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| Mikhail Kalahnikov with the AK47 |
The creator of the AK47 is dead. According to Russian reports, inventor Mikhail Kalashnikov passed away on Monday after he was admitted to hospital with internal bleeding in November this year.
The AK 47, which stands for “Avtomat Kalashnikov.” is one of the world’s most familiar and widely used weapons. It is simple, cheap to manufacture and easy to maintain. Mikhail designed the AK47 after a fellow soldier asked why the Russians could not come up with a gun that would match the ones used by the Germans. Mikhail completed the work on the gun in 1947 and the Soviet army adopted the gun two years later.
The Russian inventor’s 1947 design was the standard equipment of the Soviet and Warsaw pact armies
With its distinctive curved magazine, the Kalashnikov became a revolutionary icon in the hands of militants and insurgents around the globe.
Mikhail Timofeyevich Kalashnikov was born on 10 November 1919 in western Siberia, one of 18 children.
In 1938, he was called up by the Red and his design skills were used to improve the effectiveness of weapons and equipment used by Soviet tank regiments.
He received many state honours, including the Order of Lenin and the Hero of Socialist Labour.
