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Konstruktorskoye Byuro Mashynostroyeniya (KBM) awarded with Lenin Order and Red Banner Order was founded under Resolution of State Defence Committee No. 1576 dated 11 April 1942 specially for development of mortar armament.
For 60 years KBM has been a unique defence enterprise in this country and in the world developing and manufacturing modern weapons in different areas of armament and military equipment.
KBM was the first in USSR to develop mortar armament - special kind of artillery that gave a good account of itself and played a very important role in winning the Great Victory in 1945.
For the first time in USSR the enterprise developed and manufactured anti-tank guided missile systems featuring unrivalled technical and operating performance.
KBM was the first in the country to develop a remarkable class of air defence guided missile systems - light and man-portable missiles provided the Army with a lethal weapon to fight against enemy combat aircraft.
The history of KBM holds many records of outstanding achievements:
in mortar armament - up to 80% of mortars of our Armed Forces used in Second World War were developed by KBM. In the post-war period (1947-56) a system of mortar armament of Soviet Army was completely developed; the system fitted ideally the structure "company-batallion-regiment-division-army-front" and was concluded by development of the most powerful mortar in the world - 420 mm self-propellant mortar "Oka". In mid 50s the first USSR antitank recoilless guns B-10 and B-11 entered the service.
in antitank armament (ATGM) - the first USSR ATGM "Shmel" and the most wide-spread in the world "Malyutka" system were developed by KBM, one channel control concept was implemented; the first in the world tank guided projectile fired from a tank gun. In 70s-80s the first in the world supersonic antitank missile "Shturm" for multi-purpose armament system of Ground Forces with "Shturm-V" (helicopter) and "Shturm-S" (self-propelled) systems was developed.
in MANPADS - KBM is the world leader and the sole enterprise in Russia that develops systems of this type capable to engage low-attitude fixed-wing and rotor-wing aircraft. KBM research in this direction started in the 60s gave rise to a brilliant series of MANPADS: "Strela-2" (first in the USSR), Strela-2M, "Igla-1", "Igla", "Igla-S"; in this connection some problems have been solved - head-on firing, resistance to thermal countermeasures, salvo firing. "Igla" system enjoys deserved popularity and is in service with many foreign armies. The latest system of this type "Igla-S" which is more effective than "Igla" system is in service with the Russian army. At the present time a lot of requests for "Igla-S" procurement have been received from many countries.
in theatre ballistic missile systems - KBM bears the palm concerning theatre ballistic missile systems of high precision and effectiveness. Beginning from 70s "Tochka", "Tochka-U" TBM and "Oka" TBM entered into service with the Army. It is enough to say that "Tochka" became the first in the wold mobile high-precision TBM and "Tochka-U" TBM demonstrated its brilliant performance at the international exhibition "IDEX 93" in Abu-Dhabi when during the demonstration firing a very high accuracy was achieved. "Oka" TBM that entered the service in 1980 had no equal in the world and aroused anxiety in the West but in 1987-89 was eliminated in pursuance of Soviet-American Treaty to destroy missile systems of medium and shorter range. Today, making the use of abundant experience in designing articles in this direction the enterprise is taking intensive efforts to design "Iskander-E" TBM that would surpass all counterparts.
in active protection systems - KBM has solved the most challenging technical problem: "Arena-E" APS intercepts targets most dangerous for armoured vehicles which allows to raise their survivability rate in the battlefield.
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