Sri Lankan Defence Attaché visits Tula Arms Plant, the oldest weapons manufacturer in Russia

To promote the world renown Russian arms and introduce foreign specialists to the best defence products manufactured by the Russian enterprises, the Ministry of Defence, the Federal Service for Military and Technical Cooperation of the Russian Federation and NPO "High Precision Weapons" is keeping up the tradition of organizing familiarization trips for the defence attachés of foreign diplomatic missions to different Russian plants and factories.

The new Defence attaché at the Sri Lanka Embassy in Moscow, Gp Capt Uditha Piyasena joined one of such trips for the first time since his arrival in Russia, and the visit happened to be to the oldest weapons manufacturer in Russia, which is situated in the city of Tula, some 190 kilometers south of Moscow. The Tula Arms Plant was founded by Peter the Great in 1712, although the first arquebuses were made in Tula as early as in 1595, and the first plant that produced cannons and cannon balls was founded in Tula by tsar Mikhail Fedorovich, the first Romanov, in 1632.
The Tula Arms Plant has a long and glorious history of manufacturing rifles, pistols, hand guns and various cold weapons. During the visit, the military attaches were able to meet with Ilya Kurilov, Director General of the Tula Plant, Leonid Fokin, the oldest manager of the plant, who spent in its walls almost fifty years of his life, and who told the guests about its history. The Chief Designer of the plant demonstrated to the guests the newest products, manufactured at the plant today, including previous and new generations of anti-tank missile complexes, special assault rifles, special sniper rifles, which are very quiet in operation.
The guests had the chance not only to see the military and civil rifles but also to test them at the firing testing range within the plant's walls. For comparison purposes they were also given the opportunity to fire the famous Mosin sniper rifle, the main snipers' weapon of the Soviet Army during WWII.

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