Igor Stepanichev , Tula Instrument Design Bureau - ГУП «КБП»
Release Date: 2010-12-06
Igor Stepanichev, acting General Director of KBP Tula, has been interviewed by Russianavia.net to discuss the history of KBP Tula in the Russian defense industry, its current achievements and the domestic and international prospects.Mr. Stepanichev, thank you for taking the time to meet us. KBP Tula is one of the oldest Russian military companies. Like any other major company with long-standing history and traditions, it must have been affected by the drastic changes that took place in Russia in the last 20 years. How would you characterize the special position of KBP Tula in the Russian defense sector?
To make my answer as accurate as possible, I would like to first mention the stages that KBP Tula has experienced throughout its history. It is common knowledge in Russia that Tula has historically been Russia’s capital of weapon industry. This fact dates back to the 18th century, the times of Emperor Peter the Great who has founded the first gun factory in Tula. Two centuries later, in the 1920ies and 1930ies, Russia was again at the point of building up a new state and new industries, when national defense was of utmost importance. At that time, one of the national priorities was to create new efficient weapons, and it was then that the basis was laid for Russia’s defense industry. One of the first bureaus for design and development of small arms, further known as ZKB-14 (Central Construction Bureau 14), was created in 1927 at Tula Gun Factory. The fact that 80% of gun products for aviation was developed at ZKB-14 during the Great Patriotic War (World War II), speaks volumes.
The next important stage began in the 1960ies when Russia started development of guided high precision missiles. It was then that samples of guided missiles, today world famous brands – Metis, Konkurs, Kornet-E antitank guided weapons, and Tunguska air defense system – were created. At the next stage, KBP Tula proceeded to developing high precision missile systems.
Currently, we retain the traditional activities that are defined as short-range defense systems such as antitank missile systems, guided artillery projectiles, weapon systems for main battle tanks and lightly armored vehicles, air defense systems, gun armaments and small arms, and also multitarget guided armaments being a new type of activity. It is notable that the famous TT, PM, APS pistols have been developed at KBP Tula. Professional military engineers are familiar with GSh pistol, the brand that tributes the two great gun designers Gryazev and Shapunov who have put the basis for the first ever unified gun armament system for the Russian Armed Forces - weapon systems for lightly armored vehicles, elements of combined armaments for air defense systems, automatic aviation guns and the famous high rate-of-fire sea guns.
The golden age of KBP Tula has started under the direction of Arkady Shipunov, who has been heading our enterprise for 44 years. It was then that we started developing guided missile systems, including high precision armaments. We call KBP Tula’s unique range of developments and mass products “from pistols to guided missile systems”.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that the most challenging stage in the newest history of KBP Tula came in 1990ies… How did the company manage to balance the issue of optimizing non-profitable assets and preserving the traditions in arms production?
Indeed, the 1990ies were a very challenging time, both in terms of finance and organization, and it was thanks to Arkady Shipunov, who found a brand new solution, that we managed to survive. KBP Tula, formerly a developer only, came to manufacture highly efficient and unique mass products on the international market. This has helped us keep and enhance all our assets and specializations in 1990 – 2010. As you see, our diversified structure came to be our ‘life jacket’. Up till now, we have solid contracts across our entire production range both on the domestic and international markets, which is now powering our development.
One of the most burning issues for the aviation industry is to keep the experienced engineers and attract the younger generations. What is the situation in the defense sector?
This is a common issue for the entire Russian industry – we need a professional training system.
Firstly, any university student should be clear on why he or she is there and what expects him or her in the future, otherwise the motivation to studying will be very low.
Secondly, if a young specialist comes to work to a stagnating team, with no ideas or support, he finds it extremely boring to work there. Thirdly, a good specialist should always be financially motivated.
KBP Tula faces each of these three basic challenges. In the frame of our special campaign, our experts deliver short speeches and introductory presentations at schools where they explain how KBP Tula works and what kind of professional prospects it offers. The natural interest of young people to arms and a huge experience of our people help to build up the interest of students towards our company.
The second stage is the university. Today, our basic supplier of staff is Tula State University (TulGU), one of the main partners of KBP Tula. Thanks to that, we have created two training platforms for our future staff – one at TulGU and another one on the basis of TulGU’s department at KBP Tula. When the students reach the final years before their graduation, we offer a contract to work at KBP Tula to the best of them. These students write graduation papers on our enterprise and come to work with us. Moreover, their internship at KBP Tula during the college years facilitates their adaptation. Freshly graduated, they get young specialist’s bonus that they should confirm over a fixed term.
Does it mean that KBP Tula ensures its future by a combination of diversified production and talented staff?
