Brett Daniel Shehadey
Special Contributor for In Homeland Security
Mikhail Kalashnikov, inventor of the most widely sold gun in the world, dies at age 94. He is being celebrated as a hero in Russian media for his life and most well-known invention- the AK-47 or Avtomat Kalashnikov 47. Other variants included: the AKM, AK-74, AK-74M, etc.
Born in 1919, Mikhail Kalashnikov saw his own life through the eyes of a tank commander, a general and an inventor and as a USSR and later Russian Federation god of war. He was pinned such medals as: the Hero of the Socialist Labor, the USSR state prize, Lenin prize, Stalin prize, and the Hero of the Russian Federation. Kalashnikov rifles, or “Kalashinikovs,” as they often called by West, were seen everywhere by their enemies, guerrilla revolutionaries, terrorists, and rogue states. It was the weapon of communists and responsible for the some of the greatest amount of bloodshed in modern history.
Some quarter of a million deaths per year have been tied to Kalashnikovs but an exact tally since its first production is impossible. There are over one hundred million of them reported to have been made, not including the knock-offs. Since 1947, Kalashnikovs have been known for their rugged reliability, low cost and ubiquity.
Early on, countries like China, East Germany, Hungary, North Korea and Yugoslavia had free licenses to manufacture the weapon in their own states, in order to ensure the spread of Soviet export-led communism. Later on, countless states began the practice of knock-offs of the weapon and creating their own AK-47 replica models at fat cheaper costs and lower quality.
In the Middle East there became a “Kalashnikov culture” and in Africa it was known as the “African credit card” because you could not part your house without one. The weapons both ensured ones terror and ones protection in the third world- but mostly perpetuating an environment of corruption and terror around the world.
In 2007, President Vladimir Putin said, “The Kalashnikov rifle is a symbol of the creative genius of our people.” Can you picture an American president saying this about an “assault rifle” today?
The two states, Russia and the US, still have extremely different takes on national weapon systems and their designers. The former praising them and the later embarrassed by them- akin to treating them as anonymous industrial machines. While the Russians view them as a matter of strength, stability, celebrity, there is a growing sense of disassociation about small arms and larger systems within the USA.
Like it or not, the AK remains a major game changer in military history since just after World War II. With such a long life-span into the 21st century, the man and the rifle represent the end of an era in small arms, revolutions and warfare. Directed energy weapons and non-lethal small arms will likely give the war-fighter and policing powers the greater advantage in the future, in combination with other technological changes in robotics, cybernetics and exoskeleton platforms that will be the next big game changer.
Some Kalashnikov quotes:
“Blame the Nazi Germans for making me become a gun designer,” said Kalashnikov. “I always wanted to construct agricultural machinery.”
“It’s the politicians who are to blame for failing to come to an agreement and resorting to violence.”
“I would prefer to have invented a machine that people could use and that would help farmers with their work — for example, a lawnmower.”
“Let the politicians who start wars sleep badly.”
“I’ve designed my weapon to defend the borders of our motherland, and let it continue to serve this purpose.”
“I sleep very well, thank you.”