Editing Mikhail Kalashnikov (section)

==Later career==
From 1949, Mikhail Kalashnikov lived and worked in [[Izhevsk]], [[Udmurtia]]. He held a degree of [[Doctor of Sciences|Doctor of Technical Sciences]] (1971)<ref name=bse/><ref name=kpss/> and was a member of 16 academies.<ref name=academy/>

Over the course of his career, he evolved the basic design into a weapons family. The [[AKM]] ({{langx|ru|link=Yes|Автомат Кала́шникова Модернизированный |lit=Kalashnikov modernized assault rifle}}), first brought into service in 1959, was lighter and cheaper to manufacture, owing to the use of a stamped steel receiver (in place of the AK-47's milled steel receiver) and contained detail improvements such as a re-shaped stock and muzzle compensator. From the AKM, he developed a [[squad automatic weapon]] variant, known as the [[RPK]] ({{langx|ru|link=no|Ручной пулемет Кала́шникова |lit=Kalashnikov light machine gun}}).
[[File:Stoner meets Kalashnikov.jpg|thumb|Kalashnikov (right) and [[Eugene Stoner]] (left) hold the rifles they designed, taken in May 1990.]]
He also developed the general-purpose [[PK machine gun]] ({{langx|ru|link=no|Пулемет Кала́шникова |lit=Kalashnikov machine gun}}), which used the more powerful [[7.62×54mmR]] cartridge of the [[Mosin–Nagant]] rifle. It is cartridge belt-fed, not magazine-fed, as it is intended to provide heavy sustained fire from a tripod mount, or be used as a light, bipod-mounted weapon. The common characteristics of all these weapons are their simple design, ruggedness and ease of maintenance in all operating conditions.

Approximately 100 million AK-47 assault rifles had been produced by 2009,<ref name=BBCpoet/> and about half of them are counterfeit, manufactured at a rate of about a million per year.<ref name=r5/><ref name=r11/> [[Kalashnikov Concern|Izhmash]], the official manufacturer of AK-47 in Russia, did not patent the weapon until 1997, and in 2006 accounted for only 10% of the world's production.<ref name=KalashnikovSMHpoet/>

Kalashnikov stated that his motivation was always to serve his country, not to earn money.<ref name=r2/> 

Kalashnikov's grandson, Igor, ran a German company called Marken Marketing International.<ref name="r9" /> The company revamps trademarks and produces merchandise carrying the Kalashnikov name, such as [[vodka]],<ref name="BBCpoet" /> umbrellas and knives.<ref name="r7" /><ref name="r8" /> One of the items is a knife named for the [[AK-74]].<ref name="r9" />

During a visit to the United States in the early 2000s, Kalashnikov was invited to tour a Virginia holding site for the forthcoming American Wartime Museum. Kalashnikov, a former tank commander, became visibly moved at the sight of his old tank in action, painted with his name in [[Cyrillic script|Cyrillic]].<ref name="SKK">{{cite web |url=http://www.susankatzkeating.com/search/label/Kalashnikov |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924112021/http://www.susankatzkeating.com/search/label/Kalashnikov |url-status=dead |archive-date=24 September 2015 |last=Keating |first=Susan Katz |title=Mikhail Kalashnikov, Dead at 94, Once Visited the Tank Farm in Virginia |date=23 December 2013 |access-date=24 December 2013 |publisher=Susan Katz Keating blog}}</ref>{{Citation needed|date=January 2025}}