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At the beginning of February, the Russian media were literally filled with stunning information about another breakthrough in the field of Russian weapons.
In the best style of jingoism from Rostec-Rosvooruzheniy, General Director of NPO Pribor JSC Yuri Nabokov gave a blatant interview to TASS about the new Balkan grenade launcher, for which the latest “smart” ammunition, as well as “electronic warfare” projectiles, will be developed.
Behind the populist chatter, which can only excite illiterate housewives, lies, however, a serious problem rather than a real breakthrough.
Let's look at the situation in detail.
What is a grenade launcher
As the name suggests, a grenade launcher is a device for throwing grenades. A grenade, in turn, is a very simple killing instrument, which is, in its simplest form, a metal can filled with explosives. The simplest device allows you to delay the explosion for the period required for the grenade to reach the target.
Everyone knows hand grenades. This is a simple, reliable and, importantly, very cheap device that has only one drawback. Even the strongest and most skilled fighter cannot throw it over a distance of more than 50 meters. And usually a grenade flies at a distance of 15-20 meters, which, considering the flight radius of fragments of up to 100 meters, is very small.
A grenade launcher is basically just a pipe. A small powder charge is attached to the grenade, which turns it into a rocket. The flight range of such a grenade is from 100 to 800 meters. This range, combined with its low cost, made the grenade launcher a very successful and sought-after weapon back in World War II. Of course, a grenade launcher is not a cannon; it does not have such high accuracy, range and damaging effect. But the grenade launcher tube along with a dozen charges can be carried by one fighter, and the cost of one shot is an order of magnitude lower than that of a cannon.
After the anti-tank cumulative grenade was invented, the grenade launcher became a powerful weapon for fighting tanks. Many people remember the word “faustpatron” from war films - it was the world’s cheapest, first single-action hand grenade launcher. Its effective firing range did not exceed 30 meters, but it successfully penetrated 140 millimeters of armor. The frontal armor of the T-34-85 tank produced in 1944 was 90 millimeters. As they say, no comments.
Modern reusable grenade launchers, of course, are not as cheap and simple as faust cartridges, but their effectiveness is much higher. In particular, the modern Russian RPG-30 is capable of overcoming the active and dynamic protection systems of modern tanks and penetrating 600 millimeters of homogeneous armor at a distance of 200 meters.
Of course, the design idea could not resist the temptation to make an automatic grenade launcher, similar to a machine gun. Such a device already has a decent weight (from 25 kilograms without grenades) and a fairly high firing range - up to two and a half kilometers. The automatic grenade launcher fires up to 400 grenades per minute, making it a real artillery piece.
In principle, this would be a worthy replacement for classical artillery, light and cheap, if not for a “small” nuance. Due to the low speed of the grenade and its low weight, it is in principle impossible to fire armor-piercing, high-explosive and high-explosive fragmentation projectiles from a grenade launcher. As a result, a grenade launcher, if we are not talking about shaped charges, can only hit unprotected targets.
And, naturally, the range of the shot matters - for example, one of the best guns of World War II, the Soviet 100-mm BS-3, fired 10 shells per minute at a distance of 20 kilometers. This is an unattainable range for a grenade launcher.
"Balkan"
To quote Nabokov:
“We have delivered a batch of grenade launchers to the troops, but trial operation has not yet begun. This stage of testing is planned for 2018 by the Russian Ministry of Defense, and the necessary documents are now being drawn up to begin operation. We know some issues that need to be eliminated, but by the time they are put into service these issues will be resolved, and the grenade launcher will fully meet the requirements of the military. We hope that it will be put into service in 2018, and we will make every effort for this, but we must always take into account that this is a new grenade launcher that the military should test thoroughly, The deadline may move to 2019."
From the words of the general director of Pribor it can be understood that we are dealing with the latest development.
No matter how it is.
AGS-40 "Balkan" was developedin the early 90s . That is 25 years ago. It was developed on the basis of the experimental Kozlik grenade launcher, which was designed back in the 80s. The developers tried to solve the problems of the main automatic grenade launcher of the USSR AGS-17 "Plamya" (developed in 1968), which had proven itself in the Afghan conflict, but was not long-range enough and had little damaging effect. The AGS-17 was significantly inferior to most Western grenade launchers. The VOG-17 grenade used by the grenade launcher provided a radius of continuous destruction by fragments of about four meters.
