Kalashnikov Manufacturer Faces Bankruptcy

[derby378]

Source: Der Spiegel

It produces the most popular automatic rifles in the world but the company that makes the Kalashnikov, or AK-47, is in trouble. It has had to deal with a slump in arms exports and competition from the makers of copycat versions around the world. Now a shady businessman has filed bankruptcy proceedings against the company...

According to Izhmash Arms' parent company, the Rosoboronexport State Corporation -- which has a monopoly on supplying Russian arms to the international market -- there are about eight countries in which dozens of business are making their own versions of the Kalashnikov. And they are doing this without passing on any licensing fees to the Russians.

And now it appears that the financial difficulties facing the weapons manufacturer have reached crisis point: its very existence is threatened. A businessman in Izhevsk has filed a motion to declare Izhmash Arms bankrupt because of outstanding debts of around 8 million rubles (around €180,000 or $265,000). The case has caused a sensation in Russia because for a long time the Russian armaments industry has been one of the only industries considered competitive on an international basis. And Izhmash, which was founded in 1807 by Russia's royals, is one of the largest firearms manufacturers in Russia.

However, arms exports have fallen dramatically over the past year, falling from around $10.8 billion (€7.4 billion) worth of weaponry in 2007 to a mere $3.5 billion (€2.4 billion) in 2008. According to Ruslan Pukhov, director of the Moscow-based Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, every second Russian arms maker is now in danger of bankruptcy. In fact work at one of Izhmash's factories stopped recently due to lack of state orders for their product. "The companies have not had big orders for a long time," the newspaper Gazeta quoted various industry experts. "Izhmash Arms is no exception." A lot of the factories have asked for state aid during the financial crisis, but mostly their requests have been fruitless.

Read more: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,652043,00.html

[derby378]

1. Take a good look at who's apparently behind this scheme

According to the article, it's a political associate of Vladimir Zhirinovsky, neo-fascist and legend in his own mind.

[pattmarty]

2. What was it that Samuel L. Jackson said about the "AK" in Jackie Brown??

:sarcasm:

[comtec]

7. When absolutely, positively every mother fucker in the room has to die

[Craftsman]

3. Ship them to us inTX we will take them off your hands.

[Blue_Tires]

4. i imagine the cheap-assed knockoffs finally eclipsed them...

a shame they built such a durable and long-lasting weapon...should have planned some obsolescence in....

[derby378]

5. That's the last thing you want to saddle a soldier in the field with, though

This is Iszmash, not General Motors. Kalashnikov had become irritated with the unrealiability of Soviet automatic weapons during World War II. During his convalescence from shrapnel wounds, however, he was able to do something about it with the help of a team of designers, a Sturmgewehr 44 captured from the Germans, and Kalashnikov's own genius with mechanical tinkering.

[comtec]

6. Despite my diatribe in another forum... I have mixed feelings

I mean, they are a decent weapon for collectors, etc.
on the other hand, they've killed millions, possibly a billion, over the decades.

it's been the murdering tool of choice for ages. it's durability and accuracy to 500 feet has made it when you have to kill every mother fucker in the room.

No single fun design has lasted so long, murdering soo many people, reliably, for so many despots as the AK.

The M-16 isn't half the gun the AK is.

Favored by the chinese, North Koreans, soviets, afghanies, et al.

The weapon terrorists rely on IS the AK-47.

on the one hand... awwww, it's the end of an era.

on the other... YAY it's the END OF THE AK-ERA!

Mind you i'm sure Al qieda will still be using the AKs from their dead comrades for decades to come.

[derby378]

8. Damning with faint praise?

I don't blame the AK for killing all those people in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Peru, Columbia, etc. I blame the arms dealers who sold their soul in order to trade with dictators, terrorists, and cheap thugs. I blame the economic collapse in Russia that drove desperate base commanders to "misplace" their stockpiles of AKs in exchange for cash to pay their troops so they could eat.

There are plenty of legitimate collectors and enthusiasts in the US, Switzerland, etc. who would have gladly taken the de-milled rifles and rebuilt them with semi-auto receivers. This didn't have to happen the way it did.

[saigon68]

9. The SKS is a much better deer rifle

The milled receiver is much more accurate.

The Russian version is the best or the East German if you can find one.

The stock is longer for a larger person, unlike the stock on the Chinese copy which is suited for someone 5 foot nothing.