Outstanding people || Kalashnikov Group

Outstanding people

Yevgeniy Fyodorovich Dragunov

February 20, 1920 – August 4, 1991

During his work in the Chief Designer’s Office at Izhmash (now Kalashnikov Concern), Dragunov was personally responsible for 27 designs and acquired 7 inventor’s certificates. One of the Dragunov’s most famous creations is the SVD semi-automatic sniper rifle which became the standard issue weapon for army marksmen in 1963 and was subsequently recognized as the best sniper rifle of the 20th century.

Yevgeniy Dragunov was born on February 20, 1920 in Izhevsk into a family of gunsmiths.

In 1934, he enrolled at the Industrial Technical School, the institution that trained specialists for the local arms factory. Dragunov was a serious competitive shooter, and by the time of his graduation, he was already a first grade instructor. After finishing school, Yevgeniy was assigned to the Izhevsk Machine-Building Plant, where he began working as a manufacturing technician at the stock-making shop. His first project was developing the technology to update the bayonet for the Mosin rifle.

In the fall of 1939, Dragunov was drafted into the Red Army and sent to serve in the Far East. After two months of service, he was appointed to the school of junior AIR (artillery instrumental reconnaissance) officers. Shooting proficiency helped Yevgeniy in his further service. After graduating from the school, he was appointed its gunsmith. Upon the outbreak of the war, the institution became the Far Eastern Artillery School, and Dragunov became its chief gunsmith. He would serve in this position until his discharge in the fall of 1945.

In January 1946, Major Sergeant Dragunov returned to the Izhevsk Machine-Building Plant. The HR department decided to attach Yevgeniy to the Chief Designer’s Office as a research technician.

In 1948, the designer began the work to update the 1891/30 model sniper rifle with a PU sight on a 1942 mount developed by Dmitriy Kochetov. The resulting rifle was designated as MS-74. It boasted high precision and underwent range testing. The rifle was recommended for putting into production, but the project never progressed beyond that stage.

In 1949, Yevgeniy Dragunov developed and put into production the S-49, his first high-precision sporting rifle. In 1950, it helped the USSR national team set its first world record in shooting. That rifle was not yet fundamentally different from the standard army Mosin rifle.

In 1958, Dragunov was tasked with designing a semi-automatic sniper rifle that would use the regular 7.62×54R cartridge.

Later that year, he created the first sample, designated as SSV-58. The rifles produced at the Izhevsk plant aced the range tests and were recommended for military trials.

On June 3, 1963, after an array of modifications and tests, the weapon was adopted by the Soviet Army with the designation “7.62 mm Dragunov Sniper Rifle” (SVD). By creating the SVD, Dragunov laid extensive groundwork for the development of Russian sniper rifles. Since that time, the Izhevsk Machine-Building Plant has been producing the SVD. Its design spawned the popular Medved and Tigr hunting carbines.

In 1968, the TSV small-caliber rifle was developed under Dragunov’s leadership, intended for basic training of snipers. The rifle underwent trials, and a prototype batch was manufactured, but did not make it into mass production.

In 1971, Yevgeniy designed a compact submachine gun chambered in 9×18 Makarov, designated as PP-71, but this work would not be completed, as the Soviet Army, the plant’s only customer at the time, had gone sour on this weapon type. Only twenty years later, Dragunov went out of retirement to resume work on the PP-71 at the Izhevsk Mechanical Plant to which the development was transferred.

The last weapon he worked on was the Kedr (Russian acronym for Yevgeniy Dragunov Design) 9 mm submachine gun adopted by the Russian Interior Ministry after his death, and in 1994, the Klin SMG, based on the Kedr pattern, was adopted; both models are now being manufactured in Zlatoust.

In 1964, the 7.62 mm Dragunov sniper rifle was adopted by the Soviet Army. In 1969, he developed a semi-automatic carbine to use 7.62×54R hunting cartridges. In 1971–1973, he designed a 9 mm silenced submachine gun; in the 1990s, it would be produced under the Kedr and Klin designations.

In the early 1990s, Izhmash designers developed a version of the SVD with the buttstock folding to the right side of the receiver; in 1995, it would be adopted by the Russian Armed Forces as the SVDS 7.62 mm folding-stock rifle.

