatia . The VHS rifle was first introduced at the 2007 iKA exhibition, the annual Croatian innovation display that takes place in the city of Karlovac . The development began from a Croatian Army request for

110-461: A common polycentric standard language is used, consisting of several standard varieties , similar to the existing varieties of German , English or Spanish . The aim of the new Declaration is to stimulate discussion on language without the nationalistic baggage and to counter nationalistic divisions. The terms "Serbo-Croatian", "Serbo-Croat", or "Croato-Serbian", are still used as a cover term for all these forms by foreign scholars, even though

165-573: A common South Slavic literary language. Specifically, three major groups of dialects were spoken on Croatian territory, and there had been several literary languages over four centuries. The leader of the Illyrian movement Ljudevit Gaj standardized the Latin alphabet in 1830–1850 and worked to bring about a standardized orthography. Although based in Kajkavian-speaking Zagreb , Gaj supported using

220-688: A mechanical buffer reducer, similar in conception to the one used in Ultimax 100 , a weapon Croatia used in the Croatian War of Independence and retains in its reserve inventory. The same patent states that the VHS works neither through direct gas impingement nor through a short- or long-stroke piston, but through a 'tappet' type of closed gas system much like the FN SCAR . There may have also been confusion with another prototype which did not go into production. Confusion on

275-517: A mixture of all three principal dialects (Chakavian, Kajkavian and Shtokavian), and calling it "Croatian", "Dalmatian", or "Slavonian". Historically, several other names were used as synonyms for Croatian, in addition to Dalmatian and Slavonian, and these were Illyrian (ilirski) and Slavic (slovinski) . It is still used now in parts of Istria , which became a crossroads of various mixtures of Chakavian with Ekavian, Ijekavian and Ikavian isoglosses . The most standardised form (Kajkavian–Ikavian) became

330-502: A modified 20 or 30-round STANAG 4179 magazine (from the M16 rifle ). An unusual feature among modern machine guns is the fact the Ultimax was purposely designed to feed from magazines as opposed to belts. The Ultimax 100 uses a manual safety mechanism that consists of a lever installed on the left side of the receiver (just behind the trigger) with two possible settings: "S", indicating the weapon

385-672: A new infantry rifle to meet NATO standards. An improved version of the VHS rifle, known as the VHS-2 , was introduced in April 2013. In January 2022, it was announced that Springfield Armory, Inc. will be importing the VHS-2 into the US as the Hellion . During the Croatian War of Independence , HS Produkt (then called IM Metal) created a bullpup variant of the 7.62 mm Kalashnikov assault rifle. This rifle had

440-403: A number of flaws, partly caused by limited technological capabilities of IM Metal, but provided a valuable learning experience for the company. A delayed blowback model was tested in the mid-1990s, but the results were still not satisfactory, and it was superseded by a design similar to the M16 rifle . More prototypes followed in 1996, 1999 and 2004. The development cycle that ultimately led to

495-731: A redesigned carrying handle, an adjustable-length buttstock, and an ambidextrous cartridge casing ejection system that can be reconfigured in less than a minute. The VHS-2 line consists of the VHS-D2 assault rifle and the VHS-K2 carbine. A semi-automatic version of the VHS-2 was made for Springfield Armory, Inc. , which was unveiled in January 2022. Croatian language North America South America Oceania Croatian ( / k r oʊ ˈ eɪ ʃ ən / ; hrvatski [xř̩ʋaːtskiː] )

550-513: A separate language that is considered key to national identity, in the sense that the term Croatian language includes all language forms from the earliest times to the present, in all areas where Croats live, as realized in the speeches of Croatian dialects, in city speeches and jargons, and in the Croatian standard language. The issue is sensitive in Croatia as the notion of a separate language being

605-413: A short-stroke gas piston operating system powered by ignited powder gases diverted from the barrel through a port in the gas block. The Ultimax 100 is a locked breech weapon with a rotating bolt that contains seven locking lugs. It fires from an open bolt position. The bolt contains both a spring extractor and a casing ejector. The weapon's non-reciprocating cocking handle is located on the left side of

