Izhmash and Izhmekh companies to merge under a new brand

en.rian.ru...

MOSCOW, February 6 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's most famous firearm designer, Mikhail Kalashnikov, says he is happy to give his name to the brand of a small-arms corporation being formed by the merger of Russian gun makers Izhmash and Izhmekh, the Izhmash press secretary said on Wednesday.

If you have heard of Izhmash, you know what they are famous for.

Izhmash has been manufacturing Kalashnikov guns since the world-famous assault rifle first went into mass production in 1949, while Izhmekh is best known for producing Makarov and Yarygin pistols.

However, both companies have been recently experiencing financial difficulties and a sharp drop in production.

The government is now planning to revive them by merging them under the new brand.

Im suprised that these companies are not doing so good. With the popularity of the AK series, I would of thought Izhmash would be pumping them out left and right. Or, maybe there's already just so many out there, there's no need to make much more?

I wonder if there will be any changes to the AK's, or if there's going to be another system developed because of this company merging.