Several years later, a street named after the legendary gunsmith Dragunov appeared in Izhevsk.

Ivan Fyodorovich Beloborodov

December 23, 1909 – August 22, 1985

He was known at the plant as Iron Ivan for his willpower and toughness; his main traits were known to be insistence on high standards, commitment, firmness, and fairness. At the same time, he always had genuine concern for his subordinates.

Ivan Fyodorovich Beloborodov was born on December 23, 1909 in Spas-Demensk (now in the Kaluga Region) into the family of a railwayman. In 1935, after graduating from the Tula Mechanical Institute, he was assigned to Izhevsk. He would work at the forging shop of the Izhstal plant as the head of the technical office, foreman, deputy head, and, ultimately, head of the shop. In 1939, Izhstal was split into the Izhevsk Machine-Building Plant and Izhevsk Metallurgical Plant. The forging shop where Beloborodov worked became part of Izhmash, and he would spend his entire career there. Out of his 50 years devoted to the plant, for almost a quarter of a century, Ivan Fyodorovich had been the leader of a many thousands-strong team. None of his predecessors, three dozen of them, could boast such longevity at a top position at the plant.

The people who worked with Ivan Beloborodov and knew him personally would note that he had become a living legend, one of the brightest managers in the entire Soviet Union. His name is synonymous with a long era of top achievements in domestic industry, at the Izhevsk Machine-Building Plant, and the city.

The challenges of postwar construction and the need to strengthen the country’s defensive capabilities dictated that the production lines be updated and the output increased. Ivan Beloborodov devoted all his strength, willpower and indomitable energy to comprehensive technical reequipment of the enterprise. Under his leadership, the plant had been one of the country’s leaders in modernization, and many enterprises would adopt its experience.

Under the direction of Beloborodov, the motorcycle, small arms, machine-tool, metallurgical and precision mechanics shops were for all intents or purposes created anew. In the sixties, the country’s newest car assembly plant was built; thanks to that, Izhevsk made it to the next level of technical development. Complex challenges devised by the government, including mastering new product types, would be expedited, even if sometimes they would not match the profile of the enterprise. In particular, the production of electrovacuum devices (magnetrons) was established. On top of that, the plant had launched the production of telescopic sights and created a facility to manufacture solid-fuel meteorological missiles.

For self-denying work during the years of the Great Patriotic War and successfully meeting production plans in the postwar period, the plant was awarded the Orders of Lenin, October Revolution, the Combat Red Banner and the Red Banner of Labor.

Ivan Beloborodov also paid much attention to social and housing construction, which went on to considerably change the image of Izhevsk. Hospitals, apartment blocks, schools and kindergartens were built under his supervision. Izhmash employees threw up to a thousand house-warming parties yearly.

Beloborodov also paid much attention to the development of sport. Izhmash owned the best infrastructure in the city, including the Zenit stadium and the Sports Hall with the first swimming pool in Izhevsk. The Izh Planeta sports club alone had prepared over four hundred athletes who would go on to obtain the Master of Sports rank.

Weapons made in Izhevsk helped Soviet shooters win the largest international competitions, and Izhevsk motorcycles had no equals in the country.

For his outstanding services, Ivan Beloborodov was awarded three Orders of Lenin, two Orders of the Red Banner of Labor, an Order of the October Revolution, and a number of medals; he had also been twice awarded the distinguished title of Hero of Socialist Labor.

Ivan Fydorovich died on August 22, 1985, and was buried in Khokhryakovskoye cemetery in Izhevsk, where a monument to him was erected.

On December 22nd, on the eve of his 105th anniversary, the relatives of Beloborodov and veterans of Izhmash laid flowers near the monument to honor the former director. Everyone had remembered their director as a kind, genial man.

Years later, Ivan Fyodorovich Beloborodov is still widely known as the legendary chief of Izhmash. His memory is cherished, and people are proud of his name, associated with long years of Izhevsk plant’s deserved glory.

Andrey Fyodorovich Deryabin

October 2, 1770 – June 26, 1820

The entire history of Izhevsk is tied to the figure of Andrey Deryabin, who is rightfully considered a great gunsmith and the founder of the third Russian armory that would become the largest. He was the chief of Izhevsk Armory and Steelworks in 1807–1809.