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660-731: Is controversial for native speakers, and names such as "Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian" (BCMS) are used by linguists and philologists in the 21st century. In 1997, the Croatian Parliament established the Days of the Croatian Language from March 11 to 17. Since 2013, the Institute of Croatian language has been celebrating the Month of the Croatian Language , from February 21 ( International Mother Language Day ) to March 17 (the day of signing

715-447: Is also official in the regions of Burgenland (Austria), Molise (Italy) and Vojvodina (Serbia). Additionally, it has co-official status alongside Romanian in the communes of Carașova and Lupac , Romania . In these localities, Croats or Krashovani make up the majority of the population, and education, signage and access to public administration and the justice system are provided in Croatian, alongside Romanian. Croatian

770-424: Is clearly a single language with a single grammatical system." Croatian, although technically a form of Serbo-Croatian , is sometimes considered a distinct language by itself. This is at odds with purely linguistic classifications of languages based on mutual intelligibility ( abstand and ausbau languages ), which do not allow varieties that are mutually intelligible to be considered separate languages. "There

825-426: Is commonly characterized by the ijekavian pronunciation (see an explanation of yat reflexes ), the sole use of the Latin alphabet, and a number of lexical differences in common words that set it apart from standard Serbian. Some differences are absolute, while some appear mainly in the frequency of use. However, as professor John F. Bailyn states, "an examination of all the major 'levels' of language shows that BCS

880-399: Is no doubt of the near 100% mutual intelligibility of (standard) Croatian and (standard) Serbian, as is obvious from the ability of all groups to enjoy each others' films, TV and sports broadcasts, newspapers, rock lyrics etc.", writes Bailyn. Differences between various standard forms of Serbo-Croatian are often exaggerated for political reasons. Most Croatian linguists regard Croatian as

935-571: Is no regulatory body that determines the proper usage of Croatian. However, in January 2023, the Croatian Parliament passed a law that prescribes the official use of the Croatian language, regulates the establishment of the Council for the Croatian language as a coordinating advisory body whose work will be focused on the protection and development of the Croatian language. State authorities, local and regional self-government entities are obliged to use

990-1049: Is officially used and taught at all universities in Croatia and at the University of Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Studies of Croatian language are held in Hungary (Institute of Philosophy at the ELTE Faculty of Humanities in Budapest ), Slovakia (Faculty of Philosophy of the Comenius University in Bratislava ), Poland ( University of Warsaw , Jagiellonian University , University of Silesia in Katowice , University of Wroclaw , Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan ), Germany ( University of Regensburg ), Australia (Center for Croatian Studies at

1045-454: Is safe, and "F", continuous fire. An internal safety achieved through the proper arrangement of parts and mechanisms secures against premature detonation. The light machine gun was also designed to mount an M16-type bayonet and either day or night-time optics. The Ultimax 100's ergonomics are similar to that of the Thompson submachine gun , specifically the forward grip. Widespread adoption of

1100-625: Is the standardised variety of the Serbo-Croatian pluricentric language mainly used by Croats . It is the national official language and literary standard of Croatia , one of the official languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina , Montenegro , the Serbian province of Vojvodina , the European Union and a recognized minority language elsewhere in Serbia and other neighbouring countries. In

1155-715: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Croatian (2009 Croatian government official translation): Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in English: Ultimax 100 Work on a new light support weapon for the Singapore Army began in 1978. The weapon is produced by CIS (presently STK—Singapore Technologies Kinetics), initially in the Mark 1 version, later—the Mark 2 , and currently, in

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1210-684: The Declaration on the Name and Status of the Croatian Literary Language ). In the late medieval period up to the 17th century, the majority of semi-autonomous Croatia was ruled by two domestic dynasties of princes ( banovi ), the Zrinski and the Frankopan , which were linked by inter-marriage. Toward the 17th century, both of them attempted to unify Croatia both culturally and linguistically, writing in

1265-604: The Latin alphabet and are living in parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina , different parts of Croatia , southern parts (inc. Budapest ) of Hungary as well in the autonomous province Vojvodina of Serbia . The Institute of Croatian Language and Linguistics added the Bunjevac dialect to the List of Protected Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Republic of Croatia on 8 October 2021. Article 1 of

