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MOSCOW (AP) — Mikhail Kalashnikov, whose work as a weapons designer for the Soviet Union is immortalized in the name of the world's most popular firearm, died Monday at the age of 94.

Kalashnikov once aspired to design farm equipment. But even though his most famous invention — the AK-47 assault rifle — sowed havoc instead of crops, he often said he felt personally untroubled by his contribution to bloodshed.

"I sleep well. It's the politicians who are to blame for failing to come to an agreement and resorting to violence," he said in 2007.

Kalashnikov died in a hospital in Izhevsk, the capital of the Udmurtia republic where he lived, said Viktor Chulkov, a spokesman for the republic's president. He did not give a cause of death. Kalashnikov had been hospitalized for the past month with unspecified health problems.

The AK-47 — "Avtomat Kalashnikov" and the year it went into production — is the world's most popular firearm, favored by guerrillas, terrorists and the soldiers of many armies. An estimated 100 million guns are spread worldwide.

Though it isn't especially accurate, its ruggedness and simplicity are exemplary: it performs in sandy or wet conditions that jam more sophisticated weapons such as the U.S. M-16.

"During the Vietnam war, American soldiers would throw away their M-16s to grab AK-47s and bullets for it from dead Vietnamese soldiers," Kalashnikov said in July 2007 at a ceremony marking the rifle's 60th anniversary.

The weapon's suitability for jungle and desert fighting made it nearly ideal for the Third World insurgents backed by the Soviet Union, and Moscow not only distributed the AK-47 widely but also licensed its production in some 30 other countries.

The gun's status among revolutionaries and national-liberation struggles is enshrined on the flag of Mozambique.

Kalashnikov, born into a peasant family in Siberia, began his working life as a railroad clerk. After he joined the Red Army in 1938, he began to show mechanical flair by inventing several modifications for Soviet tanks.

The moment that firmly set his course was in the 1941 battle of Bryansk against Nazi forces, when a shell hit his tank. Recovering from wounds in the hospital, Kalashnikov brooded about the superior automatic rifles he'd seen the Nazis deploy; his rough ideas and revisions bore fruit five years later.

"Blame the Nazi Germans for making me become a gun designer," said Kalashnikov. "I always wanted to construct agricultural machinery."

In 2007, President Vladimir Putin praised him, saying "The Kalashnikov rifle is a symbol of the creative genius of our people."

Over his career, he was decorated with numerous honors, including the Hero of Socialist Labor and Order of Lenin and Stalin Prize. But because his invention was never patented, he didn't get rich off royalties.

"At that time in our country patenting inventions wasn't an issue. We worked for Socialist society, for the good of the people, which I never regret," he once said.

Kalashnikov continued working into his late 80s as chief designer of the Izmash company that first built the AK-47. He also traveled the world helping Russia negotiate new arms deals, and he wrote books on his life, about arms and about youth education.

"After the collapse of the great and mighty Soviet Union so much crap has been imposed on us, especially on the younger generation," he said. "I wrote six books to help them find their way in life."

He said he was proud of his bronze bust installed in his native village of Kurya in the Siberian region of Altai. He said newlyweds bring flowers to the bust. "They whisper 'Uncle Misha, wish us happiness and healthy kids,'" he said. "What other gun designer can boast of that?"

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Bose said:

I dont see much similarity to the artist concept. If anything, it is more closer to the Tu-160 till the mid fuselage. Its from the mid-section that we see real changes with the (absence of) twin-podded engines (as seen on Tu-160) getting flushed with the (wider) fuselage, engine intakes on the upper fuselage and the twin slanted stablizers.

The fuselage as such is also chubbier than the Tu-160.

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Bose said:

so does difference in capability as Tu-160 carries almost double the payload at 40 tonnes.

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© RIA Novosti. Sergey Piatakov
02:47 24/12/2013

MOSCOW, December 23 (RIA Novosti) – The Russian Air Force plans to begin test flights of a new strategic bomber in 2019, the commander of the long-range fleet said Monday.

“Work on the bomber has been ongoing for less than a year, but the planning stage is now complete. Development work will begin in 2014, and the first test flights are scheduled for 2019. I think the aircraft should enter service in 2025,” Anatoly Zhikharev said in comments aired by television news network Rossiya-24.

The new bomber, known as PAK-DA (an acronym meaning “future long-range aircraft”), is planned to carry hypersonic missiles, a source told RIA Novosti in August. The bomber is also to feature modern stealth technology and be built by the Tupolev company in the Russian city of Kazan.

Zhikharev added that the air force’s existing long-range bombers would be overhauled with advanced avionics and electronic warfare systems in a two-stage process. Two Tu-160s have already been upgraded and are now entering service.

Russia’s strategic bomber force comprises one leg of its nuclear triad and consists of 63 Tu-95 variants and 13 supersonic Tu-160s, which combined can carry more than 850 cruise missiles. Russia also flies the intermediate-range Tu-22M, which will be included in the modernization program, Zikharev said.

The Tu-95MC is expected to remain in service until at least 2040. The Tu-95 first flew in the Soviet Union in 1956 and is powered by four NK-12 engines based on a Nazi wartime project and the most powerful propeller engine ever built.

Russia will also field a new tanker aircraft in 2018, Zhikharev said.

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Ria Novosti said:

MOSCOW, December 30 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s first Project 885M Yasen-class attack submarine, the Severodvinsk, was handed over to the navy on Monday, a defense industry source told RIA Novosti.

The submarine, designated as Graney-class by NATO, had been under construction at the Sevmash shipyard in northern Russia since 1993.

“The delivery acceptance certificate for the first Yasen was signed at Sevmash on December 30,” the source said.

The Severodvinsk is one of eight Yasen-class attack boats ordered by the Russian navy. The second and third subs of the series, the Kazan and the Novosibirsk, are being built under the updated Project 885M Yasen-M design.

The Severodvinsk has a submerged displacement of 13,800 tons, length of 119 meters, speed of 31 knots, and can dive to 600 meters. It has a crew of 90 including 32 officers.

Its main armament consists of 24 Oniks (SS-N-26) and Kalibr (SS-N-27) cruise missiles, self-guided torpedoes and mines.

Meanwhile, the Northern Fleet said Monday that the Smolensk, a Project 949A (Oscar II-class) nuclear-powered attack submarine, had rejoined the fleet after two years of repairs and upgrading at the Zvyozdochka shipyard in northern Russia.

Built in 1990, the Smolensk has a length of 155 meters, displacement of up to 24,000 tons, operating depth of 600 meters, and maximum submerged speed of 32 knots. It is armed with 24 P-700 Granit (SS-N-19 Shipwreck) supersonic cruise missiles with a range of 550 kilometers (300 nautical miles).

Another Oscar II-class attack submarine, the Voronezh, returned to the Northern Fleet in November 2011 after a similar overhaul.

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asif iqbal said:

Nice diagram! Why have they got so many Ocean minesweepers in the Black Sea fleet they should be better off on the Pacific Fleet

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