Manufacturer catalog

Soviet ordnance program

Soviet ordnance program describes the Soviet state ammunition and artillery-munitions production system used when public sources identify Soviet-era ordnance but do not name a single plant, design bureau, or surviving corporate manufacturer. It covers centrally planned ammunition design, loading, fuze, projectile, and complete-round production rather than a present company.

2 weapons

The Soviet ordnance program operated through government ministries, commissariats, arsenals, numbered plants, design institutes, depots, and military acceptance channels. Public munition references often preserve Soviet origin, GRAU-style designations, and technical round data while omitting lot-level factory attribution. That is especially common for artillery projectiles, gun-mortar rounds, fuzes, propelling charges, and fixed ammunition families that continued to circulate after the Soviet Union dissolved.

The OR-167N and 3OF50 ammunition records use this manufacturer attribution because their public technical sources support Soviet state ordnance production while stopping short of a source-backed lot factory or plant-level producer. The narrower munition records retain projectile, cartridge, fuze, and firing-platform details; the manufacturer context here explains the state production structure behind those broad Soviet ordnance attributions.

artillery projectilesgun-mortar complete roundsanti-aircraft ammunitionfuzes and propelling chargesstate arsenal and ammunition-plant productionSoviet-era ordnance designation families

Notable Systems

37 mm OR-167N (M1939) projectile, 37 mm fragmentation projectile with tracer and self-destruct, Munitions

37 mm OR-167N (M1939) projectile

37 mm fragmentation projectile with tracer and self-destruct

Soviet 37x252 mmSR fragmentation-tracer projectile associated with the UOR-167N fixed round for 61-K-family and related 37 mm guns; open ordnance references preserve the OR-167N, UOR-167N, and 53-prefix designation forms.

Sources: Projectile Identification Guide, Munition, cannon, 53-OR-167N | METIS
3OF50 active-rocket projectile, 120 mm rocket-assisted high-explosive fragmentation projectile, Munitions

3OF50 active-rocket projectile

120 mm rocket-assisted high-explosive fragmentation projectile

Soviet-origin 120 mm rocket-assisted high-explosive fragmentation projectile in the 3VOF55 / 3VOF55-1 Nona-family ammunition set, documented by specialist munition references and firing-platform ammunition lists.

Sources: METIS 3OF50 munition profile, Belspetsvneshtechnika 2S9 Nona-S ammunition list

Manufacturer History

  1. Dedicated ammunition authority created

    The Soviet defense-industry apparatus was divided to create a dedicated People's Commissariat of Ammunition/Munitions for ammunition and explosives production, giving the ordnance sector a wartime administrative center.

    Sources: GlobalSecurity People's Commissariat of Munitions

  2. Wartime evacuation and production rebuild

    After Germany's 1941 invasion, Soviet ammunition enterprises were evacuated and output fell sharply; by 1942 the sector had been rebuilt across a much wider mobilized enterprise base.

    Sources: GlobalSecurity Soviet Ammunition Industry

  3. Postwar armaments structure reorganized

    Postwar Soviet industrial reorganization renamed commissariats as ministries and redistributed armaments work, while ammunition and rocket-propelled artillery-shell programs continued through state plants and research organizations.

    Sources: Soviet rocket industry origins, GlobalSecurity People's Commissariat of Munitions

  4. Soviet state framework ends

    The dissolution of the Soviet Union ended the state structure that had organized Soviet ordnance production; surviving plants, stockpiles, and design lineages passed into post-Soviet national and corporate settings.

    Sources: The Collapse of the Soviet Union

Predecessors
Russian imperial and early Soviet state arsenalsPeople's Commissariat of Defense Industry ammunition directorates
Successors
Russian ammunition and ordnance producersPost-Soviet ammunition producers in former Soviet republics
Website links
GlobalSecurity: Soviet Ammunition IndustryCIA Reading Room: The Soviet Weapons IndustrySpringer: The Soviet Defence Industry ComplexU.S. Department of State: Collapse of the Soviet Union

The Soviet ordnance program was a defunct state production system, not a present company with one headquarters, one official website, or one corporate successor. The website field uses a stable public reference because no active official corporate site exists. Headquarters and map coordinates are omitted because the production base covered ministries, arsenals, numbered plants, depots, design institutes, and ammunition-loading facilities across the former Soviet Union.

Manufacturer Sources

  • GlobalSecurity Soviet Ammunition IndustryPublisher: GlobalSecurity.org | Note: Supports the Soviet ammunition-sector scope, wartime plant evacuation, mobilized enterprise base, and state ordnance production context. | Accessed: 2026-07-11
  • GlobalSecurity People's Commissariat of MunitionsPublisher: GlobalSecurity.org | Note: Supports the January 1939 creation date, wartime role, and postwar reorganization of the Soviet munitions commissariat. | Accessed: 2026-07-11
  • The Soviet Weapons Industry: An OverviewPublisher: Central Intelligence Agency Reading Room | Note: Supports background on the late Soviet weapons industry as a centrally managed state production complex rather than a private manufacturer. | Accessed: 2026-07-11
  • The Soviet Defence Industry Complex from Stalin to KhrushchevPublisher: Palgrave Macmillan / Springer Nature | Note: Supports historical context for the Soviet defence-industry complex, including ministries, planning, mobilization, regulation, and postwar branches. | Accessed: 2026-07-11
  • Soviet rocket industry originsPublisher: RussianSpaceWeb.com | Note: Supports postwar Ministry of Armaments context, Plant No. 88 rocket tasks, and early Soviet rocket-propelled artillery-shell production assignments. | Accessed: 2026-07-11
  • The Collapse of the Soviet UnionPublisher: Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State | Note: Supports the 1991 dissolution context explaining why this is a historical state-production base with no current official company website. | Accessed: 2026-07-11
  • Projectile Identification GuidePublisher: James Madison University CISR | Note: Supports the OR-167N projectile, UOR-167N cartridge designation, 37 mm FRAG-T classification, and fuze compatibility used for the linked notable system. | Accessed: 2026-07-11
  • Munition, cannon, 53-OR-167N | METISPublisher: Fenix Insight METIS | Note: Supports the 53-OR-167N / OR-167N designation, Soviet ammunition context, and 37 mm HEI-T projectile description for the linked notable system. | Accessed: 2026-07-11
  • METIS 3OF50 munition profilePublisher: Fenix Insight | Note: Supports the 3OF50 designation, Soviet/Russian manufacture context, 120 mm rocket-assisted HE-fragmentation projectile type, and 3VOF55 / 3VOF55-1 round-family context. | Accessed: 2026-07-11
  • Belspetsvneshtechnika 2S9 Nona-S ammunition listPublisher: Belspetsvneshtechnika | Note: Supports the 2S9 Nona-S ammunition list that names rocket-assisted projectile 3OF50 and gives the firing-platform ammunition context for the linked notable system. | Accessed: 2026-07-11

Produced weapons

Category

Munitions

Standalone missiles, bombs, rockets, torpedoes, and guided or unguided explosive payloads.

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37 mm OR-167N (M1939) projectile, 37 mm fragmentation projectile with tracer and self-destruct, Munitions37 mm OR-167N (M1939) projectile37 mm fragmentation projectile with tracer and self-destructBuilt in: Soviet UnionThe 37 mm OR-167N (M1939) projectile is a Soviet 37x252 mmSR fragmentation-with-tracer projectile associated with the UOR-167N fixed round for 61-K-family and related 37 mm guns. Ordnance guides list OR-167N beside the earlier OR-167 and tie it to point-detonating self-destruct fuzes, while specialist references preserve the OP-167H alternate rendering used in UXO identification material.