1320-935: The Macquarie University ), Northern Macedonia (Faculty of Philology in Skopje ) etc. Croatian embassies hold courses for learning Croatian in Poland, United Kingdom and a few other countries. Extracurricular education of Croatian is hold in Germany in Baden-Württemberg , Berlin , Hamburg and Saarland , as well as in North Macedonia in Skopje , Bitola , Štip and Kumanovo . Some Croatian Catholic Missions also hold Croatian language courses (for. ex. CCM in Buenos Aires ). There

1375-617: The Mark 3 and Mark 4 variant. The Ultimax 100 (also called the U 100 ) is used in significant numbers by the armed forces of Singapore, Croatia and the Philippines . The Mark 3 variant is currently used in the Singapore Armed Forces primarily as a support arm, and is both classified and known by soldiers as the SAW (Squad Automatic Weapon). The Ultimax 100 is a gas-operated automatic weapon (capable of fully automatic fire only) with

1430-415: The receiver and occupies the forward position during firing. The Ultimax 100 is striker-fired. The feature that grants the weapon its low recoil (compared to similar light machine guns) is the "constant recoil" principle. The overall design allows the bolt carrier group to travel all the way back without ever impacting the rear, instead stopping gradually along the axis of movement against the resistance of

1485-602: The 50th anniversary of the Declaration, at the beginning of 2017, a two-day meeting of experts from Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro was organized in Zagreb, at which the text of the Declaration on the Common Language of Croats, Bosniaks, Serbs and Montenegrins was drafted. The new Declaration has received more than ten thousand signatures . It states that in Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Montenegro

1540-564: The Croatian contingent then deployed in Afghanistan within the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). The contract was placed at 4.5 million kuna . Other nations, including Kuwait and Venezuela showed interest in acquiring the rifle. On November 24, 2008, HS Produkt introduced the final version of the VHS assault rifle. After an initial testing phase with the first 40 rifles, an order for 1,000 rifles

1595-547: The Croatian elite. In the 1860s, the Zagreb Philological School dominated the Croatian cultural life, drawing upon linguistic and ideological conceptions advocated by the members of the Illyrian movement. While it was dominant over the rival Rijeka Philological School and Zadar Philological Schools , its influence waned with the rise of the Croatian Vukovians (at the end of the 19th century). Croatian

1650-585: The Croatian language. The current standard language is generally laid out in the grammar books and dictionaries used in education, such as the school curriculum prescribed by the Ministry of Education and the university programmes of the Faculty of Philosophy at the four main universities . In 2013, a Hrvatski pravopis by the Institute of Croatian Language and Linguistics received an official sole seal of approval from

1705-503: The FAMAS, it has a sliding grenade boom guide and grenade high-angle launching sight to aim when the rifle is turned on its side, but the sight is mounted on the underside of the carrying handle on the VHS instead of under it. The rifle and carbine have different gas regulators, both with three settings changed by pushing in and turning 120 degrees: normal; high (larger opening for weak ammunition); and cut-off (for rifle grenades). One drawback of

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1760-465: The French FAMAS rifle, but its operating mechanism and disassembly procedure are quite different. The VHS-K is a carbine variant with an overall length of 665 mm (26.2 in) and a 410 mm (16 in) barrel. Some characteristics of the rifle were not revealed to the public and provoked rumours during the development period. One involved a hypothesized venting system which recovered part of

1815-714: The Holy Widow Judith Composed in Croatian Verses ". The Croatian–Hungarian Agreement designated Croatian as one of its official languages. Croatian became an official EU language upon accession of Croatia to the European Union on 1 July 2013. In 2013, the EU started publishing a Croatian-language version of its official gazette. Standard Croatian is the official language of the Republic of Croatia and, along with Standard Bosnian and Standard Serbian , one of three official languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina . It

1870-536: The Ministry of Education. The most prominent recent editions describing the Croatian standard language are: Also notable are the recommendations of Matica hrvatska , the national publisher and promoter of Croatian heritage, and the Miroslav Krleža Institute of Lexicography , as well as the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts . Numerous representative Croatian linguistic works were published since

