Aliaksandr Lukashenka received a new gift during a visit to the production facility of JSC Kidma Tek, which manufactures small arms.
According to Lukashenka’s press service, he was presented with the first Belarusian VSK-100B assault rifle as a gift. It was emphasized that the weapon is entirely domestically produced.
“Not for war… For confidence in peace!” — the plaque accompanying the gift reads, according to the press service.
Lukashenka instructed that another example be produced for the Museum of the Independence Palace.
It should be noted that in the photograph of the gift, the magazine is not attached to the rifle but is lying beside it. In 2020, during mass demonstrations following the election, Lukashenka appeared near the Independence Palace with a rifle without a magazine, demonstrating his readiness to defend his rule.
During his visit to the Kidma Tek production facility, Lukashenka once again stressed that soldiers determine the outcome on the battlefield and that they need small arms.
“On the battlefield, people, soldiers, determine the outcome. And soldiers need this. Without these weapons, we will accomplish nothing”, he said.
He noted that production was fully localized.
“Therefore, the task was set — to produce our own. And we did it. We did it ourselves. Without this, there can be no war, no defense. To wage war, you need small arms. Therefore, this is very important. It is the foundation of any army”, he said.
Lukashenka also expects to make money from arms exports.
“Well done, but there are shortcomings. We need to move forward, we must not be afraid. You have learned how to do this. This is a great achievement, especially if you recoup the costs through exports”, he said.
Kidma Tek is part of the State Military Industrial Committee system. Work on developing small arms at the company began in 2018. In 2021, the VSK-100 assault rifle chambered for the 7.62×39 cartridge was adopted for service. Its production began in 2020 with the assembly of major components. It is noted that the creation of a fully localized version of the 7.62 mm VSK-100B assault rifle is at the final stage.
“Organizing production was far from an easy process, but we managed to do it in two and a half years. We began working on small arms in 2018-2019. At that time, these involved certain modifications using imported components. We often used Russian-made parts and assemblies”, State Military Industrial Committee Chairman Dzmitry Pantus said.
“Now, for the first time, we are at a facility where the rifle is produced by Belarusians from domestic raw materials using Belarusian technology”, he added.
In addition to the VSK-100B assault rifle, the company plans to produce other types of small arms: a high-precision bolt-action rifle of the Stilet type, a PP-919 submachine gun and a PKM-type machine gun.
The creation of the machine gun is expected to take the next two years.
“One of the key tasks we have set for ourselves is to develop a machine gun. I think that over the next two years we will devote our efforts and use our experience to create this product”, Dzmitry Pantus said.
To date, Kidma Tek has developed five models and six modifications of military small arms, four of which have been adopted for service.
