A
Kalashnikov rifle is any one of a series of
automatic rifles based on the original design of
Mikhail Kalashnikov. They are officially known in Russian as "Avtomat Kalashnikova" ("Kalashnikov's Automatic Gun"; ), but are widely known as Kalashnikovs, AKs, or in Russian slang, as a "Kalash". They were originally manufactured in the
Soviet Union, primarily by
Izhmash, but these rifles and their variants are now manufactured in many other countries.