In early November, veterans of the once largest Izhmash enterprise, led by Mikhail Kalashnikov, addressed Vladimir Putin with a letter about the plight of the small arms production. There is no answer yet, and no one promises that domestic machine guns and pistols will not fall out of the world’s inventory or at least remain in the Russian army.

IVAN SAFRONOV JR.

"Save our factory"

The appeal addressed to Vladimir Putin had many signatures, among which one stood out - the President of the Union of Russian Armourers, Hero of Russia and Hero of Socialist Labor, designer Mikhail Kalashnikov. “It’s bitter and insulting to see how a business that was established and developed by more than one generation of engineers and workers is collapsing. And which was determined primarily by state interests and was accompanied by state support,” the appeal says. “Skilled workers and specialists, craftsmen, are leaving the Izhevsk plant,” whose salary does not exceed 10 thousand rubles.” The letter ends with a request on behalf of the veterans to “save our plant.” Izhmash said that the opinion of veterans “has little to do with reality,” citing figures in response: the average salary is 15.5 thousand rubles.

However, this is perhaps the only thing that could be argued with the veterans on the merits. In the production of small arms, Russia indeed has a mostly glorious past. In the post-Soviet period, orders from law enforcement agencies sharply decreased, which led not only to a decrease in production volumes and the loss of highly qualified engineering and technical personnel, but also to the closure of defense enterprises. Many survived, managing to adapt in time to the production of hunting, traumatic, gas and pneumatic weapons, but their leading positions were lost.

Laying down your arms

The list of suppliers of small arms in Russia is not so long: Izhevsk Mechanical Plant, Izhevsk Machine-Building Plant, Mechanical Engineering Design Bureau, Instrument Engineering Design Bureau, as well as the Central Research Institute of Precision Engineering. By the early 2000s, their financial situation was precarious: orders were still few. “The stock of old small arms like the Kalashnikov assault rifle was so large even five years ago that it made no sense to constantly order old models,” says Denga’s source in the General Staff. “We couldn’t finance new developments at that time, there was simply nothing.” . It turned out to be a vicious circle: there is no money to create a new weapon - the company is trying to master the development itself - the end result does not suit the customer.

An attempt to turn the situation around was made only in 2003: although small arms did not occupy the first place in the state defense order, the allocation of 1 billion rubles was announced. for the purchase of weapons for the needs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Defense and other law enforcement agencies. Towards the end of the year, the then-existing Russian Agency for Conventional Weapons (RAV) announced that a number of law enforcement agencies had already received batches of Russian-made 9-mm pistols: in particular, Yarygin’s PYa/MR-443 “Grach” pistol, Serdyukov’s “Gyurza” pistol , as well as the Gryazev-Shipunov GSh-18 pistol. And in October 2004, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov announced that the defense order of the Udmurt industry would be increased by 1 billion rubles.

However, the annual defense order for small arms remained at an extremely low level, allowing enterprises only to reduce the amount of debt that accumulated annually.

The Tula PP-2000 submachine gun is one of the few domestic models that entered service in the new century
Photo: Sergey Venyavsky, Kommersant

By 2009, Izhmekh, Izhmash (and Molot, which was included in it) were part of the Russian Technologies state corporation. The ground forces received Pecheneg machine guns and special silent Val assault rifles; Dragunov sniper rifles (SVD) and Vintorez were still supplied. But less and less funds were allocated for scientific research, and with the launch of the reform, the military department, as the main customer, became much more selective in procurement matters, which complicated an already difficult situation.

The same "Molot" was forced to develop along the path of producing civilian products, producing, for example, cans for petroleum products. Portable guided anti-tank systems, automatic mounted and hand-held anti-tank grenade launchers were practically not produced. There remained, of course, the civilian weapons segment: the production of smooth-bore pump action shotguns of the Bekas-M series and Vepr carbines continued. However, there was no need to talk about profitability: in the same 2008, the plant’s capacity utilization was less than 50%, and over the next year the plant accumulated 300 million rubles. wage arrears.

"Russian Technologies" have taken over the shooting industry. But there was no clear idea of what to do with it. “When Sergei Chemezov (head of Russian Technologies - Dengi ) announced that Izhmekh, Imzhash and Molot produced the same type of products, so the latter would be closed, it was an economically sound decision,” says Dengi’s source in Military-Industrial Commission under the Government of the Russian Federation. “However, when it came to the fact that a joint venture with the Italian Beretta would be created on the vacant area, the government realized that there was a risk of losing the industry completely.”

In August 2011, following an audit of Izhmash, nine companies of the group were declared bankrupt, in relation to another 11 enterprises, including OJSC Izhevsk Machine Plant, OJSC Concern Izhmash, DOJSC Izhevsk Arms Plant, OJSC Izhmashstanko ", OJSC "Izhmashenergo", creditors filed bankruptcy petitions. "Russian Technologies" had only to manage the process - not of the development of the largest enterprise in the industry, but of its bankruptcy. The result was a scandalous rally, which was attended by about 200 Izhmash workers to protest against wage cuts.