Andrey Deryabin was born on October 2, 1770 into the family of a deacon in the village of Deryabinskoye, Verkhoturskiy Uyezd, Goroblagodatskiy Okrug, Perm Governorate. After completing his studies at the Tobolsk theological seminary, Deryabin enrolled at the Saint Petersburg Higher School of Mining, from which he graduated in three years and was appointed to the Nerchinsk mines with the rank of Schichtmeister. From there, on the recommendation of his superintendent, he was sent abroad to study the mining experience of Germany, France, and England. Deryabin spoke perfect German, French, and English, which helped him become thoroughly familiar with technologies from various industries.

In 1798 he was appointed a member of the Mining Board, the highest governmental institution in Russia in charge of the mining industry; he was promoted to Oberbergmeister in 1799. An excellent expert in domestic and foreign metallurgy and toolmaking, Deryabin was considered the foremost mining specialist in the entire country. In 1800, he became a manager of the Office for Separation of Gold from Silver, and a Berghauptmann (a 6th class rank equivalent to colonel). In the fall of 1800, he was entrusted with overseeing the Kolyvan and Nerchinsk works. In 1801, he became the chief of the Goroblagodatskoye, Permskoye and Kamskoye mining administrations, as well as the manager of the Dedyukhinskiy saltworks. Deryabin was able to significantly improve their productivity in a short time. New mines were dug, ore deposits found, competent technicians and craftsmen recruited for the plants, factories built and rebuilt, and machinery improved. In 1802, he was promoted to Oberberghauptmann. In 1804, Deryabin submitted a detailed report to the government in which he suggested a number of changes in the management of the mining industry; he was subsequently charged with drafting the Mining Statute.

In 1804, the Committee on the Reorganization of the Mining Department was formed. Deryabin was summoned to Saint Petersburg so he could participate in the work of the committee. The first task of the new agency was to investigate the development of mining in Russia and the history of mining legislation. This task was entrusted to Deryabin, who, at length, presented to the committee his Historical Description of Mining Activities in Russia from the Most Remote Times to the Present Day.

The Committee fully agreed with the opinions expressed in his historical report. The Draft of the Mining Statute, written by Deryabin, was approved on July 13, 1806. At first, the new regulations were supposed to be introduced as an experiment over 5 years; then, they would be reviewed again before being finally approved. However, no revision followed; the Draft remained in force until the first edition of the Code of Laws and was included in it as a special statute. Upon the completion of the reforms, Deryabin was appointed head of the Goroblagodatskiy, Kamskiy and Bogoslovskiy iron and copper mines and works.

Breaking ground for an armory is considered to have been the second birth of Izhevsk. On the eve of Napoleonic wars, Deryabin began doing feasibility research for the construction of a new armory and looking for a suitable place. By 1805, he had developed the first project of an armory based on the old ironworks existing in the settlement of Izhevsk.

The decree of Emperor Alexander I dated February 20, 1807, read: “Charge Oberberghauptmann Deryabin with building a new armory on the river Kama to produce from 59 to 70 thousand melee weapons and firearms.”

The construction began In the summer of the same year. In 1807, Andrey Deryabin became the founder of the Izhevsk armory, known these days as the Kalashnikov Concern. In 1808, the factory was transferred to the Military Department.

Simultaneously with the construction of the armory, the first Izhevsk guns were being produced. Izhevsk artisans began supplying fusées, mortars, sabres, and broadswords to the Russian army; they went into use by 1812, at the outbreak of the military campaign against Napoleon. From then on, Izhevsk has been the largest small arms producer for Russia’s defense purposes.

Andrey Deryabin had been the chief of the Izhevsk works from 1807 to 1809. That was the time of the plant’s formation, and a strong impetus was given for its development. It was Deryabin who laid the groundwork of what the plant takes pride in to this day.

In order to staff the works with competent personnel, he recruited 134 foreign professionals. Those were German, Swedish, and Danish gunsmiths. Deryabin understood full well how difficult it was to shape forced laborers into skilled craftsmen. He wrote about the necessity of instructions and manuals to build up “familiarity with machines”. Deryabin became the founder of domestic toolmaking.

In 1810, he was summoned to Saint Petersburg to participate in the formation of the Department of Mining and Saltworks and the Mining Cadet Corps.

