Kriss Vector

The KRISS Vector was designed in 2006 by Transformational Defense Industries (TDI), an American company later renamed KRISS USA. TDI announced the weapon in the spring of 2007, when it remained an experimental design in advanced development, and limited production began in 2009. The operating principle was invented by French engineer Renaud Kerbrat. The name derives from the kris, a Southeast Asian dagger with a flame-shaped blade.

The Vector uses a delayed blowback system marketed as the "Kriss Super V", in which an articulated mechanism drives the bolt and an inertia block downward into a recess behind the magazine well. The energy is directed downward rather than rearward at the end of bolt travel, reducing felt recoil. The barrel axis sits in line with both the shoulder and the firing hand, which limits muzzle climb but raises the sight line well above the bore axis. The weapon separates into two assemblies, secured by four push pins, in a manner comparable to the AR-15. Because of the inverted layout, the lower assembly holds the action, charging handle, magazine well and barrel, while the upper holds the ejection port, rail system, pistol grip, fire control components and, where fitted, the stock. Swapping the lower permits toolless caliber conversion. The safety is ambidextrous, as is the fire mode selector on the automatic trigger pack, but the ejection port, charging handle, bolt release and magazine release are right-handed only. Feeding is from standard Glock pistol magazines, with KRISS marketing the MagEx and MagEx2 extension kits for factory Glock magazines. The rimfire variant departs from the Super V principle and uses straight blowback with a proprietary magazine.

The Vector SMG is restricted to military and law enforcement customers. It carries a folding stock, flip-up back-up iron sights, a full-length Picatinny rail, and either a two-position or three-position fire selector including a two-round burst. Its automatic trigger pack is not compatible with any semi-automatic lower. A second-generation prototype, the K10, was shown at the 2011 SHOT Show with a single-takedown-pin lower for caliber interchange, a diagonally travelling reversible charging handle, a telescoping stock and a four-sided accessory rail tube; it was last displayed in 2013 and was likely cancelled. KRISS introduced Gen II versions in 2015 with a redesigned pistol grip and trigger, a safety lever swing angle reduced from 120 to 45 degrees, and deletion of the opening above the barrel for the discontinued Surefire weapon light. Gen III was unveiled at the 2024 SHOT Show with a slimmer and lighter upper housing, an ambidextrous magazine release, an M-LOK handguard in place of the Picatinny rail, and a revised trigger. Semi-automatic civilian models comprise the CRB carbine with a permanently affixed barrel shroud, the SBR short-barreled rifle, and the SDP pistol, the latter also offered as the SDP-SB with a stabilizing brace. Compliance variants exist for individual US state laws and for the Canadian and Italian markets. Derivatives announced but not fielded include the KRISS KARD pistol, the MVS shotgun and the Disraptor machine gun. Users include the Bangladesh Army and Bangladesh Police, the Panamanian National Police, and the Royal Thai Army and Royal Thai Police.