The Kurganmashzavod joint stock company dates to 1954 when the plant started making medium caterpillar artillery tractors. Between 1954 and 1967 the plant manufactured an appreciable number of ATS and ATS-59 tractors which found extensive use both in the country's armed forces and economy. An especially good performance was displayed by the ATS-59 tractors in oil field prospecting and development in Tyumen Region. The tractors were exported on substantial scale and ATS-59 model manufacture was licensed out to Poland. During artillery tractor manufacture, industrial production capacities were created at the plant and the professional skills of the design and production engineers and industrial personnel were raised substantially. In 1968 the plant switched to the production of the BMP-1 infantry combat vehicle. Manufacture of a new vehicle with far superior technical characteristics and production specifications than the artillery tractors was attributable to the comprehensive modernization of the plant, involving additional production capacities and consolidating design and process subdivisions of the plant. All this work was done concurrently with increasing output of the infantry combat vehicles and constant development of their modifications.
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