The developers were faced with the task of increasing the firing range and damaging effect. It was not possible to place either a larger charge or give it greater acceleration in the traditional 30 mm caliber of the USSR. To achieve the goal, it was decided to increase the caliber to 40 millimeters, which, accordingly, made both the charges and the grenade launcher heavier.
Note that 40-mm charges for grenade launchers are not new in the weapons industry. The 40x46 mm grenade launcher ammunition was developed in the USA back in the early 60s of the 20th century and is successfully used to this day. Moreover, the range of grenades of this caliber in the USA and other countries is very impressive: from classic fragmentation and tear grenades to grapeshot (damage within a radius of 35 meters), observation (equipped with a video camera), rubber bullet, cumulative and so on.
A non-standard caseless grenade was developed for the Balkan - the “case” flew away along with the grenade itself, representing a kind of rocket. As a result, the grenade's range was increased from 1,700 meters (for the AGS-17) to 2,500. In addition, the radius of damage when the grenade exploded was doubled.
The developers did not make any particular breakthrough; there was no particular point in transferring the military industry to a new caliber. In addition, at the same time, the Tula Design Bureau "Priborostroenie" developed a new grenade launcher for the old 30-mm projectile - AGS-30. New grenades GPD-30 and VOG-30 were developed for it, and it could also use grenades from the AGS-17. The VOG-30 grenade could fly at a distance of 2200 meters. It was this grenade launcher that went into service with the troops and was used in the second Chechen war, the South Ossetian conflict of 2008 and in the war in Syria.
"Balkan" repeated the fate of many developments of that time. In the professional literature they are modestly described as “temporary economic difficulties.” In 25 years, the development has become outdated, the designers either quit or moved to another world, and the world has completely changed. Grenade launchers have become much less relevant - in rich countries, the means of fighting tanks have focused on guided missiles, and with manpower - on effective small arms. And in Russia, judging by the trends, they intend to use automatic grenade launchers mainly for throwing grenades with tear gas, that is, you understand why.
A look into the future
However, NPO Pribor does not give up hope of introducing Balkan. In 2008, as many as six grenade launchers were sent to the troops “for testing.” This allowed the Pribor management to declare good prospects for the weapon. Let's repeat. Over 15 years of “development,” the weapon did not even reach military testing, but for “testing” among the troops. Now it's 2018. "Balkan" was never implemented.
Yuri Nabokov's arguments about certain promising grenades for the Balkan are viewed with great doubt. The fact is that there is quite a bit of space inside the 7P39 grenade. The idea of using it for video surveillance was outdated 20 years ago - now cheap drones or satellites are used for this.
As for remote-controlled detonation, this idea should definitely be classified as a fantasy. To remotely detonate a grenade, electronic equipment (at least the size of a mobile phone) is required, and inside the Balkan grenade, as already mentioned, there is already little space. Installing a remote detonation system is only possible by reducing the already weak warhead, and how much the cost of one grenade will increase is generally unknown. But it is significant.
And most importantly, remote detonation of a grenade is simply not needed. The grenade launcher is not intended for this, but for the quick and effective destruction of enemy personnel. A completely different technology is used to control projectiles and detonate them remotely. Turning a grenade launcher into a guided missile is as pointless as putting a homing head on a rifle bullet. That is, in theory it is possible, but it is unrealistically expensive and no one needs it.
To solve the problems of controlled flight and remote detonation, various guided missiles have been developed and successfully introduced, and they are quite compact and inexpensive. Of course, their price is significantly higher than that of a grenade launcher, but the efficiency is corresponding.
Protests against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in March 2011 escalated into a bitter and bloody civil war, during which more than 250,000 people have been killed, hundreds of thousands of people have become refugees and much of the country lies in ruins. Several opposition, terrorist, gangster groups and violent Islamic State jihadists across the country continue to fight President Assad's government forces with whatever weapons they can get their hands on.
Today we will look at what weapons oppositionists and terrorists are using to fight against government troops in Syria.
Vulcan - a homemade rocket mortar made of four pipes attached to an excavator.
Homemade projectiles made from gas cylinders, the flight range of such a projectile is up to 3 kilometers.
Another homemade mortar that fires projectiles from gas cylinders. One person can handle such a mortar, load it and fire a shot.
Homemade Syrian cannon, transported by an ordinary tractor.
