The anniversary of Mikhail Kalashnikov.
On November 10, 1919, Mikhail Timofeevich Kalashnikov was born - an outstanding small arms designer, creator of the world-famous assault rifle that bears his name, twice Hero of Socialist Labor, Hero of the Russian Federation, recipient of the Lenin and Stalin Prizes.
From an early age, Mikhail Kalashnikov showed an interest in technology and exact sciences. In 1938 he was drafted into military service, where he enthusiastically began to work on improving the existing weapon models.
Even before the start of the war, he developed an inertial fire counter for a tank gun, a tank engine resource counter and a device for firing a TT gun through the slots of a tank turret.
The development of the engine resource counter was especially appreciated by the command of the Kiev military district, where he served, and it was planned to go into production. For this development, Mikhail Kalashnikov was awarded a personalized watch by the commander of the Kyiv Military District, Georgy Zhukov.
At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the tank commander Kalashnikov was seriously wounded in a battle near Bryansk.
During his stay in the hospital, he came up with the idea of creating an automatic weapon for small arms and immediately after discharge he started working. The result of his efforts was a submachine gun that was lightweight, had a single fire mode and a convenient design. However, it was not adopted due to high production costs.
Nevertheless, the young designer's talent was recognized by the Main Artillery Directorate of the Red Army, after which Kalashnikov was sent to work at the main scientific research range for small arms and mortar weapons of the Red Army's Main Artillery Directorate.
In 1945, a competition was announced to develop an automatic rifle for the Red Army. Mikhail Kalashnikov decided to participate.