RPC Fort

Research and Production Company Fort of the Ministry of Interior of Ukraine
State-owned company
Industry Defense
Founded 1991
Headquarters Vinnytsia, Ukraine
Key people
 Viktor Pysarenko,[1] Director
Products Firearms, weapons
Revenue Increase unknown
Owner Ministry of Internal Affairs (Ukraine)
Website Official web site

Fort (Ukrainian: КП НВО "Форт" МВС України (full name), НВО "Форт" (short name)) is a Ukrainian weapons manufacturer from Vinnytsia, Ukraine.

History

In 1991 a new company was formed to design and manufacture small arms for Ukrainian Interior Ministry, Security Service and State Border Service of Ukraine.[2] At the opening of Ukraine's only facility serially manufacturing small arms at Fort in March 1998, association officials announced that the plant in Vinnytsia, which over 5 million hryvnia (about $1.2 million) had been invested in over two years, was capable of large-scale production of small arms. The plant launched serial production of the Fort 12 pistol ordered primarily by the Ukrainian Interior Ministry. Pistol samples were also sent to Uzbekistan as an advance order, and to Russia. At the opening Fort director Viktor Pisarenko said that its design bureau had developed and prepared for production 8 models of short-barreled weapons and 4 models of long-barreled weapons. "Weapons from Vinnytsia surpass analogs, for instance the Makarov pistol, in many respects," he said.[2][3]

By May 1998 Ukrainian Interior Ministry formations started receiving the first Fort-12 pistols manufactured in Vinnytsia.[4] According to Fort chief engineer Evgeniy Bokovoj, all of Ukraine's army and police forces are supplied by the plant's output.[5] By March 2014 the plant developed over a dozen pistol and gun modifications, some of which were demonstrated at the IDEX-1999, IDEX-2001 and IDEF-2001 international arms exhibitions.

According to media reports, an agreement was signed in October 2000 for the delivery of a batch of Fort pistols to Uzbekistan.[6] So far it is the only country to which new Ukrainian small arms have been delivered, according to official press reports.

In October 2008, RPC Fort and Israel Weapon Industries have reached agreements to allow Fort to license-manufacture in Ukraine firearms such as the Tavor rifle system,[7] the Negev light machinegun[8] and the Galatz sniper rifle,[9] all of which were displayed at Fort's website as of early 2009.

Products

CTAR-21 produced under license by RPC Fort as Fort-221
IWI Galil ACE produced under license by RPC Fort as Fort-227

Firearms

  • Pistols:
  • Fort-5
  • Fort-12 (Fort-12-00, Fort-12-02 and Fort-12N variants)[10]
  • Fort-14 (Fort-14-00, Fort-14TP and Fort-14PP variants)
  • Fort-15
  • Fort-17
  • Fort-21 (Fort-21.01, Fort-21.02 and Fort-21.03 variants)
  • Pump-action shotguns:
  • FORT-500 (FORT-500A, FORT-500M and FORT-500T variants)
  • Rifles:
  • single-shot bolt-action .22 rifles TOZ-8 OPF and TOZ-12 OPF[11]
  • several variants of self-loading AKM carbines - "Fort-201" (AKMS-MF with AKMS folding stock), "Fort-202" (AKMS-MF with new metal folding stock), "Fort-205" (AKM-MF with AKM wooden stock), "Fort-206" (AKMT-MF with black plastic handguard and new telescoping stock)
  • several variants of self-loading SKS carbines - SKS-MF (Soviet SKS without bayonet) and "Fort-207" (Soviet SKS with black plastic handguard and new telescoping stock)
  • several variants of Tavor TAR-21 (Fort-221, Fort-222, Fort-223, Fort-224)
  • several variants of IWI Galil ACE (Fort-227, Fort-228, Fort-229)
  • Sniper rifles:
  • "Fort-301" (Galatz sniper rifle)
  • Machine guns:
  • Grenade launcher:

Non-lethal pistols

Gas pistols

Equipment

  • Police batons, handcuffs, etc.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Перелік промислових підприємств міста Archived 2011-07-28 at the Wayback Machine.
  2. 1 2 Embassy of Ukraine in the United Kingdom of the Great Britain and Northern Ireland - Publications
  3. ↑ UNIAN, 24.03.1998
  4. ↑ UNIAN-VPK,#20, 1998
  5. ↑ Interview to Defense Express agency, 03.10.2001
  6. ↑ This was mentioned in the report of the expert of Small Arms Survey Maria Haug at the international conference "The strengthening role of NGOs in the non-proliferation of small arms in Central and East European countries", Bratislava, 28-29.10.2000
  7. ↑ The Tavor assault rifle at "RPC Fort" website (Ukrainian)
  8. ↑ The Negev SAW at the "RPC Fort" website (Ukrainian)
  9. ↑ The GALATZ sniper rifle at the "RPC Fort" website (Ukrainian)
  10. ↑ Bertsch, Gary K.; Potter, William C. (2013). Dangerous Weapons, Desperate States: Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine. Routledge. p. 69. ISBN 978-1-136-05318-4.
  11. ↑ Форт, научно-производственное объединение // Предприятия оборонно-промышленного комплекса России и стран СНГ. Справочник. изд. 4-е, пер. М., 2008. стр.395
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