The Free Syrian Army fires homemade slingshot missiles at President Bashar al-Assad's government forces.
Militants fire at Syrian government troops from a homemade cannon, which can be easily placed in small streets between residential buildings.
A shot from a homemade rocket launcher. Syria, Aleppo.
Sham-2 is a homemade armored vehicle, made on the basis of a passenger car, owned by militants of the Al-Ansar brigade. The Sham-2 is equipped with a machine gun.
The homemade armored vehicle is equipped with a camera and a monitor, and the machine gun is controlled by a joystick from a game console, similar to a game shooter.
"Sham-2" inside. The creators are proud of their invention.
A huge homemade sniper rifle of a Free Syrian Army militant from Damascus.
A truck with explosives protected by steel sheets drove into the wall of Aleppo prison in February 2014. Then more than 300 militants of the terrorist organization Jabhat al-Nusra managed to escape from the central prison.
Militants make homemade mortar shells. Old house in Aleppo, Syria.
Another makeshift workshop of militants in Syria.
Installation of a homemade mortar on one of the fronts in Damascus. The militants use an iPad tablet to determine the temperature.
At one of the factories in Aleppo, terrorists are turning shells on machines.
Terrorists use a homemade catapult to launch a bomb at government forces of President Bashar al-Assad in the city of Aleppo.
Sham-1 is a homemade vehicle armored with iron sheets.
In one of the courtyards of the city of Lataki, militants are making homemade rockets.
Homemade gas masks for militants.
A retired officer puts on a homemade gas mask made from a plastic bottle, gauze, coal, cotton and cardboard.
Homemade gun.
Homemade rockets.
Homemade bombs. New Year's toy.
Homemade mortar.
A homemade bomb is ignited by a simple cigarette and launched using a catapult.
The design of the catapult is simple: a large slingshot and a long elastic band. The more you pull, the further the projectile flies.
shot from a homemade cannon.
A militant makes a mortar shell on a lathe.
The workshop creates new weapons for militants of a terrorist organization.
DIY mortar shells.
terrorists launch homemade missiles at the Syrian government forces of Bashar al-Assad.
A piece of metal pipe serves as a hand grenade launcher.
The militants paint homemade rockets at home.
This is already a full-fledged homemade artillery mount on wheels.
Homemade militant grenades.
Homemade mortar.
Homemade rocket launcher.
...
The militants are real masters of weapons making, they can create guns like these that cause considerable damage.
Another miracle of weapons manufacturing.
Double-barreled shotgun.
A child in a workshop where homemade mortar shells are produced.
GP-25 “Koster” is a fundamentally new Soviet development of the late 1970s. The underbarrel grenade launcher was developed in Tula through the joint efforts of designers and gunsmiths of the Tula Design Bureau and engineers of the Moscow State Research and Production Enterprise Pribor.
Basic information on GP-25 “Koster”
A fundamentally new type of weapon was intended to destroy enemy personnel. At the same time, the GP-25 device made it possible to fire a grenade not only at an open enemy, but also to shoot at trenches or other uneven terrain. A soldier who had practice in handling the GP-25 could easily “get” an enemy hiding behind an obstacle in the form of a large truck or something of suitable size.
The GP-25 underbarrel grenade launcher was installed on a line of Kalashnikov assault rifles of 5.45 and 7.62 mm caliber. According to its characteristics, the GP-25 belongs to a rifled weapon with a muzzle-loading system.
The GP-25 managed to take part in a large number of military conflicts in all corners of the globe. The first shots in combat were fired from the GP-25 during the Afghan War. This conflict showed that the new system is extremely reliable, efficient and easy to maintain and disassemble. Subsequently, underbarrel grenade launchers were used in Chechnya and other hot spots on the planet. Currently, the GP-25 has been used during the conflict in Syria.
GP-25 “Koster” was put into service back in 1878. As of 2017, the underbarrel grenade launcher is still in service with the Russian army. In addition, it has been adopted by the armies of Ukraine, Belarus and Bulgaria. It continues to be produced to this day.
The history of the appearance of under-barrel grenade launchers
If anti-tank grenade launchers began to be actively used by the Germans during World War II, the history of the creation of under-barrel guns began much later. Anti-tank grenade launchers were excellent for destroying enemy armored vehicles, but they were of little use for fighting infantry.
