Director General of JSC Rosoboronexport (part of the Rostec State Corporation) Alexander Mikheev attended the unveiling of a monument to the legendary small arms designer Mikhail Kalashnikov.

“Looking at the monument that has been unveiled today I recollect Mikhail Timofeyevich saying that the dream of all people, including him, was peace and reconciliation on our planet, tranquility and happiness of our fellow citizens. The words reveal, in the best possible way, the true nature of this legendary person, who spent the last years of his life working as an Adviser to Director General of Rosoboronexport. He can be credited with setting the company with a number of countries, who had never cooperated with Russia on small arms before”, - Director General of Rosoboronexport Alexander Mikheev said.

During his long career Lieutenant General Mikhail Kalashnikov, Doctor of Engineering, two-time Hero of Socialist Labor, Hero of the Russian Federation, developed over 30 various variants of the weapon, many of which have become the most popular in their respective market segments. This year the legendary AK-47 marks its 70th anniversary. Kalashnikov assault rifles are currently in service with almost 100 foreign militaries, whose number grows continuously.

“Kalashnikov assault rifles enjoy the greatest demand with foreign customers of all Russian-made small arms. In the course of its activities, Rosoboronexport has exported more than a million various rifles. Our assistance has also enabled a number of countries to launch the AK licensed production. Over 15,000 Kalashnikov weapons have been built under license in 2017, bringing the total of rifles produced since 2001 up to several hundred thousand”, - Alexander Mikheev added.

At present Rosoboronexport promotes AK-74M and AK-100 family of rifles (AK-101, AK-102, AK-103, АК-104 and АК-105) in the international market. The global market also expects brand-new variants of the AK rifle to be presented soon. Some of the company’s partners have already shown interest in these weapons.

“Asia-Pacific, Middle Eastern, African and Latin American countries are interested in the AK assault rifles. In 2017 we have concluded 7 contracts for supplies of more than 100,000 of various AK weapons and have entered talks on supplies of the rifles with a number of other customers”, - Alexander Mikheev noted.

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