Deryabin was appointed head of the Department of Mining and, at the same time, director of the Mining Cadet Corps, formerly a mining school. The range of his new responsibilities was extremely wide, from mining problems to minting of coins and salt extraction.

In 1816, due to poor health, Deryabin was discharged from the state service and went on to live out his life as head of a factory in Gomel, which belonged to the State Chancellor Nikolay Rumyantsev.

Mikhail Timofeyevich Kalashnikov

November 10, 1919 – December 23, 2013

Mikhail Timofeyevich Kalashnikov was born on November 10, 1919 in the village of Kurya, Altai territory, into a large peasant family. In 1930, his father’s family was subjected to dekulakization and exiled to the Tomsk Region. As a schoolboy, Mikhail Kalashnikov was fascinated by the inner works of various mechanisms and developed keen interest in physics and geometry.

In the fall of 1938, he was drafted into the Red Army. Upon completion of the junior officers course, he became a tank mechanic and driver. Already at that time his talent was showing, as he designed an inertial tank gunshot counter, a tank engine life counter, and a device for the TT pistol which allowed for more efficient firing through the narrow slots in the tank turret. Major Sergeant Mikhail Kalashnikov’s tour of duty in the Great Patriotic War started in August 1941, and in October he was gravely wounded in action near Bryansk. On his six-month leave for health reasons, he developed his first submachine gun design. The prototype was made in the railway workshops of Matay station in Kazakhstan where he had been working for some time before the war. Within three months, Kalashnikov managed to produce the first sample of his submachine gun. It was first evaluated by Major General Anatoliy Blagonravov, head of the Dzerzhinskiy Artillery Academy. Pointing out some design flaws, he, however, noted the undoubted talent of the beginner gunsmith and recommended assigning Kalashnikov for technical training.

In July 1942, Mikhail Kalashnikov arrived at the small arms and mortar proving growing of the Moscow Military District where his SMG was subjected to full-scale trials; however, due to high production costs and certain shortcomings, it was not adopted for service.

In 1945, Kalashnikov took part in the competition to design an automatic rifle for the 1943 intermediate cartridge. After a series of head-to-head trials in 1947, the AK was recommended for adoption by the Soviet Army. In 1948, the young designer was deployed to Izhevsk to put the prototype into production and manufacture a batch for army trials. In early 1949, the Izhevsk Machine-Building Plant began mass production of the new assault rifle that was destined to become the gun of the century. The weapon was officially designated as “7.62 mm Kalashnikov assault rifle of 1947 (AK)”, and the young designer was awarded the Order of the Red Star and the First Degree Stalin Prize “for the development of a weapon design”.

Over the years, the AK had been further developed into the updated AKM, also chambered in 7.62×39, and the modernized AKMS with a folding buttstock. After transition to the new 5.45×39 mm cartridge, another large family of Kalashnikov rifles emerged, including AK-74, AKS-74U, and AK-74M. Among Kalashnikov’s developments are the 7.62 mm RPK and RPKS light machine guns, as well as the 5.45 mm RPK‑74 and RPK‑74M light machine guns. In the early 1960s, his general-purpose machine gun chambered in 7.62×54R was adopted by the Soviet Army. In the early 1970s, Mikhail Kalashnikov created the Saiga semi-automatic carbine following the pattern of the AK assault rifle. In total, the Kalashnikov design bureau created over a hundred designs of combat weapons.

The AK and its modifications are now the most common small arms in the world. Over 60 years, more than 70 million Kalashnikovs of various modifications have been produced. According to many experts, the AK is the benchmark for reliability and ease of maintenance. It is the only modern weapon whose image is found on coats of arms and flags of several countries, as a symbol of the struggle for their independence.

Decorated with numerous awards, Mikhail Timofeyevich Kalashnikov would spend over 60 years working at the Izhevsk plant which is honored to bear his name today. Even in his last years, severely ill, he would still go to work, take part in the creation of the Concern and the development of new weapons. In November 2013, his health drastically deteriorated, and a month later, on December 23, 2013, he passed away. Mikhail Kalashnikov’s entire life was spent in faithful service to the Motherland. He was true to his calling as a weapon designer and devoted to building up the power and glory of Russian arms. The blessed memory of Mikhail Timofeyevich Kalashnikov will forever remain in our hearts.

