Kalashnikov

Kalashnikov is a world-famous line of firearms manufactured by the Russian company Izhevsk Mechanical Works. The company is named after the city of its location, Izhevsk, which is also known as Russia’s weapon capital, and was established way back in 1807. It has become one of the largest and most mentioned companies of its kind, in Russia as well as the rest of the world. Its products include assault rifles, medium cannons, missiles and guided shells, but it is the Kalashnikov assault rifle line that has put it firmly on the global armament map. This line includes the AK-47, AK-74, AN-94 and AK-100 series, which were invented by and named after the gun designer Mikhail Kalashnikov.

Mikhail Kalashnikov was an untutored designer who gained almost all of his expertise in gun designing during his years of service in the Red Army. He had worked on tank designs before he came up with his blueprints for the legendary AK-47 (or Avtomat Kalashnikova model 1947) following which his rise in the army hierarchy was rapid and decisive. The AK-47 is a gas-operated assault rifle that has been in military service since its introduction in 1947. Over a 100 million units of this remarkable assault rifle, which fires 600 rounds per minute, have been manufactured to date. This makes it the most extensively manufactured firearm in the history of mankind.

Kalashnikov worked in conjunction with German firearm experts Hugo Schmeisser and Dr. Gruner, who were part of his design engineering department in the Red Army. In fact, he had at his disposal and large team of captive German talent. Kalashnikov, who is a Doctor of Technical Sciences, has received numerous prestigious awards for his work in firearms design and development – among them are Hero of Socialist Labor and the Order of Saint Andrew the Protoclete.

It has been said that Mikhail Kalashnikov is responsible for giving the world its ‘most prolific killing machine’ with the AK-47 and its variants, which include a squad automatic weapon (SAW) version used in suppressive fire. The Russians have consistently denied the claim that the ubiquitous AK-47 is derived from earlier German models, and that there is little new about the individual elements of Kalashnikov’s design. In practical terms, this assault rifle fully met the Russian’s need of a submachine gun that fired intermediate-power cartridges with an effective range of at least 300 meters during World War II. However, it was so unique in its innovative features that it eventually became a byword in mass extermination. This fact, Mikhail Kalashnikov states, has not caused him any guilt pangs. The inventor is still around today and reportedly is busy developing a new line of vodka in his retirement.

Meanwhile, Izhevsk Mechanical Works supplies firearms to every significant sector of the world. Its products find ready takers in the United Kingdom, Germany and France as well as in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Apart from the Kalashnikov series, the company turns out other high-demand weapons such as the Saiga-12 Automatic shotgun, the Dragunov sniper rifle and the Bizon-2 submachine gun. Other armament products are the GSh-30-1 cannon and the Krasnopol guided shell. The company also manufactures the IT-42 line of precision lathes and gas meters, and is also engaged in automobile production. Some of the products in this line are the IZh motorcycle, which is now discontinued, and cars of the Russian Kia and Lada models. These other products are also of extremely high quality and some of them numbered among the 100 best products of Russia in 2005.

However, its primary claim to fame will remain the Kalashnikov series. This has become such a definitive range that there is now an exhibit of the Kalashnikov small arms collection in the Moscow Kremlin Museum. A similar selection featured in an international military exhibition called ‘Defense 2005’, which was hosted by Thailand.