Foreign positions

The situation was aggravated by the constantly worsening attitude of the military towards domestically produced small arms. Let us recall that in January 2012, First Deputy Minister of Defense Alexander Sukhorukov said that the Ministry of Defense does not feel the need for firearms, since “the need for it is 115% covered.” And most recently, former Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov stated that Russia would try out the French FELIN soldier equipment. Along with the equipment, according to Dengi, a batch of FAMAS rifles will also be purchased, since these weapons are “tailored” for use with the equipment. “This is being done despite the fact that we have created domestic “Ratnik” equipment, which, according to the stated characteristics, is in no way inferior to the French,” says Denga’s interlocutor in the defense complex. “If they choose foreign equipment, then the weapons will be appropriate.” The military has experience in purchasing foreign products: for example, the Airborne Forces special forces already use Austrian Steyr Mannlicher sniper rifles - there are about 30 of them in service. In addition, Chief of the General Staff Nikolai Makarov once said that military snipers need small arms chambered for 38 Lapua Magnum (8.6×70 mm). At the same time, he noted that “we do not yet have the necessary rifle, and we will purchase weapons for snipers abroad.”

Enterprises tried to survive through exports. This allowed factories to receive up to $200 million a year in the mid-2000s. For the defense industry, these are crumbs.

But you can’t count on big contracts. According to a Denya source close to Rosoboronexport, the problem with promoting new types of weapons is always the same: “The buyer is primarily interested in whether the model he is interested in is in the country’s arsenal. If he hears a negative answer, the chances of selling the weapon are significantly reduced.”

Public-private circuit

Salvation for a seemingly dying industry came from where no one expected: Brussels. Former permanent representative to NATO Dmitry Rogozin, who was appointed on December 23, 2011 as Deputy Prime Minister in charge of the defense-industrial complex in the government, returned to Moscow. “Rogozin began to work very actively in all directions at once, at times it even seemed that he was scattered, without delving into the essence of the problems at hand,” says a source of “Money” in the government apparatus. “However, later he took control of the most crisis areas.” One of these areas was the shooting industry.

And one of Rogozin’s first initiatives was active lobbying for public-private partnerships in the defense industry. “This is the only way out that can pull the industry out of the crisis today,” emphasizes Denga’s interlocutor from the Military-Industrial Commission. However, only one result is visible so far: the revival of the small arms company ORSIS, part of Promtekhnologii. Until recently, Dmitry Rogozin’s son, Alexey, worked there as deputy general director. And although the latter had already changed his job, Rogozin Sr.’s warm attitude towards the company remained.

In many ways, this is what made it possible to promote the ORSIS brand in a short period of time. In particular, the ORSIS T-5000 high-precision sniper rifle is being actively tested by FSB and FSO units. It was this model that President Putin gave to Emomali Rakhmon for his 60th birthday. Experts consider the rifle promising: the declared characteristics for long-range shooting efficiency are almost twice as high as the SVD (1500 m versus 800). In addition, ORSIS produces Russian-Italian Strizh pistols, as well as Glock (assembled under an Austrian license), which can be put into service, but still need improvement. However, the few examples of successful partnerships can hardly indicate the recovery of the industry.

The problem of both the army and gunsmiths is that there are a lot of small arms, but old models
Photo: Reuters

On Rogozin’s initiative, an interdepartmental working group - a laboratory - was created to develop technical requirements for small arms. It should be responsible for developing promising technical requirements for combat equipment of military personnel and its individual systems and conducting tests in conditions close to real ones. “The main criterion for assessing the quality of products will be effectiveness in combat,” Rogozin wrote on Twitter, through which the Deputy Prime Minister especially likes to convey his thoughts to the general public.

The idea, experts say, is generally correct: the laboratory will present the tested product to the customer. But financial affairs are unlikely to improve: orders from the Russian special services for weapons are limited, and the Ministry of Defense is in no hurry with orders. It will take quite a long time to enter the world market. By 2020, about 3 trillion rubles have been promised for the modernization of the military-industrial complex, some part of this amount will probably go to small arms manufacturers. But even if they are able to revive production, it will take several years to fine-tune it.

Russian small arms developments are still based on Soviet reserves. “New players are constantly appearing on the global market, and competition is growing even from countries such as Singapore, South Africa and China,” says Sergei Denisentsev, an expert at the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies. “Much will depend on how the brand’s new products are promoted.” Kalashnikov" and also on the fate of the T-5000 sniper rifle." According to him, the sniper weapons market has its own rules and regulations: there are companies with a century-old history and their own pool of customers. “The only major success was the conclusion of a contract with Venezuela in 2005, when we agreed to build a plant for the production of Kalashnikovs of the 100th series,” the expert notes, adding that this was largely a political decision.

The situation with the arrival of Sergei Shoigu as Minister of Defense is unlikely to immediately improve relations between the military and industry, although a certain thaw is possible.

A year ago, Dmitry Rogozin invited Mikhail Kalashnikov to be his advisor on small arms. It is not known how useful the advice of the famous elder of the shooting industry turned out to be, but it is too early to write off his name. “Izhmash and Izhmekh, with all due respect, are not brands. Kalashnikov is a brand,” Rogozin recently said. The question, however, is what will be produced under this brand.

You can't lure with a Kalash