In the first decade of July, the Tula Machine-Building Plant, one of the largest enterprises of the defense industry complex in Russia, celebrates its 75 anniversary. What is seven and a half decades for a plant? This is probably a bit. But after all, age is measured not only by the number of years lived, but also by the number of useful things for the benefit of the Fatherland. This is equally true for a person and for an enterprise.
By 1939, the famous Tula weapons the plant turned into an enterprise with a complex multifaceted production, scattered in two large areas, torn from each other. In particular, the production of the first Russian Maxim machine guns, which began in 1904 on the territory of the Arms (Old) Plant, was organized in buildings specially constructed in 1914 on the territory of the so-called New Plant, which was five times larger than its production volume older brother.
On July 8, 1939, an order was signed by the People's Commissar of Armaments Boris Lvovich Vannikov on the creation of the Tula Machine-Tool Plant. The leadership of the People's Commissariat focused the new enterprise exclusively on the production of civilian products in order to make the plant one of the leading suppliers of modern metal-cutting machines for industrial sectors. However, life ordered otherwise: it forced the Soviet government in the shortest possible time to resolve the issues of strengthening the defense power of the state. On the eve of the war, the plant produced high-tech products, which is why the New Plant was entrusted with the production of the most difficult weapon to manufacture - aviation machine guns and cannons. This specialization actually predetermined the future of the new enterprise, which for many years has remained one of the leading manufacturers of weapons for the Ground Forces and the Naval fleet.The main test
Only two years of peaceful creative life was released to the young enterprise before the tragic day - 22 June 1941. The outbreak of the Great Patriotic War further tightened the working regime of the plant. Many engineers and workers moved to the barracks position: they worked in two shifts on the 11-hour schedule. Hundreds of workers, engineers and employees of the plant joined the ranks of the Red Army.
In October, 1941 announced the evacuation of the main production facilities to the east of the country. Plant Director Boris M. Shepherd personally supervised the loading of equipment on railway platforms. This was done in record time - just two weeks! Together with the workers in the cities in the Urals and on the Volga left the family of factory workers. In the days of the siege of the city, the machine-tool builders who remained in Tula by the German fascist invaders made a dimple tool for defensive work, repaired small arms coming from military units defending Tula.
In a short post-war time, the plant was revived. A wide range of peaceful products was set up: equipment for the oil, coal, forestry, and metalworking. Over time, the range of products manufactured by the Tula Machine-Tool Plant, has steadily expanded. By 1955, the production of a number of labor-intensive defense products was discontinued at the plant. Formed a kind of vacuum, fraught with the possibility of losing a number of highly skilled workers. The leadership of the USSR Ministry of Defense Industry, headed by Dmitry Ustinov, took measures to organize a new production. And soon a group of young factory designers created the first domestic motor scooter, which received the T-200 index. For a long time, the Tulitsa, the Tourist and the Ants motor scooters, famous in the USSR and outside the country, remained the most popular peaceful products.
Matter of life
But the main activity of the plant was and still is the release of weapons: from small-caliber art complexes and automatic cannons to high-precision anti-tank shells and air defense systems. The guns manufactured by JSC AK Tulamashzavod are installed on infantry fighting vehicles, armored personnel carriers and BMDs, on self-propelled anti-aircraft installations Tunguska and Pantsir, as well as many models of modern helicopters.
Pantsir-С1, which quickly gained wide recognition, allows you to organize an air defense system according to a two-tier principle on the basis of a universal complex of a near frontier and long-range complexes. During the development of mass production of the Pantsir-C1 tower installation at the plant, for the first time in domestic practice, it was created, equipped with developed and modernized equipment and introduced into production the technology of mechanical, heat treatment and assembly of large-sized thin-walled ring parts.
For thirty years, Tulamashzavod has been producing high-precision anti-tank shells of the ZUBK10M series, controlled by a laser beam and launched from the gun’s barrel. Recently mastered the serial production of modern ATGM "Arkan", designed to arm the BMD-4 airborne combat vehicle. "Arkan" at any directional angles of fire strikes Tanks, which form the basis of the fleet of the most developed countries, as well as airborne targets such as "hovering helicopter."
One of the most famous products is the Kashtan anti-aircraft missile and artillery complex (ZRAK). For the production of such weapons, the engineering plant had to master fundamentally new technologies that require the highest precision in the processing of materials. To date, production has become modern, highly automated, working on the principle of flexible technologies. The development of this SIC is a serial firing module of the Palma anti-aircraft artillery complex. Already, a number of new modern naval ships have these complexes in their equipment.
The military direction is still promising. An example of this is a sample of the Duet marine artillery system, which was developed at AK Tulamashzavod. The Duet, which has several times reduced radio-visualization, embodied the latest achievements of military production, such as the Stealth technology and the digital electric drive system. Firing two AO-18 submachine guns with a total rate of shooting up to 10 thousands of shots per minute or one submachine gun and rate of shooting up to 5000 shots per minute, respectively, increases its functionality. The duet's “Ammunition” is four thousand shots, which is two times higher than that of its counterpart - AK-630М (also produced by the Tula Machine-Building Plant). Thanks to the latest technologies incorporated in the design, the speed of guidance and its accuracy have increased, the combat effectiveness has more than doubled. The work on the creation of the Duet was financed exclusively from the funds of the enterprise itself.
Reserve for the future
At Tulamashzavod, the optimum ratio of military and civilian products is fifty-fifty. The company has long worked in accordance with the concept of dual technology. Now, the experience and intellectual potential accumulated in the defense industry are also used for the innovative development of civilian industries.
In addition to the main traditional industries, high hopes are placed on the production of new products. And above all, it is a mini-diesel, as well as traditional and new equipment based on it. Even 20 years ago, the first small-sized universal diesel engine was assembled at the Tula Machine-Building Plant. This event essentially became the beginning of the production of a whole range of products for various purposes. The product of the Tula machine builders began its march in the regions of Russia, the countries of near and far abroad. The scope of application of diesel engines is very wide. They can be used as drives for municipal and road-building equipment, compressors, pumping units, fire pumps and drain pumps designed for pumping water on ships of the Navy and the civilian fleet. The diesel engine turned out to be so efficient that they were interested in the military too, and now TMZ-450D was accepted for the supply of aircraft. For several years, diesel generator sets have served as sources of AC and DC power, including on-board networks of tanks and other armored vehicles with the main engine not operating. Unpretentious, reliable and durable Tula diesel engines are constantly expanding the geography of its application.
Today, the plant has successfully overcome the difficult stages of the reorganization of the economy and adequately fulfills government orders aimed at strengthening Russia's defense capability.