This refers to Devangshu Datta's column "Kalashnikov, the trigger man" (Quantum Leap, January 10). The Soviet Union did not make precision products. The rare exceptions were in the defence sector. Soviets spent massive amounts towards defence production. The result was the construction of an atomic bomb, the first satellite launch, the first man in space and the more enduring, low tech, world's most omnipresent firearm: the AK-47. The AK-47 is utterly reliable in the kind of adverse conditions that soldiers face in battle, and it was easy to operate. With more than 100 million copies in circulation, it is the best-selling assault rifle of all time. During the Stalinist terror, the Kalashnikov family had been denigrated as "kulaks" and forcibly removed to western Siberia and their home was razed. Kalashnikov got help from another captured German arms designer, Hugo Schmeisser. Schmeisser had produced an early assault rifle (the Sturmgewehr) for the Germans. The AK-47 bore a spooky resemblance to this rifle. Mikhail Kalashnikov and Russia might have designed the gun but others made the profits. It is reported that Kalashnikov would be the first to offer his hand to anyone who could create a better assault rifle than his. "But here I am, still standing with my hand outstretched."
H N Ramakrishna Bangalore
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