The capital of
the Udmurt Republic
in the Russian Union, Izhevsk
is a small city with a population of about 600,000 people, located to the West
of the Ural mountains and on the banks of Izh river, which is a tributary to
the Kama river. There is nothing much to
describe about the city except for the fact that the city's history is
predominantly industrial with an emphasis on metal working and arms production,
and this is still the case in the city today. During Soviet era, Izhevsk was a closed city
with No foreigners ever allowed to visit the city. It was even difficult for
Russians to visit Izhevsk.
This was mainly due to the weapons manufacture that took place in the city.
Today Izhevsk
welcomes visitors, yet it is not even listed in the lonely planet travel
guides.
However, Izhevsk city's fame comes
from the fact that it is the home of Michael Kalashnikov, who in the late 1940s
designed the AK-47 assault rifle which has proved to be one of the most successful
small arms designs in history. During World War II Izhevsk supplied around 12.5
million arms for the Russian army. Izhevsk
was also the birthplace of the Russian motorcycle industry. Izhevsk factories still produce small arms as
well as other weaponry, cars and motorcycles. Recently, a Kalashnikov museum
has been built in Izhevsk since the death of Mikhail
Kalashnikov on Dec. 23, 2013 at the age of 94.
Many believe
that the two atomic bombs dropped on Japan in WW II were the greatest
killers of all times, they might be wrong as there is one deadly weapon around
the world that perhaps must have surpassed this number of kills of the atomic
bombs. This deadliest weapon is none other than a rifle named after its
designer Mikhail Kalashnikov. This Kalashnikov rifle is popularly known as
AK-47. The AK-47 is probably the only weapon that has been used in almost every
large scale conflict in the second half of the 20th century, and can boast more
kills than any other single firearm. More than 100 million Kalashnikov rifles
have been sold worldwide and they are wielded by fighters in such far-flung
conflict zones as Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia. This rifle and its
variants are the weapons of choice for dozens of armies and guerrilla groups
around the world. The weapon also has became synonymous with killing on a
sometimes indiscriminate scale and has received a bad name because of its
exclusive use by terrorist organizations. The AK-47 was designed by Mikhail
Kalashnikov in 1947, to provide better weapons for the Soviet soldiers, who had
earlier had big defeats in the early years of World War II at the hands of far
better armed German soldiers. However it was never used against the Nazi
Germany.
A Russian
company, Kalashnikov Concern, controlled by
state-owned Rostekh, manufactures Kalashnikov rifles in Izhevsk. A company official announced last
week, on the occasion of the largest defence related exhibition in India,
DEFEXPO INDIA-2014 , that his company is
now talking with several Indian companies on setting up joint ventures
in India to produce small arms and high-precision weaponry, a company official
announced last week.
Kalashnikov
exports director, Andrei Baryshnikov said in New Delhi:
“India for us is a market with high
potential…and we are marketing here all weapons on our production list,
including assault rifles, sniper rifles and high-precision weapons. Taking into
account the specifics of Indian legislation, we are considering the possibility
of establishing joint ventures on arms production. Talks are underway with
specific companies. The possible ventures would be involved in production of
combat weaponry as well as firearms for civilian use, including hunting rifles
and shotguns.”
A Chinese news
paper 'Shanghai Daily' reports that
Alexei Krivoruchko, the chief executive of Kalashnikov Concern, quoting
last week: "India
is a very promising market, and the best way to enter it is to set up
production there. We will begin to set up production this year. It's going to
be an assembly line at the first stage, and we plan to reach a figure of 50,000
items a year with an investment of US $v 20 million. We will begin to set up
production this year."
From the
figures quoted, it is obvious that
Kalashnikov Concern is looking to establish a major production base
outside Russia.
Many cutting edge weapons like supersonic missile 'Bramhos' are currently being
produced in India
with Russian collaboration and Russians feel safe to shift their technology
here. Kalashnikov Concern recently signed a deal with a US firm to
supply 200,000 firearms annually, and is looking to market aggressively its
products worldwide. Company's plans to set up a manufacturing base in India should be
seen in this light.
10th
February 2014
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