Mikhail Kalashnikov, the renowned Russian arms designer, passes away, Viktor Chulkov, the press secretary of the president of Udmurt Republic, told ITAR-TASS on Monday.
Mikhail Kalashnikov was the first in the world to design a whole range of uniform samples of automatic small arms identical in terms of automatics, internal design and principles of operation. They were introduced in the armed forces on a broad basis.
The Kalashnikov submachine gun is used in more than a hundred countries. It has been included in the list of outstanding inventions of the 20th century. A new enterprise, the Kalashnikov concern, is now bearing Mikhail Kalashnikov's name. It has united the Izhmash plant and the Izhevsk mechanical plant under one brand.
He designed his most famous assault rifle in 1947. Since then over 70 million units all its modifications has been manufactured. Today the AK is used by security agencies of over 100 countries.