Sergey Ivanovich Mosin

April 14, 1849 – February 8, 1902

On April 16, 1891, Emperor Alexander III approved the pattern of the famous Russian "3-line" rifle. The Decree of the War Department dated May 11 announced “the introduction of a new clip-fed reduced-caliber rifle”. The designer of this weapon was Sergey Ivanovich Mosin. The brainchild of the Russian gunsmith went on to be a faithful, reliable companion of our soldiers in five wars: the Russian-Japanese, World War I, Civil, Soviet-Finnish and the Great Patriotic War. Its production was launched in 1891 and ended in 1944. Russian soldiers had been seeing the enemy in the sights of the Tryokhlineyka for over half a century!

Sergey Mosin was born on April 2 (14 New Style), 1849 in the village of Ramon (Voronezh Governorate) into the family of retired Lieutenant Ivan Ignatyevich Mosin, a manager of a noblewoman’s farm and sugar factory, and his wife, a peasant woman.

The future gunsmith graduated with honors from the Voronezh Military School, and then, from the Mikhailovsky Artillery School. He graduated with the rank of captain and a gold medal. As it turned out later, the prestigious award was not the last one in the life of Mosin.

In 1875, Sergey Ivanovich was appointed to the Tula Armory as head of the toolmaking shop. He first showcased his designer talent in 1878, when he took part in the competition to determine the accuracy of the sighting line for 1870 model rifles. Was the then-staff-captain successful? Alas, it is unknown, as test results have not survived to this day.

In the late 19th century, the main firearm of the Russian Army was the rifle designed by Hiram Berdan, in common parlance, the “Berdanka”. Despite its many advantages, it had one big flaw, being a single-shot. Mosin undertook to correct this drawback; by summer of 1883, he submitted several samples of rifles, equipped with rack-and-pinion butt-mounted eight-round magazines. The commission praised the new rifle but pointed out some shortcomings to the designer.

Sergey Ivanovich continued his work; in 1885, he showcased as many as five new versions. Mosin’s projects were approved, and the Military Department ordered a thousand of rifles for trials.

After news about Mosin’s invention, a rack-and-pinion butt-mounted magazine for rifles, spread, foreign manufacturers became interested in obtaining it. Agents of the Richter arms firm of Paris offered him at first 600 thousand francs, and then, a whole million. It was a colossal amount for the time. The gunsmith could have spent the rest of his life in pleasant, carefree luxury; however, Mosin rejected the lucrative offer. He was Russian and only worked in the interests of Russia.

In the late 19th century, the decision to rearm Russian soldiers was finally made. In 1889, the Russian Ministry of War began accepting designs by famous European gunsmiths. Besides the design by Russian gunsmith Sergey Mosin, the commission of the Ministry considered the works of such famous foreign designers as Frenchman Nicolas Lebel, Austrian Ferdinand Mannlicher and Belgian Leon Nagant.

Various models of rifles were brought to the proving ground. On command, soldiers would go to the range and start shooting. The rifles were not only tested for accuracy and rate of fire. They would be deliberately clogged up and then loaded with clean cartridges. They would also be submerged in salt water and put in a damp cellar. Other hard tests were invented, as anything can happen in war.

All foreign prototypes were, as the conclusion of the commission says, “unsatisfactory either because of the magazine design or because of insufficient strength and inconvenience of the bolt”. Only Mosin rifle did not fail. Its safety mechanism that eliminated the risk of double feeding was made in the form of an interrupter spring, and the stock could be disassembled without a screwdriver. The rifle became significantly lighter, faster and more reliable. Its effective range also increased.

In 1891, during the rule of Alexander III, the rifle, designated as the “3-line rifle of 1891”, was adopted by the Russian Imperial Army. A year later, Sergey Mosin was awarded with the Order of Saint Anna, 2nd Degree, and the Michael Prize, the highest award for inventions in the field of artillery and gunsmithing. For the first time, a weapon was not named after its creator. The rifle was in production until 1944 and stayed in service until the mid-1970s. In 1900, it was awarded the Grand Prix at the World’s Fair in Paris.

