Kiev Arsenal factory
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| State-owned company | |
| Industry | arms industry |
| Founded | 1764 (originally), reestablished in the post-World War II period |
| Founder | Russian Empire, Soviet government |
| Headquarters | Kiev, Ukraine |
| Products | arms equipment, various optics, precision mechanic and electronic products |
| Owner | State of Ukraine |
| Parent | National Space Agency of Ukraine |
| Website | Zavodarsenal.kiev.ua |
State enterprise of a special instrumentation Arsenal (Ukrainian: Казенне підприємство спеціального приладобудування «Арсенал», Kazenne pidpryiemstvo spetsialnoho pryladobuduvannya Arsenal), also known as Arsenal Factory, is one of the oldest and most famous factories in Kiev.
Started in 1764 as a repair and production facility of the Russian army, the factory was initially based in a Kiev fortress compound in the Pechersk (Печерськ) district of the city. It is now a large state-owned company. Workers at the factory included sniper Lyudmila Pavlichenko, who worked as a grinder at the factory prior to 1941.
On January 29, 1918, the workers of the factory organized an armed pro-Bolshevik mutiny known as a Kiev Arsenal mutiny or a January Rebellion against Tsentral'na Rada, the Ukrainian assembly that declared the independence of Ukraine. To commemorate the event, the Soviet authorities preserved the historic defensive wall bearing the traces of shelling (situated on the city's Moskovs'ka Street near the Arsenal'na metro station).
While the civil production lines were added to the factory starting from 1918, the factory produced mostly the military related products throughout its history. In the 1920s, 1930s and during World War II the factory mainly produced artillery, anti-tank, and anti-aircraft guns. In summer 1941, immediately after the outbreak of the war between the Soviet Union and the Axis powers, the factory was quickly evacuated to Perm in the Ural mountains, far from hostilities. The factory buildings in Kiev suffered heavy damages from German bombings. The relocated "Arsenal" continued to play a major role in arming the Red Army.
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Wikipedia