AK-47 maker takes to the skies and the seas

Sniper riffle display at Kalashnikov Group Pavilion on the 3rd day of International Defense Exhibition and Conference held at ADNEC Exhibition Center in Abu Dhabi.

Kalashnikov, the company that spawned the ubiquitous AK-47 rifle, is branching out into a diverse range of products including elegant hunting weapons, boats, and even drones. 
On display at the company's stand at IDEX, Kalashnikov displayed one of its small surveillance drones - the 7.5 kg Zala 421-16E2 - that is hand launched and has a range of up to 30 kilometers. The model competes with similar American and European drones for a rapidly growing market. 
Also on offer are a number of boats built by a Kalashnikov subsidiary, Rybinsk Shipyard, which include patrol boats, hydrographic survey ships for the Arctic and assault landing craft designed to carry troops in combat. 
While Kalashnikov Concern - officially known as Izhevsk Mechanical Plant until 2013 - has been producing weapons since the early 1800s, it rose to worldwide recognition in the late 1940s, when the AK-47 design produced by a wounded young Red Army soldier, Mikhail Kalashnikov, was adopted by the Soviet Army.  
During the decades of the Cold War, hundreds of millions of AK-47s, its successors and a plethora of licensed and unlicensed versions were produced, rapidly becoming one of the most common - and most iconic - weapons of the modern age. Well known for its ease of use and reliability, the AK-47 became the assault rifle of choice both of guerrilla movements and the governments they were fighting.
An AK-47 adorns the flag of Mozambique, where the rifle is closely associated with the country's struggle against its Portuguese colonisers. The weapon is also displayed on the flag of Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group. The weapon is so ubiquitous that it made the Guinness Book of World Records as the most widely used assault rifle on the planet-in service in more than 100 countries.
But now, more than 20 years after the Berlin Wall crumbled, the Soviet Union collapsed and the Cold War ended, Kalashnikov is diversifying, moving past its traditional focus on military assault rifles. 
New Territory 
Speaking at IDEX, Vladimir Dmitriev, Deputy CEO for Sales and Marketing, noted that the expansion began when the company fell under new ownership. 
"In the last couple of years, a private owner came to the company and we came under stakeholders, so the company got a push towards rapid and fast development," he said. "While small arms is our traditional territory, we are now also working at sea and in the air." 
The company now has a subsidiary company - Zala Aero - which specialises in building unmanned aerial vehicles. 
"It's the best Russian manufacturers of unmanned aerosystems,"  Dmitriev said. "It's a special territory for us, and it's strategically important." 
Additionally, the company has moved into the civilian firearms market. At IDEX, Kalashnikov displayed a number of shotguns and bolt-action hunting rifles designed for non-military usage, some of them made by another subsidiary, Baikal. 
"These are only civilian versions," he said. "Hunting is native territory as well. We produce a wide range of hunting weapons, something like 400,000 a year." 
"In Russia we dominate (the civilian market), owning more than 85 per cent of the domestic market together with Baikal," he said. 
"But because of sanctions we've had to refrain from direct sales in the US, which is traditionally the biggest market for civilian weapons," Dmitriev added. "We still have some contacts with European distributors.  We're looking at the the Middle East and Asia as strategic areas for us, and we are trying to (make inroads into) Latin America's market." 
In the future, Dmitriev said the company will continue to diversify - and plans to capitalise on the company's famous name by selling memorabilia and other items. 
"We cannot depend only on military weapons, so we'll continue to explore the civilian area," he said. "We're looking at the Kalashnikov Brand itself through items we couldn't display at IDEX, such as souvenirs and merchandise." 
bernd@khaleejtimes.com