Sergey Mosin was an important figure in science and technology, an outstanding designer, technician and production manager in the field of mechanical engineering. The rifle he created contributed to the consolidation of the Russian Army’s fame as the best in the world. All its varieties were produced in Russia, at the Izhevsk plant. Mosin contributed a lot to putting his invention into production at our plant. He is remembered not only as an inventor of a most effective weapon. He is also credited with the establishment of domestic gun design school, as many famous gunsmiths called him their mentor. Largely thanks to Sergey Mosin, Russia became one of the leaders in military technology.

In 1894, Mosin was appointed head of the Sestroretsk Armory and commander of the garrison. This post he would hold until his death.

Sergei Ivanovich Mosin succumbed to croupous pneumonia January 26, 1902. Unfortunately, he was not destined to see the triumph of the weapon he created; for decades after his death, defenders of the Motherland would firmly clutch it in their hands.

Vasiliy Semyonovich Tarasov

December 26, 1923 – December 5, 2001

Vasiliy Tarasov was born on December 26, 1923 in Nizhnya Salda, Sverdlovsk Region into the family of a worker.

His biography combines the history of two factories, once parts of a single bigger enterprise, but later separated. These are the steelmaking plant and the armory, representing two leading industries of the Udmurt Republic: metallurgy and machine building.

He began his career in 1941 at the Salda Metallurgical Plant. In 1949, he graduated from the Ural Polytechnic Institute as a metallurgical engineer. Later the same year, he was appointed to the Votkinsk Machine-Building Plant (Udmurt Republic), where he worked as a shift supervisor, deputy head and then head of a shop.

In 1961, he was appointed head of production section in the metallurgy and machine-building department of the Udmurt Sovkhoz.

In 1963, he was transferred to Izhevsk Metallurgical Plant, where he worked as chief rolling master; in 1964, he became the secretary of the plant’s Party Committee. From 1965 to 1979, he was director of the plant and General Director of the Izhstal Production Association.

Under his leadership, a huge body of work was carried out to reequip the plant and transform it into one of Soviet Union’s most advanced metallurgical enterprises. The plant’s open-hearth furnaces were fully overhauled. Due to that and the introduction of state-of-the-art technological processes in steel melting, including those developed by the plant’s own engineers, Izhstal achieved the best performance in the USSR in terms of productivity, steel quality and furnace life without requiring crown repair. The use of oxygen and compressed air in steelmaking was widespread. Such advanced methods of smelting as electroslag and plasma remelting, as well as the treatment of melt with synthetic slags were further developed. A new electric steelmaking shop with two units for semi-continuous casting was constructed, and an electroslag and vacuum arc remelting section was built. This shop put out its first melt in December 1968. For the first time in the country, induction metal heating before wire drawing was developed and introduced; a new high-capacity 12-stand mill was installed; production of ultrathin silver steel wire, thin ribbon for camera shutter blades, and stainless steel foil was mastered.

In September 1980, Vasiliy Tarasov was appointed General Director of the Izhmash Production Association, which he headed until 1987. Under his leadership, the plant introduced new products, which to this day are the backbone of Baikal and Izhmash, brands of Kalashnikov Concern. These are the Los-7 hunting carbine, Ural 5-1, Ural 6-1 and Biathlon 7-2 sporting rifles, as well as CNC lathes.

During Tarasov’s work at Izhmash, the grandiose MSK-10 and MSK-14 buildings which housed large Izhmash subsidiaries, Izhmashstanok, Izhevsk Armory and Izhmash-Molot, were completed. Other developments included the MSK-15 building for the production of motorcycle engines and special equipment, the building of auxiliary shops and forge-and-press shop at Izhmash metallurgical complex, buildings and workshops at Izhevsk Automotive Plant, dozens of car service stations all over the country, and hundreds of thousands square meters of housing commissioned.

In 1995, Vasiliy Tarasov was awarded the title “Honorary Citizen of the Udmurt Republic”. He was an awardee of the State Prize of the USSR and the Prize of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, and an Honorary Citizen of the Udmurt Republic. In 1971, he became Hero of Socialist Labor. Tarasov was awarded the orders of Lenin (twice), the October Revolution, and the Red Banner of Labor (twice).

A memorial plaque devoted to him is installed at the Dolgiy Most entry gate of Izhstal Production Association in Izhevsk.