UTON vz.75 – 0001

Development of the assault knife vz. 75 was completed with successful military trials during which over 150,000 tests were carried out under combat training conditions. On that basis, technical conditions for production and acceptance of the 1st production series were approved (TP-VD-648-74).

Assault knives marked with series 0001 did not fully meet the subsequently approved technical conditions. A total of 500 pieces were produced, which served for testing while the remainder was to cover the most urgent need for assault knives in the troops. During this time, imported machinery for serial production at Mikov was being procured and details for further production were being refined.

An interesting feature of the 0001 series is the sheath — on the first 500 pieces the KIN-DOT rivets were rotated 180 degrees. Given the rigorous tests and the fact that it is the oldest series produced in the smallest number, very few pieces have survived. For most collectors this variant is therefore the most valuable UTON in the collection.

This unused UTON 0001 stamped by mistake on the left side of the blade is an exception. It is so far the only piece known among collectors.