If you try to look into history, you can see some semblance of under-barrel grenade launchers in the muskets of the 18th century, which were equipped with special funnels designed to launch explosives at enemy positions. The fact that these are not fictions is evidenced by the large reserves of similar funnels preserved in European museums.
The next stage in the development of underbarrel grenade launchers began during the First World War. The presence of a huge number of trenches made the hand grenade the best weapon of the soldier of that time. Not everyone was able to throw it a significant distance, so various devices began to appear to mechanize the throw or shot.
The first rifle grenades, working on the principle of muskets of the 18th century, appeared as a result of the frequent appearance of the so-called “dead” zone between trenches. With a distance between positions of 50 to 150 meters, it was very difficult to throw a hand grenade into an opponent’s trench, and mortar fire was fired at that time at a distance of at least 150 meters. Then they remembered about rifle grenades.
Since standard weapons became unusable after firing a grenade, captured rifles were initially used to launch grenades. After some time, special attachments for the barrel and grenades of a special design began to appear. Until the start of World War II, designers in a number of European countries tried to improve rifle grenades, but the inability to fire a rifle normally before using a grenade gradually put these weapons out of use.
The appearance of the first under-barrel grenade launchers
After the Germans demonstrated to the world the potential of hand grenade launchers during World War II, many countries began to try to create their own model with similar potential. Gradually, hand grenade launchers became lighter in weight. The first in this area were again the Germans, who developed special grenades designed to be launched from signal pistols.
The next in this area were the Americans, who developed a hand-held grenade launcher that looked similar to a regular hunting rifle. It was intended to fire one shot, and worked on the principle of a simple hunting “break”. This M-79 grenade launcher was actively used during the Vietnam War. According to some reports, it has not yet been removed from service with the US Army.
However, despite all its advantages, the M-79 was a separate weapon, which, when picked up by a soldier, could not be fired from conventional small arms. As a result, the US Army announced a competition to create an under-barrel grenade launcher of a special design, intended for installation on M-16 rifles. Already in 1970, the first experimental batch of American under-barrel grenade launchers was sent to the Vietnamese jungle, where they fully revealed their potential.
The Soviet command quickly learned about the existence of a new weapon, and urgently wanted to create its analogue. The new weapon had to have the following qualities:
- Be able to install any system on a standard Kalashnikov assault rifle without preliminary modification;
- Be light in weight;
- Be easy to operate and use;
- Do not pass off as AK dimensions;
- Have a fairly powerful grenade.
The development of an under-barrel grenade launcher was entrusted to several design bureaus at once, but for many years they were unable to create a suitable and working model, since the development had to be carried out from scratch.
Finally, the Tula Design Bureau managed to create a working model of an under-barrel grenade launcher. The main development work was carried out by the talented gunsmith designer V.N. Telesh, who later became famous as the author of several more grenade launchers of various systems. As a result of fruitful cooperation with the State Scientific and Production Enterprise “Pribor”, the GP-25 “Koster” was born. It was adopted in 1978, but mass production began only in 1980. This was influenced by the outbreak of the war in Afghanistan. As a result of this large-scale military conflict, the under-barrel grenade launcher quickly established itself as a reliable and trouble-free weapon.
The main feature of the GP-25 “Koster” was the ability to install it on a standard Kalashnikov assault rifle of any caliber, without modification. Other features that made the GP-25 so popular were the following design nuances:
- Simplicity of design, which very rarely broke;
- Ease of use of an underbarrel grenade launcher. In order to fire a grenade, you only had to insert the grenade into the barrel of the grenade launcher from the muzzle, then aim and shoot;
- The ability to fire both straight and overhead, which was especially important during combat operations in the mountainous regions of Afghanistan and Chechnya;
- Training in using an under-barrel grenade launcher took place literally in a matter of minutes.
In addition, the soldier could instantly switch from a grenade launcher to a machine gun and back. The GP-25 performed well both as a fire support weapon and as an assault weapon.
The weapon had a mass of about 1.5 kg and dimensions of 330 mm. In addition, it has an excellent rate of fire and effective firing range. The big advantage of a single-shot grenade launcher is the fact that it does not require various manipulations with the bolt, since the grenades do not have any casings. Simply insert a new grenade and fire.
