Personally think that developers can look more long-term.
conscripts maybe can get new weapon likes svt-40 when they get vet3, so does penal.
They use to do. The fact that they come up with weapon profiles and tried to stick to "rules" when it come to reinforcement cost, time build time and such indicates that they tried to keep things simple.
It the trend of the latest patches to balance unit in a case by case manner finding unique solutions. KV-1's damage reduction is a good example. If mechanism is a good solution it should apply to more units of the same type and not be a "unique" solution.
Conscripts should have their doctrinal PPsh replace with SVTs since smgs and bolt action do not work well together.
For penal I would rather have them as an a cheap assault unit with 6 ppsh. In their current implementation they should become cheaper start with bolt action rifles and have the SVT as an upgrade (mutually exclusive with PTRS or completely remove the PTRS).