Military-technical cooperation (MTC) is a broad concept that includes the provision of various services in the military - technical field by one country to another state. This can include arms supplies, consultations, transfer of licenses and technologies, assistance in creating military facilities, training specialists, and so on. In return, the other side provides certain priorities in the political and economic fields, or pays with money. The supply of weapons for money is usually called the arms trade. In recent years, our mass media have been paying considerable attention to Russia's military-technical cooperation with foreign countries. Therefore, today many people know about the existence of the state-owned company Rosvooruzhenie. At the same time, the history of military-technical cooperation, even not so far away, is mostly known only to specialists. This publication covers the main stages of military-technical cooperation up to the end of the 40s. I. Military-technical cooperation before the Great Patriotic War The ancestor of Soviet organizations specifically designed for military-technical cooperation with foreign countries was the Department of External Procurement (HIA) of the People's Commissariat for Military and Naval Affairs of the RSFSR, established in 1921. Geographically, the department was located in the People's Commissariat of Foreign Trade, and its head was the commissioner of the People's Commissariat of Military Affairs at the People's Commissariat of Foreign Trade. At first, the department was mainly engaged in purchasing samples of military equipment abroad and obtaining information. HIA supervised the work of engineering departments at Soviet trade missions abroad, through which relevant transactions were carried out. Such departments were established at our trade representative offices in England, France, Germany, Italy, Czechoslovakia, as well as at Am-gorg JSC in the USA. By 1938, the growth in the volume of operations and the c ... Читать далее