The Soviet Union has many symbols recognizable all over the world - from traditional and already boring nesting dolls, samovars and earflaps to the monument "Worker and Collective Farm Woman". But there is a symbol so popular that it was used in the state emblems of other states. This is a Kalashnikov assault rifle.
The Kalashnikov assault rifle is a firearm that was placed on the state emblems of five countries: Mozambique (AK is on the coat of arms and on the state flag), Zimbabwe, Burkina Faso (until 1997), East Timor and Congo.
Has no interest?
Today, the AK is still the most widely used assault rifle in the world. More than 70 million units of these weapons were produced. Our machine gun is usually compared to the American M16 automatic rifle. However, at the moment, only eight million samples of this rifle have been produced. The numbers speak for themselves.
Meanwhile, few people know that if in the fate of the world-famous Russian gunsmith Mikhail Kalashnikov, the card fell a little differently, then this miracle of military technology simply would not have happened.
When in 1942 Kalashnikov assembled the first sample of the future machine gun, he sent it to the Main Artillery Directorate of the Red Army. There the invention was assessed as original, but its further development and launch into mass production was not recommended.
The conclusion of the artillery generals read: “The Kalashnikov submachine gun is more complicated and more expensive to manufacture than the PPSh-41 and PPS, and requires the use of scarce and slow milling operations. In its present form, it is not of industrial interest."
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Work on the creation of a machine gun for the Soviet army continued, and in the end the project of another gunsmith, Alexei Sudaev, was adopted as a basis. He received the AS-44 index.
But the troops demanded a reduction in the weight of the weapon, so they decided to hold a second round of the competition. It was then that they remembered the sample presented by Sergeant Kalashnikov.
In November 1946, one of his projects was approved, and a month later, the first version of the Kalashnikov assault rifle, AK-46, manufactured at an arms factory in Kovrov, was tested.
However, in the second round, the machine was considered unpromising. But Kalashnikov was able to challenge this decision, having obtained permission to further refine his sample. This is how the serial AK and AKS (with a folding stock) appeared. Their first batch was released in Izhevsk in 1948.
Elementary theft
The Kalashnikov assault rifle burst into the world market like no other type of weapon before or after. All its unique advantages (ease of maintenance, lightness, and most importantly, reliability) were quickly understood and appreciated on all continents. A real boom has begun in the world. The Soviet assault rifle was adopted by the armies of 55 states, many of which set up their production of AKs under a license purchased in the USSR. The Kalashnikov assault rifle with a caliber of 7.62 mm was licensed in Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, the GDR, Egypt, Iraq, China, Romania, North Korea, Finland. In total - in 18 countries of the world. In 12 other states - without any permission. The real scandal broke out when in 2004 it was revealedthat the United States has organized counterfeit production of our automatic weapons in China and Eastern Europe and is supplying the ruling regimes of Afghanistan and Iraq with these "underground" AKs. Both Rosoboronexport and Mikhail Kalashnikov himself openly accused America of elementary theft. However, for some unknown reason, the case never came to lawsuits. In general, now, according to Rosoboronexport, the terms of most licenses have already expired, and the production of our AKs continues. The Polish company "Bumar" and the Bulgarian company "Arsenal", which opened a branch in the same States and established the production of automatic machines, are especially actively producing clones of AK.the terms of most licenses have already expired, and the production of our AKs continues. The Polish company "Bumar" and the Bulgarian company "Arsenal", which opened a branch in the same States and established the production of automatic machines, are especially actively producing clones of AK.the terms of most licenses have already expired, and the production of our AKs continues. The Polish company "Bumar" and the Bulgarian company "Arsenal", which opened a branch in the same States and established the production of automatic machines, are especially actively producing AK clones.
In Russia today, the total number of all varieties of the Kalashnikov assault rifle in storage and armament of the armed forces exceeds 17 million units, so the AK will remain the most massive assault rifle in the world for a very long time.
Magazine: Secrets of the USSR No. 5