1925-444: The VHS is its poor ergonomics. The fire selector has three positions for safe, semi, and automatic fire with no 3-round burst option. Production model rifles have the selector inside the trigger guard. Changing firing modes is difficult as the crank must be rotated a long distance before either firing mode is selected. It is also for right-handed use only; the receiver can only eject shells out the right side and cases leave sharply toward

1980-521: The VHS will replace) than M16 -type rifles. The first VHS rifle made by HS Produkt, outfitted with rifle grenade discharging adapters and bayonet lugs. A carbine version of the VHS rifle. The VHS-2 was shown to the public for the first time in April 2013, during the Adriatic Sea Defense & Aerospace (ASDA) exhibition in Split, Croatia . Its improvements include a more conventional fire selector,

2035-404: The VHS's operating system was from several changes to the type of system used through its development. The first models used a Kalashnikov-style long-stroke piston , which was changed in 1999 to a lever delayed blowback system from the FAMAS. The next year, it was changed to a direct gas impingement system with a forced ventilation feature that formed a pneumatic cushion behind the bolt. The VHS

2090-590: The beginning of the 20th century, in addition to designing a phonological orthography. Croatian is written in Gaj's Latin alphabet . Besides the Shtokavian dialect, on which Standard Croatian is based, there are two other main supradialects spoken on the territory of Croatia, Chakavian and Kajkavian . These supradialects, and the four national standards, are usually subsumed under the term "Serbo-Croatian" in English; this term

2145-679: The cultivated language of administration and intellectuals from the Istrian peninsula along the Croatian coast, across central Croatia up into the northern valleys of the Drava and the Mura . The cultural apex of this 17th century idiom is represented by the editions of " Adrianskoga mora sirena " ("The Siren of the Adriatic Sea") by Petar Zrinski and " Putni tovaruš " ("Traveling escort") by Katarina Zrinska . However, this first linguistic renaissance in Croatia

2200-487: The current version of the VHS rifle started circa 2003. A new prototype, externally quite similar to the French FAMAS , was publicly announced in 2005 and presented to Croatian Minister of Defense Berislav Rončević . However, only 10% of the 2004 prototype was retained in the production model. On November 19, 2007, the Croatian Ministry of Defence placed an order for an experimental batch of 50 rifles to be tested by

2255-588: The design might have been compromised by its feed system. The original Ultimax 100 was meant to be used with a drum magazine holding 100 rounds. The drum magazine was bulky and difficult to reload without a special mechanism. The shape of the drum magazine also occupied more space compared to M16 magazines or the FN Minimi box holding a belt of 200 rounds. The machine gunner also could not take magazines from other squad members who were equipped with M16s. M16 magazines were subsequently modified to allow them to be used with

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2310-538: The gases generated from firing the weapon to cushion the bolt and dramatically buffer recoil. The production-stage VHS operated in a much more conventional manner, not utilizing this buffering system. According to the schematic filed at the European Patent Office (EPO) the misconception may have come from combining two different features: a forced air ventilation system similar to the one in Pecheneg machine gun and

2365-456: The importance of having an accurate light machine gun: "Men react one of two ways when they are shot at. If you just shoot at them, they will take cover and return fire, but if you start hitting them, they withdraw." The magazine catch consists of two tapered pins on a bar, controlled by the magazine release button. The machine gun feeds from a proprietary 100-round synthetic drum magazine (early models also used 60-round drum magazines), or from

2420-553: The independence of Croatia, among them three voluminous monolingual dictionaries of contemporary Croatian. In 2021, Croatia introduced a new model of linguistic categorisation of the Bunjevac dialect (as part of New-Shtokavian Ikavian dialects of the Shtokavian dialect of the Croatian language) in three sub-branches: Dalmatian (also called Bosnian-Dalmatian), Danubian (also called Bunjevac), and Littoral-Lika. Its speakers largely use

