Nikolay Mikhailovich Afanasyev (; 14 November 1916 – 15 March 2009), also known as Nicolai Michaelovich Afanasiev, was a Russian

firearms A firearm is any type of gun that uses an explosive charge and is designed to be readily carried and operated by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see legal definitions). The first firearms originated ...

designer.Памяти Николая Михайловича Афанасьева
, ''КАЛАШНИКОВ. ОРУЖИЕ, БОЕПРИПАСЫ, СНАРЯЖЕНИЕ'' 2009/4, p. 24

Biography

Nicolai Michaelovitch Afanasiev was born in Russia on 14 November 1916 in

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

. In 1938 he graduated from a

Tekhnikum A tekhnikum () is a type of secondary vocational school in the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union, as well as in modern Russia, Ukraine and some other post-Soviet states The post-Soviet states, also referred to as the former Soviet Union or the ...

of the Mechanization of Agriculture. In 1939 he was drafted to serve in a tank corps in

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

, where he started to work on machine gun design. After the Nazi invasion of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, he volunteered for front-line service. He was allowed to be a fighter from September 1941 until the fall of 1942, when he was recalled to work on armaments, initially on improving fuses for 82- and 120-mm mortars. After 1948 Afanasiev worked at the

KBP Instrument Design Bureau JSC ''Konstruktorskoe Buro Priborostroeniya'' (KBP) ( Joint-Stock Company - Instrument Design Bureau) is one of the main enterprises in the field of Defense industry of Russia, Russian defense industry, based in Tula. It is engaged in designing ...

. He died on 15 March 2009.

Designs

* LAD machine gun – 1942 * Afanasev A-12.7 – 1950 * Afanasev Makarov AM-23 – 1953 * a

bullpup A bullpup firearm is one with its firing grip located in front of the Chamber (firearms), breech of the weapon, instead of behind it. This creates a weapon with a shorter overall length for a given barrel length, and one that is often lighter, ...

design with which he participated in the AKM contest - 1955 * 2A-14 23 mm autocannon, used in the

ZU-23 The ZU-23-2, also known as ZU-23, is a Soviet towed 23×152mm anti-aircraft twin-barreled autocannon. ZU stands for ''Zenitnaya Ustanovka'' (Russian: Зенитная Установка) – anti-aircraft mount. The GRAU index is 2A13. Developm ...

– 1960 (with P.G. Yakushev) * 2A-7 23 mm autocannon, used in the

ZSU-23-4 The ZSU-23-4 "Shilka" is a lightly armored Soviet self-propelled, radar-guided Anti-aircraft warfare, anti-aircraft weapon system (Self-propelled anti-aircraft weapon, SPAAG). It was superseded by the 2K22 Tunguska (SA-19 Grison). Etymology Th ...

– 1960 (with P.G. Yakushev) * TKB-011 * TKB-0136, competed in

Project Abakan Project Abakan was a Soviet/Russian advanced assault rifle program in rival to the US Advanced Combat Rifle that took place between 1980 and 1994. History The 1960s ushered a new generation of assault rifles with the introduction of smaller cal ...

OTs-02 Kiparis The OTS-02 Kiparis (''ОЦ-02 Кипарис'', Russian for "cypress") is a Russian submachine gun first designed by the TsKIB SOO design bureau of Tula in the early 1970s, although it was not introduced into service until 1991. It is primarily ...

Honours and awards

Hero of Socialist Labour The Hero of Socialist Labour () was an Title of honor, honorific title in the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact countries from 1938 to 1991. It represented the highest degree of distinction in the USSR and was awarded for exceptional achievem ...

(1986) – For achievements in the design of aircraft gun armament * Two

Orders of Lenin The Order of Lenin (, ) was an award named after Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the October Revolution. It was established by the Central Executive Committee on 6 April 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration bestowed by the Soviet ...

(1963, 1986) *

Order of the October Revolution The Order of the October Revolution (, ''Orden Oktyabr'skoy Revolyutsii'') was instituted on 31 October 1967, in time for the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution. It was conferred upon individuals or groups for services furthering communis ...

(1977) *

Order of the Patriotic War The Order of the Patriotic War () is a Soviet Union, Soviet military Order (decoration), decoration that was awarded to all soldiers in the Soviet armed forces, security troops, and to Partisan (military), partisans for heroic deeds in the Easte ...

, 2nd class (1963) *

USSR State Prize The USSR State Prize () was one of the Soviet Union’s highest civilian honours, awarded from its establishment in September 1966 until the dissolution of the USSR in 1991. It recognised outstanding contributions in the fields of science, mathem ...

(1967) * Mosin Prize *

Honoured Inventor of the RSFSR The Title of honor, Honorary Title "Honoured Inventor of the RSFSR" () was the highest award for inventors of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic of the USSR. It got established on April 20, 1961 and was awarded to individuals for inve ...

(1968)

References

External links

* http://www.bratishka.ru/archiv/2007/8/2007_8_17.php
Photo of Afanasyev's small arms designs at Tula museum

Николай Михайлович Афанасьев
page at KBP __NOTOC__ {{DEFAULTSORT:Afanasyev, Nikolay Mikhaylovich 1916 births 2009 deaths Firearm designers Heroes of Socialist Labour Engineers from Saint Petersburg Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the USSR State Prize Soviet inventors Soviet engineers Soviet military personnel of World War II