Mikhail Timofeevich
Kalashnikov
1919-2013
Mikhail Timofeevich Kalashnikov was a Soviet and Russian designer of small arms. Doctor of Technical Sciences (1971), Lieutenant General (1999), creator of the world-famous Kalashnikov assault rifle (AK). He was a participant in the Great Patriotic War. Mikhail Timofeevich Kalashnikov was born on November 10, 1919, into a large peasant family in the village of Kur’ya in the Altai region. In 1938, he was conscripted into the Armed Forces. He worked as a technical secretary of the political department of the 3rd branch of the railway in Alma-Ata. In 1938, he was drafted into the Red Army. The path of this self-taught designer to world fame began in the crucible of the Great Patriotic War. The tank commander, Kalashnikov, was severely wounded in the battles near Bryansk, and it was his forced stay in the hospital that became a fateful turning point. Listening to the infantrymen’s stories about the problems with the existing weapons, he became fired up with the idea of creating the perfect assault rifle for a soldier. However, his inventive talent had manifested itself even earlier: during his service, he developed an inertial shot counter for a tank gun, a device for the TT pistol, and an engine service life counter. These first, seemingly modest works tempered his engineering mind. Triumph came in 1947 when the 7.62-mm Kalashnikov assault rifle (AK) was adopted by the Soviet Army. The weapon revolutionized the field: its automatic system, operating by diverting propellant gases, proved incredibly resistant to dirt, frost, and rough handling. The AK quickly became a benchmark for reliability, and a whole “family” grew around it: the RPK light machine guns, the modernized AKM assault rifle, and the powerful PK/PKM general-purpose machine gun, which was also mounted on vehicles. However, Kalashnikov did not stop there. The response to new challenges of the time were models chambered for the small-caliber 5.45-mm cartridge: the AK-74 assault rifle and the RPK-74 machine gun (1974). They provided better accuracy and controllability. In total, under the leadership of Mikhail Timofeevich, more than one hundred standardized models of small arms were created, including the export versions of the “hundredth” series and the famous “Saiga” hunting carbines. The state duly appreciated the designer’s contribution. He was twice Hero of Socialist Labor and a Hero of Russia, a laureate of the Stalin, Lenin, and State Prizes, a holder of three Orders of Lenin and the highest award of the Russian Federation – the Order of St. Andrew the Apostle the First-Called. Kalashnikov was also actively involved in public activities, serving as a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and a member of the Unions of Writers and Designers of Russia. In his memory, a monument by the sculptor Salavat Shcherbakov stands in Moscow’s Oruzheyny (Weapons) Square. But his main monument is the millions of “Kalashnikovs” around the world, silently testifying to the genius who managed to embody in metal the very idea of soldierly reliability.
Address: Moscow, Oruzheyny Lane
