Mikhail Kalashnikov, the inventor of the iconic AK-47, has died at the age of 94. The announcement was made today on Russian state television, reports the BBC. According to RT, Kalashnikov had long suffered from heart-related problems, and was staying in intensive care at a facility in Izhevsk, Udmurtia, not far from the Izhmash plant where his rifles are designed to this day.
Kalashnikov, born on November 10th, 1919, will be best remembered for his contribution to assault rifle manufacture, with his Avtomat Kalashnikova is dead at 94 model 1947 becoming one of the most widely recognized — and used — rifles in history. While serving as a tank commander in World War II, RT reports, he discovered an aptitude for designing small arms after recuperating from an injury. By 1949, the Soviet Armed Forces had adopted the AK-47 based on its ease of use, reasonable accuracy, and durability.
Use of the weapon first spread along ideological lines, proliferating among armies and militias that had common cause with the Soviet Union. It sprung up in Vietnam in the 1960s and made its way to insurgencies in Africa and Latin America. The flag of Mozambique — an ensign adopted after the successful struggle of leftist guerrillas against Portuguese colonial rule — still features an AK-47 armed with a bayonet.
In 2011, Izhmash, the Russian manufacturer of the AK-47 family of weapons, said it was abandoning the design in favor of a new one for its next-generation assault rifles.
Kalashnikov's 90th birthday, in November 2009, was celebrated in Russia nearly like a national holiday. In a televised Kremlin ceremony, then-President Dmitry Medvedev decorated him with the country's highest order, the Hero of Russia.
Kalashnikov, born on November 10th, 1919, will be best remembered for his contribution to assault rifle manufacture, with his Avtomat Kalashnikova is dead at 94 model 1947 becoming one of the most widely recognized — and used — rifles in history. While serving as a tank commander in World War II, RT reports, he discovered an aptitude for designing small arms after recuperating from an injury. By 1949, the Soviet Armed Forces had adopted the AK-47 based on its ease of use, reasonable accuracy, and durability.
Use of the weapon first spread along ideological lines, proliferating among armies and militias that had common cause with the Soviet Union. It sprung up in Vietnam in the 1960s and made its way to insurgencies in Africa and Latin America. The flag of Mozambique — an ensign adopted after the successful struggle of leftist guerrillas against Portuguese colonial rule — still features an AK-47 armed with a bayonet.
In 2011, Izhmash, the Russian manufacturer of the AK-47 family of weapons, said it was abandoning the design in favor of a new one for its next-generation assault rifles.
Kalashnikov's 90th birthday, in November 2009, was celebrated in Russia nearly like a national holiday. In a televised Kremlin ceremony, then-President Dmitry Medvedev decorated him with the country's highest order, the Hero of Russia.
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