The average firing rate from the Bonfire is 5 rounds per minute. There are cases when some soldiers brought this figure to 8-10 shots. If you listen to the stories of internationalist soldiers, they cannot remember a single case when an under-barrel grenade launcher would fail in battle. All this speaks of the incredible reliability of the GP-25.
Description of the design of GP-25 “Bonfire”
The GP-25 underbarrel grenade launcher is a compact single-shot rifled grenade launcher that is loaded from the muzzle. Its design consists of the following elements:
- trunk;
- Breech;
- Breech mount;
- Sight;
- Trigger mechanism.
To carry a weapon, it is sometimes disassembled into two parts, although during combat operations the under-barrel grenade launcher is constantly located under the barrel of a Kalashnikov assault rifle. In addition to the grenade launcher itself, the kit includes a rubber butt pad and a set of tools for servicing and cleaning the weapon.
The grenade launcher's barrel has a length of 205 mm and 12 rifling, which contribute to more accurate grenade flight. To prevent the inserted grenade from falling out of the barrel, a special retainer with a spring is used.
The trigger mechanism of the underbarrel grenade launcher is self-cocking, trigger type. The GP-25 has a flag-type fuse and a special device designed to block the launcher if an error was made when installing the grenade launcher on the machine gun. An already loaded underbarrel grenade launcher can be unloaded. A special extractor is used for this.
Sights GP-25
Standard sighting devices installed on the GP-25 under-barrel grenade launcher allow firing in two ways. This is standard shooting in a straight line and shooting along an arcuate trajectory. To fire along an arc trajectory, there is a special device on the left side of the bracket, which has a distance scale in the form of an arc.
For direct fire, the standard aiming method is used - using the rear sight and front sight. The maximum firing range of the GP-25 underbarrel grenade launcher is 400 meters, subject to direct fire. You can shoot “canopy” no more than 200 meters. When shooting, you must make allowances for side winds.
Ammunition for GP-25
VOG-25 ammunition is used as standard ammunition for the GP-25 underbarrel grenade launcher. This ammunition is manufactured according to a special design, without the use of a cartridge case. All parts of the ammunition are located in the grenade body. This feature not only simplified the design of the ammunition, but also made it possible to make the process of loading the grenade launcher with the next shot faster. Since there is no need to remove the spent cartridge case.
The grenade is housed in a steel casing. Underneath there is a special cardboard mesh that helps the fragments gather in a certain position when fired from a grenade launcher. The outer part of the grenade body has special rifling that will give the grenade rotational motion when fired. It is they who stabilize the flight of ammunition, giving accuracy to shots from an under-barrel grenade launcher.
The grenade has a fuse equipped with a self-destruct system. The self-liquidator operates automatically. To do this, 12-14 seconds must pass after the shot.
The VOG-25 ammunition is not the only possible projectile for the GP-25 grenade launcher. They also use a special “jumping” grenade VOG-25P and a “Nail” grenade filled with tear gas.
VOG-25P operates according to the following principle:
- After the shot, it hits the target;
- Then a special charge is triggered;
- After this, the grenade is thrown up to a height of 1 meter;
- Only after this the fuse is triggered and the grenade explodes.
The “Nail” grenade is used most often by the police and special forces when it is necessary to neutralize a group of intruders without causing them serious damage.
The standard VOG-25 grenade has a five-meter damage radius.
Safety and convenience parameters when firing from a GP-25 grenade launcher
Since the recoil when fired from an under-barrel grenade launcher significantly exceeds the standard recoil of a Kalashnikov assault rifle, the designers have developed a special device that softens the effects of recoil for the shooter. This is a universal butt pad made of rubber, which can be easily installed on both wooden and plastic buttstocks. The butt plate can also be easily attached to folding stocks, which are found on some modifications of Kalashnikov assault rifles.
To ensure that the grenade launcher body does not break the receiver, a special liner is provided. Even during field tests, one serious drawback was revealed during shooting - the receiver cover often flew off. After this, a specially designed rod was developed that prevented the receiver cover from flying off. The AK-74M assault rifle received such a rod already in the basic version.
The GP-25 Koster underbarrel grenade launcher turned out to be a very effective additional weapon. Although back in 1989 the USSR Army adopted the new GP-30 “Obuvka” under-barrel grenade launcher, the GP-25 still remains in service with the Russian Army and a number of other countries. Its reliability and trouble-free design still evoke rave reviews from experts.
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