According to Kalashnikov Concern and TASS Russian News Agency, the Izhevsk Mechanical Plant (a subsidiary of Kalashnikov Concern) is preparing for the mass production of Lebedev pistols in the foreseeable future.

Kalashnikov Concern and Udmurtia government officials during the opening ceremony of a new facility in Izhevsk Mechanical Plant

This announcement was done by Alexander Gvozdik, the managing director of Izhevsk Mechanical Plant,  during a ceremony of opening a new woodworking facility in the plant. Both the opening of the new facility and setting up the Lebedev pistol manufacturing are part of a large investment plan which total sum is 5 billion rubles ($88 million) and will be completely accomplished by the end of next year.

The design of the Lebedev pistol will get final refinements and put through testings soon. The company officials didn’t tell anything about the date when the production of the pistols will start. Whether it will be produced for export or for domestic adoption is not disclosed either.

The first version of Lebedev Pistol was called PL-14 and it was introduced back in 2015. Later, in 2016 they released the updated version of the pistol called PL-15. A year later, in ARMY 2017 arms exhibition, the final iteration of the PL-15 pistol and its compact version (PL-15K) were announced.

I think the best scenario for the company will be if they manage to get a contract of replacing the Makarov pistol. This intention was earlier speculated by a number of Russian sources. Regardless, there are no official plans to replace the good old Makarov, which despite being completely outdated is still the main service handgun both in the Russian armed forces and police.

Sources:

“Концерн «Калашников» дал старт инвестпрограмме Ижевского механического завода”. (2018, March 5). Kalashnikov Concern. Retrieved from: https://kalashnikov.com/press/news/news_436.html

“”Калашников” в ближайшее время запустит серийное производство нового пистолета Лебедева”. (2018, March 5). TASS Russian News Agency. Retrieved from: http://tass.ru/ekonomika/5008827

Images from: Kalashnikov.Media