The 11 employees of Kalashnikov Concern and 3 employees of Izhevsk Mechanical Plant were featured on the 2020 list of scholarship recipients.
By Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 1381 dated December 22, 2012 "On Scholarships for Employees of Defense Industry Organizations of the Russian Federation", Scholarships of the President of Russia are awarded for achievements in creation of breakthrough technologies and development of advanced weapon systems.
Potential scholarship recipients are selected by an expert council formed by the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade. The pool includes those working under the Russian Ministry of Defense, Federal Space Agency, Rosatom State Corporation, Rostec State Corporation, federal executive authorities and leading industrial enterprises. The final list is approved by the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin.
Recipients of the scholarships were representatives of the Design and Technology Center, Chief Production Engineer Department, Weapons Production Division, Automation and Development Division, Toolmaking Division, and other divisions of Kalashnikov Group.
Despite the pandemic-related hardships of 2020, the development of components of a multifunctional mobile robotic weapon system was successfully completed, government trials of several production versions of the compact 9-mm PLK Lebedev pistol and the Kalashnikov PPK-20 submachine gun were carried out, and preliminary tests of the AK-19 and AK-308 rifles were conducted thanks to their work.