Today, a general meeting of the Union of Russian Armourers named after M.T. Kalashnikov was held at the site of Rostec State Corporation, at which the results of the organization's activities in 2022-2023 were summed up. Bekhan Ozdoev, Industrial Director of the cluster of conventional weapons of Rostec State Corporation and a member of the Bureau of the Union of Machine Builders of Russia, spoke about the difficulties faced by domestic manufacturers of small arms, legislative initiatives in the industry and the successes that Russian gunsmiths have managed to achieve in recent years.
"In the current conditions, the rifle industry plays one of the main roles in protecting the interests of the Fatherland. Despite serious problems with the demand for mass–produced products, it is necessary to continue to pay enough attention to its modernization and adaptation to modern requirements, import substitution," Bekhan Ozdoev stressed.
Among the significant achievements over the past year, Rostec's industrial director noted the delivery of a batch of Lebedev modular pistols to trial operation and the completion of testing of the Chukavin sniper rifle.
Bekhan Ozdoev called the development of the Research Institute of Applied Chemistry and the NGO "Device" of weapons complexes to combat drones a good example of productive work.
Bekhan Ozdoev also highlighted the serial production of a line of IGLA cartridges from the Research Institute of Applied Chemistry, in the production of which only domestic raw materials and components are used..
The IGLA line includes a wide range of 12–caliber cartridges: sports cartridges for all disciplines of bench shooting IGLA Champion, hunting shotgun cartridges and cartridges with IGLA Optimum and IGLA Premium buckshot, container-free - IGLA Bior, hunting cartridges with a light element for visualizing the flight of the IGLA Vector shotgun projectile.
Vladimir Zhikharev, Executive Director of the Union of Russian Gunsmiths, spoke about the main activities of the organization, such as the formation of a regulatory legal framework, the expansion of the shooting infrastructure and the creation of a positive image of the industry.
"The work of the executive directorate was based on a planned basis based on the statutory goals and solving operational tasks, including improving conditions for the development of the shooting industry," he explained.
Vladimir Zhikharev particularly noted legislative initiatives aimed at strengthening the positions of domestic producers. Thus, in 2022-2023, the Executive Directorate of the Union took part in the development and maintenance of over 40 regulatory legal acts of various legal force.
In addition, Vladimir Zhikharev spoke about the preparation and holding of the first All-Russian weapons forum in October last year. Within its framework, the topics of the development of shooting sports, military-patriotic education using weapons, digitalization of the shooting industry and others were discussed.
The representative of the Union also noted the work on improving regulatory and technical documents for the development of shooting infrastructure. In particular, this topic was discussed at the scientific and practical conference on topical issues in the field of small arms, which the Executive Directorate annually conducts jointly with Izhevsk State Technical University.
