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Plant No. 8 Weapon Systems

Plant No. 8 was the Soviet-era designation for the M.I. Kalinin machine-building plant, an artillery and air-defense manufacturer tied to the 61-K 37 mm anti-aircraft gun and later successor work under MZiK in Yekaterinburg.

1 weapon systems

Plant No. 8 identifies the M.I. Kalinin plant during the Soviet industrial numbering period. The company's own history traces the enterprise from an artillery workshop founded in Saint Petersburg in 1866, through relocation to Podlipki near Moscow, the 1928 designation as Plant No. 8, and wartime evacuation to Sverdlovsk.

For this catalog, the builder matters because Plant No. 8 is directly connected to the design and early production context of the 61-K 37 mm automatic anti-aircraft gun. The later Kalinin Machine-Building Plant shifted from tube artillery to guided air-defense missiles and related launch equipment, making the profile useful context for Soviet and Russian air-defense manufacturing lineage.

anti-aircraft artilleryair-defense systemsmissile launch equipmentmilitary and industrial machinery

Notable Systems

61-K 37 mm anti-aircraft gun

The cataloged 61-K is tied to Plant No. 8 through design-team attribution and early serial-production references.

Sources: Victory Museum 61-K Reference

85 mm anti-aircraft gun

MZiK's official history highlights a 1939 85 mm gun development milestone at the Plant No. 8-era enterprise.

Sources: Official MZiK History

S-300V and Buk-M1 air-defense equipment

Sanctions-list descriptions of the modern MZiK entity identify combat equipment work for S-300V and Buk-M1 systems.

Sources: OpenSanctions Kalinin Machine Plant JSC

Builder History

  1. Artillery workshop founded

    The enterprise traces its origin to an artillery workshop established in Saint Petersburg.

    Sources: Official MZiK History

  2. Relocation to Podlipki

    The plant was evacuated to Podlipki near Moscow after its Petrograd period.

    Sources: Official MZiK History

  3. Plant No. 8 designation

    The official history records the name Plant No. 8 named after M.I. Kalinin.

    Sources: Official MZiK History

  4. 61-K production introduced

    The Victory Museum notes that serial production of the 61-K 37 mm anti-aircraft gun was mastered at Plant No. 8 in 1939.

    Sources: Victory Museum 61-K Reference

  5. Evacuation to Sverdlovsk

    MZiK's history says the plant was evacuated to Sverdlovsk in October 1941 and shipped its first guns from the new site in December.

    Sources: Official MZiK History

  6. Shift from tube artillery

    The official history says the plant stopped barrel-artillery production and moved into guided anti-aircraft missiles.

    Sources: Official MZiK History

Predecessors
Saint Petersburg artillery workshopPetrogradsky Plant
Successors
M.I. Kalinin Machine-Building Plant / MZiK
Website links
Official MZiK HistoryOfficial MZiK WebsiteVictory Museum 61-K Reference

Plant No. 8 is a historical Soviet plant designation, while the public sources available today mostly use the successor Kalinin Machine-Building Plant / MZiK identity. The modern entity is sanctioned in multiple jurisdictions, so this profile separates builder lineage and catalog manufacturing context from any conflict-use claims.

Builder Sources

  • Official MZiK HistoryPublisher: M.I. Kalinin Machine-Building Plant | Note: Supports the Plant No. 8 name, official company lineage, relocation history, Yekaterinburg address context, artillery milestones, and later shift into guided anti-aircraft missiles. | Accessed: 2026-06-21
  • Official MZiK WebsitePublisher: M.I. Kalinin Machine-Building Plant | Note: Supports the current official website and public name of the successor Kalinin Machine-Building Plant entity. | Accessed: 2026-06-21
  • Victory Museum 61-K ReferencePublisher: Victory Museum | Note: Supports Plant No. 8's 1939 61-K serial-production role and the catalog connection between this builder profile and the 61-K anti-aircraft gun. | Accessed: 2026-06-21
  • OpenSanctions Kalinin Machine Plant JSCPublisher: OpenSanctions | Note: Supports modern MZiK aliases, public-joint-stock-company identity, Almaz-Antey association, sanctions-list context, and current air-defense equipment descriptions. | Accessed: 2026-06-21
  • Commons Kalinin Plant Anti-Aircraft Guns ImagePublisher: Wikimedia Commons | Note: Supports image provenance and reuse: Commons describes the 1943 Kalininets newspaper image as anti-aircraft guns from the Kalinin plant before shipment to the front and marks it public domain. | Accessed: 2026-06-21

Category

Air Defense

Systems that contest aircraft, missiles, helicopters, and drones.

1
2K11 Krug / SA-4 Ganef, Tracked medium-range surface-to-air missile system, Air DefenseNagorno-Karabakh Conflict2K11 Krug / SA-4 GanefTracked medium-range surface-to-air missile systemBuilt in: Soviet UnionThe 2K11 Krug, NATO reporting name SA-4 Ganef, is a Soviet tracked medium-range surface-to-air missile system built around 2P24 launchers, 3M8-series missiles, and separate acquisition and guidance radars. In the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war it appeared on the Armenian and Artsakh side as legacy area air defense, but reporting from CSIS and Oryx shows it was vulnerable in a battlespace dominated by Azerbaijani UAVs and loitering munitions.