The AK-47, the most fired rifle in history, turns 75 in the Ukrainian trenches

The AK-47, the most fired rifle in history, turns 75 without losing its validity, as demonstrated in the current war in Ukraine, where both sides continue to use it, although it barely appears officially in their arsenals.

“Mikhail Kalashnikov was a true patriot. He invented the rifle just to defend himself from the enemy“, Nelli, eldest daughter of the legendary gunsmith (1919-2013), told EFE a few years ago.

The first rifle designed by Kalashnikov entered service in the Soviet Army on June 18, 1949, in the middle of the Cold War.

The people’s weapon

The gunsmith of the former Soviet Union, then a modest sergeant, was impressed by an episode during the Great Patriotic War (1941-45) in which a soldier died at the hands of the Germans because his weapon jammed.

Although its initial objective was to create an automatic rifle that would allow the Red Army to win the war, the AK-47 never fired against the German invader.

The first AK made its name for its simplicity and its resistance to the elements, water and sand. With only eight moving parts, it can be used by any fighter, child or adult, and can be disassembled in less than a minute.

The characteristics of the AK-47 have gone down in history: 4.3 kilos of weight, 30 rounds of ammunition, 800 meters of range and a rate of fire of 600 rounds per minute.

Since 1949, more than 100 million units of this rifle have been manufactured, according to Russian sources, which represents 15% of the total volume of light weapons in service in the world.

Although only twelve countries have a production license – China and North Korea, among them – there are many countries that manufacture it, have clandestinely transferred the technology or openly use its parts to design modified rifles, including Western countries.

Its popularity in certain corners of the planet was so great during the liberation wars that the Kalashnikov, ideal for guerrilla warfare, was included in the flags and emblems of several countries (Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Burkina-Faso or East Timor).

In the Ukrainian trenches

The AK-47 was adopted by armies of 55 countries, but much has happened since 1949. The Kalashnikov state corporation itself, which now also manufactures assault drones, has since designed the AKM, the AK-74, the AK-15 and the AK-12, among others.

In fact, the consortium, which is under Western sanctions, signed with the Army in 2021, on the eve of the start of the Russian military campaign in Ukraine, a three-year contract for the supply of light weapons.

Last April Kalashnikov announced the delivery to the Ministry of Defense of a batch of renewed AK-12 assault rifles, which includes a dioptric telescopic sight and a bidirectional safety device.

Kalashnikov highlights that the combats within the framework of what is known as the special military operation demonstrated that the AK-12 had to be perfected to do so.lighter”, improve its ergonomics and facilitate its use.

According to official sources, the consortium provided the Russian Armed Forces with twice as many AK-12 rifles in 2023 as in the first year of the war in Ukraine.

US authorities also announced in April that they would supply the Ukrainian army with some 5,000 AK-47 rifles from their own arsenals.

Kalashnikov’s sin

Although his surname is known throughout the world, this fame caused Kalashnikov remorse, who before dying wrote a letter to the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, since he understood that he had created “a weapon that killed people all over the world”.

“The pain I have in my soul is unbearable. An unanswered question echoes again and again: since my rifle killed so many people, am I, Mikhail Kalashnikov, 93 years old, son of peasants, Christian and of the Orthodox faith, guilty of their death, even if it is enemies ?“, the letter stated.

In the last years of his life, Kalashnikov, who has a statue where he poses with his invention in the center of Moscow, admitted to his descendants that “I was not ready“for the universalization of his invention as a weapon”against humanity” in the hands of terrorists.