2475-467: The mid-18th century, the first attempts to provide a Croatian literary standard began on the basis of the Neo-Shtokavian dialect that served as a supraregional lingua franca – pushing back regional Chakavian , Kajkavian , and Shtokavian vernaculars . The decisive role was played by Croatian Vukovians , who cemented the usage of Ijekavian Neo-Shtokavian as the literary standard in the late 19th and

2530-523: The more populous Neo-Shtokavian – a version of Shtokavian that eventually became the predominant dialectal basis of both Croatian and Serbian literary language from the 19th century on. Supported by various South Slavic proponents, Neo-Shtokavian was adopted after an Austrian initiative at the Vienna Literary Agreement of 1850, laying the foundation for the unified Serbo-Croatian literary language. The uniform Neo-Shtokavian then became common in

2585-405: The most important characteristic of a nation is widely accepted, stemming from the 19th-century history of Europe. The 1967 Declaration on the Status and Name of the Croatian Literary Language , in which a group of Croatian authors and linguists demanded greater autonomy for Croatian, is viewed in Croatia as a linguistic policy milestone that was also a general milestone in national politics. On

2640-432: The positive conclusions of a series of torture tests and on May 15 officially signed a contract with HS Produkt for the acquisition of 1,000 rifles (both variants). As of 2015, the Croatian Army is using 7,000 VHS rifles. The VHS-D rifle is 765 mm (30.1 in) long, with a 500 mm (20 in) barrel. The whole rifle body is a monoblock construction made from high-impact polymer. Externally, it strongly resembles

2695-443: The production model Ultimax 100. This was done by drilling two holes right at the left feeding lip of the magazine. This improved the handiness of the weapon and allowed magazines to be loaded in the field. The system was modified to use only STANAG compatible magazines in the Mk 4 version of the design, which was submitted for the USMC Infantry Automatic Rifle competition . This meant the original drum could no longer be used, making

2750-402: The rear, with a chance of hitting an extended elbow. This is unfortunate, as the non-reciprocating cocking handle is located centrally under the carrying handle and can be pulled from either side. Models presented in 2008 showed the VHS being STANAG magazine compatible. This was changed shortly after to accept HK G36 magazines. The reason was because the Croatian military has more G36s (which

2805-419: The return springs. Jane's International Defence Review correspondent—Andrew Tillman, in an exclusive invitation from ST Kinetics to participate in the Product Improvement Program (PIP, initiated in 1989) to test fire the gun, elaborated: This article began by praising the Ultimax for its ease of control, which allows accurate fire. A comment to the author by an experienced SEAL team leader aptly underlines

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2860-426: The speakers themselves largely do not use it. Within ex-Yugoslavia, the term has largely been replaced by the ethnopolitical terms Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin, and Serbian. The use of the name "Croatian" for a language has historically been attested to, though not always distinctively. The first printed Croatian literary work is a vernacular Chakavian poem written in 1501 by Marko Marulić , titled " The History of

2915-513: Was halted by the political execution of Petar Zrinski and Fran Krsto Frankopan by the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I in Vienna in 1671. Subsequently, the Croatian elite in the 18th century gradually abandoned this combined Croatian standard. The Illyrian movement was a 19th-century pan- South Slavic political and cultural movement in Croatia that had the goal to standardise the regionally differentiated and orthographically inconsistent literary languages in Croatia, and finally merge them into

2970-544: Was made. In 2009, an additional order of 2,000 rifles was made to enter service with the Croatian Army. By the end of 2012, and as of 2013, the Croatian army had 3,600 VHS rifles in service. Another order of 2,000 rifles was to be delivered to the Croatian military by the end of 2014. A long-term Croatian Army requirement calls for 50,000 assault rifles, ensuring the long-term production of VHS-2. The US Department of Defense also made an order for 500 VHS rifles. On May 12, 2009, Croatian Minister of Defence Branko Vukelić confirmed

3025-439: Was patented in that form in 2000 giving the impression of a "gas cushion" feature. That model was publicly known up to 2005. In 2004, the final and current operating system of the VHS was changed to a gas-operated, short-stroke piston system. When the VHS went through service life testing it fired 50,000 rounds without suffering any main part failures. The barrel has a birdcage flash suppressor and can fire rifle grenades . Like

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