While the whole world is paralyzed by the pandemic and grappling with fear of events, the unbridled Russians, wearing protective masks and gloves, organize an international arms fair in the heart of Moscow. A Gostiny Dvor, exhibition hall two steps from the Kremlin, the International Exhibition of Weapons and Hunting Products in Moscow took place from 15 to 18 October "ORЁLEXPO» - perhaps the most important international exhibition of this size in the 2020 issue. More than 130 exhibitors, 13200 visitors, more than 100 business program speakers, over 9500 views of expert discussions live - are just the figures, which represent a huge work of organizers and in-depth studies of the professional context.
The period of the Salone was not chosen at random. Mikhail Khubutia, the organizer of the exhibition and co-owner of the VaRMS infrastructure project, believes that the exhibition should be held in these days: “It is the right time to organize such exhibitions. The pandemic has given Russian gunsmiths the opportunity for considerable development and competition in the internal market will continue to increase.
Here in Russia we have all the conditions, experts, companies and we can organize the production of weapons of all types and levels. During the exhibition we organized a vast program of forums and various meetings so that the managers of the Rostekh corporation, the Russian ministries and various companies could find common solutions.
Over the past few years, many of them were more interested in running their business by reselling imported products rather than developing Russian production. Even if, due to sanctions in the Russian market, hunting weapons are no longer arriving from the United States, Germany, Italy and Austria, the lion's share of production in the Russian market still comes from abroad.
However, high-tech weapons are also being designed in Russia. Russia has always been rich in engineers, designers and developers of new technologies, it is enough just to make them a place in the market. What we had to do - is to provide the possibility of communication and dialogue for all the participants of the show. And we managed to do it! ”. The program of this International Fair included 12 arenas of experts, among which all the key Ministries, the most important manufacturers of hunting weapons, representatives of the Russian regions, hunting and marksmen societies were well represented.
The pandemic has changed the balance of power and priorities - there is a significant increase in domestic tourism in Russia, many hunters and shooters rediscover the immense expanses of their homeland - a fact that gives a boost to the formation of new shooting ranges and hunting farms. The theme of hunting tourism has aroused particular interest. The director of the Department of Development and Regulation of International Economy at the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia, Lidia Sciur-Trukhanovič stressed the importance of reducing bureaucratic barriers and the need to develop the e-visa issuing system. Mysterious Yakutia, the largest Russian region presented a special program for hunters and tourists. Secondo Andrei Fedotov, the representative of the Sacha Republic (Yakutia) to the President of the Russian Federation, says that hunting and fishing trips of all kinds could be organized there. The Russian government is ready to lend support to the country's arms manufacturers.
As indicated Dmitry Kapranov, the director of the Department of Industry of Normal Weapons, Armaments and Special Chemistry at the Ministry of Industry and Commerce of the Russian Federation during his speech at the session of "International collaboration and competition in the internal market of hunting weapons" says: "Our task is to create the conditions for arms manufacturing companies to ensure the competitiveness of their products, even against the background of the growing interest of foreign buyers.". In addition, in Russia they intend to simplify access to hunting for citizens, which the director of the hunting department of the Ministry of Nature of the Russian Federation Andrey Filatov sees as his main task: "The ministry tries to guarantee the activities of the entities involved in the game breeding and provision of services to hunters, and is working to reduce barriers and the amount of documentation for hunters. Russia faces major changes in legislation to simplify access to hunting".
The pandemic has also forced the giants of the Russian market to start diversifying production, reorienting itself towards civil users. The most famous of them is the Kalashnikov group of companies. “If before the crisis we worked on a limited list of main products that were exported, then during the crisis period, we launched around 40 new products on the market that had not been manufactured or positioned before, ”said the first deputy general manager for operations and production system of the“ Kalashnikov ”group of companies Mikhail Nenyukov.
In light of the growing interest in hunting and shooting, as well as the growth in domestic weapons production, much attention was paid during the exhibition to training the younger generation of Russians in the use of weapons.. Right now, there is a revival of the patriotic children's movement, members of the organization "The Youth Army" and are mastering various types of weapons, and this is a special market for Russian manufacturers offering small arms. size.
The excellent organization of the event ORЁLEXPO allowed guests and participants to learn about new models of civilian weapons and equipment at the stands of the best Russian weapons brands, where they were satisfied with the new models of weapons, optics and equipment. Russia is exploring new horizons for weapons: for example, a unique virtual project was presented at the fair VaRms. Visitors could, wearing a virtual reality helmet, look at the weapon, take it apart, assemble it, go to a virtual shooting range, practice and get advice. The project plans to create virtual representations of game reserves, where it will be possible to virtually walk paths and hunting routes, compare different game reserves and make your own choice. The release of the online version of the application is scheduled for autumn 2021.
In the future, Russia will be ready to surprise the world with projects in which the real is combined with the virtual: a new infrastructure project was presented at the ORЁLEXPO exhibition, which will soon open near Moscow. It consists of several shooting ranges all gathered in one building, shops, arsenals, equipment rentals, training bases and of course virtual reality. "On an area of about 10.000 square meters there will be shooting ranges of different directions, representative offices of manufacturing companies, as well as shooting ranges with virtual reality effect, where you can choose any digitized weapon and get a full range of sensations as in a true hunting experience.
The Russians have remained true to themselves to ORЁLEXPO International Fair: in addition to the presentation of the news from the arms manufacturers, films on Russian weapons, hunting and hunting tourism were screened; lectures on delicious food and wine were shown. The "ORЁL" or the Russian Eagle flew safely and higher and higher - probably, foreign producers should find the opportunity to present their products in Russia, while local producers have not completely reoriented the market towards themselves. As the Russian saying goes: "They harness slowly, but they go fast!" The Russians have been preparing for a long time and are ready to develop their production very quickly.