Even though our recruitment system is quite efficient, we should not forget that KBP Tula is by far not a unique developer, both in Tula and across Russia. Besides, the graduates of TulGU are quite demanded across the entire Russian defense industry. This is the reason why we are committed to develop special conditions for university students at KBP Tula and expand the special conditions for young specialists who work with our company.
Not so long ago, KBP Tula joined High Precision Missiles Holding. What are the advantages of belonging to this structure and does it promote better cooperation and integration among its members, or does it make them more inclined to compete?
It is interesting to know that High Precision Missiles Holding is based in Tula. Today, integrated structures and holdings are essential for the global system. In fact, this is a response to the increasingly challenging conditions in the whole world. A holding is a good solution to build up closed technological chains, accumulate assets and be more flexible to the external market conditions. In spite of the numerous debates on whether the holdings are really necessary, a consolidated group is always more resistant when exposed to unfavorable conditions, as a fist that is stronger than every finger in particular.
Nevertheless, I believe that the issue of a competition within a holding is overestimated. Today, the main objective of groups and holdings in the Russian military industry is to organize simultaneous development of different kinds of products in the best possible way. Each holding incorporates a few developers, manufacturers and production facilities. Historically, every enterprise used to be product-oriented. Today, the developments of both our company and of our partner companies cover a wide portfolio and technological chains that are often impossible to concentrate inside one enterprise, which makes it important to organize orders and the workload for the member companies. Moreover, holdings today are a relatively young phenomenon in Russia: for instance, High Precision Missiles has been there for less than 2 years. So, it is quite natural that development involves mistakes, and all our colleagues from different holdings are optimizing their internal procedures.
According to the chief designer of one of the Russian defense companies, Russia, a historical leader on the world arms market, has possibly accumulated a certain lag in terms of product modernization, so, hopefully, Russia would be able to regain its leadership. Do you agree with such an assumption and what actions does the Russian military industry need, in your perspective?
This is a sophisticated issue. Soviet arms have always been demanded, due to various factors. Firstly, the Russian Ministry of Defense has always been very rigorous in its approach to testing new arms. Moreover, according to the tender practice accepted in the USSR, the state could invite a few developers to make bids for the same product. Secondly, the Russian arms have proved their excellence in real fights. In fact, we’re talking about their excellence across all types of military equipment. Thirdly, the Russian arms have always been cheap and extremely easy to use. When our customers asked us during demonstration tests to show how the equipment operates, it took the foreign experts only 10-15 minutes to learn to perform the required tasks with our equipment.
A perfect example is the world famous Kalashnikov’s rifle - efficient, affordable and easy to use.
No doubt, the 1990ies were a very destructive period for the Russian defense industry. While KBP Tula managed to adapt and reorganize, it was a much more challenging time for many other plants and design bureaus that had separate system elements but no products, and that pushed them off the market or at least downgraded their profile significantly. In general, this period affected the entire Russian arms industry.
Concerning KBP Tula, we managed to survive at the expense of exporting our products, so our HR potential, our production facilities, our development and testing system and, most importantly, the interest of the potential customers are still there. Unfortunately for the modern Russian defense industry, a lot of companies ceased to exist, so I suppose that the words you have quoted concern the drastic reduction of the number of companies involved in development and production of arms.
We would also like to talk about exports, an area most affected by the global competition. In the recent years, the volume of exports of the Russian arms has grown a lot, with China and India as Russia’s main partners. The Russian government has also spotted the Middle East as one of the most commercially promising markets for the Russian arms. What are the main potential target markets for KBP Tula?
KBP Tula is very well-positioned in terms of exports. During the last 17 years, we have been very active in promoting our products on the foreign markets. Russia has always had a share on the mentioned markets since the mid-nineties, and is committed to keep it in future. KBP Tula’s product range is structured from easy products to more sophisticated products, from cheap to expensive: regardless of the region, we offer both particular arms and systems of arms. Our only limit is the international regulations in arms trade that Russia complies with. As for stepping on new foreign markets, KBP Tula is by all means interested in regions like South America, Europe, Middle East and other markets that are new for us; we have experience of working with the Far East, China, India, Korea. It is hard to forecast what market steps up tomorrow because the sphere of arms sales is very much engaged in politics. Nevertheless, we do have stable partnerships across a lot of world markets.
What is your attitude to the growing competitiveness of China?
We’re very positive about it for a very simple reason: competition is our big source of motivation. We keep track of the current military developments of our Chinese colleagues, and we pride in the fact that they have learnt from us, as China has acquired some licenses for arms production in Russia back in the 1990ies. KBP Tula was one of the license owners.
| Company: | Tula Instrument Design Bureau - ГУП «КБП» |
| Position: | acting General Director |
| Country: | Russian Federation |