In 1975, a special underwater assault rifle (APS) was adopted for arming the combat swimmers of the USSR Navy.

The APS assault rifle is a combat swimmer's personal weapon and is designed to defeat underwater and surface targets, as well as to protect against sea predators.

The development of weapons began in the 70s at the Central Research Institute of Precision Engineering (TSNIITOCHMASH) by designer V.V. Simonov. Designers Kravchenko OP and Sazonov P.F. developed a special cartridge. The bullet of the MPS cartridge is a steel rod with a tapered head in the form of a double truncated cone. The cartridge case is of a traditional design, it contains a propelling powder charge that ejects a bullet from the barrel and activates the weapon's automation based on the use of the energy of gases discharged from the hole in the barrel wall. Stabilization of a bullet in water is carried out due to the formation of a cavitation cavity around the bullet during movement. The formation and retention of the cavitation cavity is ensured by the appropriate selection of the shape and size of the bullet and its speed. The barrel of the machine gun is smooth, has no grooves, and the bullet does not mechanically interact with the barrel. The bullet does not stabilize in air. In addition to the main cartridge, the MPST cartridge with a tracer bullet has been developed. The ammunition of the assault rifle was created using a standard 5.45 mm steel sleeve of the domestic 5.45-mm automatic cartridge, the caliber of rifled barrels in the fields. The diameter of 5.45 mm of the barrels on the rifling is 5.66 mm, the same is the nominal diameter of the leading part of the bullets of 5.45 mm of automatic cartridges.

The diameter of the steel bullet of the APS assault rifle corresponds to the outer diameter of the bullet of the cartridge 5.45 x 39 mm. But since the MPS bullet does not cut into the rifling, the caliber of the APS barrel corresponds to the outer diameter of the bullet and has a corresponding designation of 5.66 mm. And, probably, this circumstance, combined with the often poor visibility under water, led to the need to include an MPST cartridge with a tracer bullet in the ammunition load, which allows you to adjust the shooting along the tracks.

Automation APS works by using the energy of powder gases discharged from the hole in the barrel bore. To ensure the operation of the weapon both under water and in air, in environments of such different densities, the gas outlet unit is equipped with a regulator. With its help, you can change the amount of exhaust gases and, accordingly, the speed of movement of moving parts. However, when firing in the air, the survivability of the machine is sharply reduced and amounts to 180 shots (2000 shots under water). The trigger mechanism with a rear sear allows for single and continuous fire. The percussion mechanism is striker. The barrel is locked by turning the bolt.

The significant dimensions of the cartridges in length lead to the need to introduce additional devices into the design of the weapon to ensure its reliable operation. The magazine of the machine has in the front part spring grips that prevent the bullets from skewing the bullets upward, and a cartridge separator. A cutter is placed in the receiver, preventing the simultaneous feeding of several cartridges into the chamber. The unusual shape of the magazine is explained by the fact that the feeder spring is short in comparison with cartridges.

Special underwater assault rifle (APS)

Time, country: XX century. Russia / Small arms

Weapon type: Small arms

The 5.66-mm special submarine submachine gun is designed to arm light divers, in order to defeat manpower at depths of up to 40 m. Developed by order of the KGB of the USSR and the GRU of the General Staff of the USSR Ministry of Defense by V.V. Simonov in the 60s.

Automation works on the principle of removing powder gases from the table channel. Locking is carried out by turning the shutter. The gas engine of the automatics, including the gas regulator, ensures the firing of the machine both in water and in air. Sights consist of a rear sight and a front sight. The assault rifle has a smooth barrel and a retractable wire shoulder rest to ensure effective shooting. The safety switch is, in turn, a fire translator.

For firing from a machine gun, 5.66-mm MPS cartridges with steel bullets are used.

All parts of the cartridge are interconnected with a sleeve. The sleeve protects the powder charge from external influences and prevents the breakthrough of the powder gases towards the bolt when fired. It has a housing for placing a powder charge, a muzzle for securing a bullet and a bottom. Outside, at the bottom of the sleeve, an annular groove is made for the ejector hook. In the bottom of the sleeve there is a socket for a primer, an anvil and two seed holes through which the flame from the primer penetrates to the powder charge.

MPS cartridges are packed in cardboard boxes of 26 cartridges each. Packs of cartridges are sealed in metal boxes, each box contains eight packs. Two hermetically sealed metal boxes with cartridges are placed in a wooden box. There are 416 rounds in the box.

Shooting from a machine gun is carried out in bursts or single shots. Burst shooting is the main type of submachine gun shooting; it is carried out in short (3-5 shots) and long (up to 10 shots) bursts. The supply of cartridges when firing is made from a box magazine with a capacity of 26 cartridges.

Characteristics

lethal range in water, m:

At a depth of 5 m - 30;

At a depth of up to 20 m - 20;

At a depth of 40 m - 10;

sighting range in the air - up to 30 m;

rate of fire - 600 rds / min:

combat rate of fire, rds / min:

When firing single shots - 40;

When shooting in bursts - 80-100;

muzzle velocity - 340-360 m / s;

the range up to which the lethal effect of a bullet on an unprotected live target in the air remains - 100 m;

machine weight, kg:

Without a store - 2.46;

With an empty store - 3.03;

With an equipped magazine - 3.6;

magazine weight - 0.57 kg;

magazine capacity - 26 rounds;

machine length, mm:

With the stock extended - 840;

With a folded stock - 620;

caliber - 5.66 mm;

sighting line length - 290 mm;

cartridge weight - 23 g; ...

bullet weight - 20.7 g;

sleeve - lacquered steel;

bullet - lacquered steel.

Sources:

1. Special underwater atomizer Rules of treatment and application Moscow Military publishing house 1983
2. Monetchikov S.B. "History of the Russian automaton" LLC "Publishing house" Atlant "2005
3. http://tulatoz.ru - Tula Arms Factory

Without water, a person can live very shortly. However, he can live even less under water. Overcoming the resistance of this unsuitable environment is taught special units combat swimmers. They know how to survive under water, but there you also need to fight somehow. And here the problems begin: these super-soldiers are often forced to kill each other in the old fashioned way - with cold weapons. The fact is that an ordinary bullet cannot swim: it quickly loses speed, starts to somersault. The firing range can reach only a few meters, or even one meter. Therefore, a full firearms for "seals" - real machines - not many companies managed to develop. And Russia is ahead of the rest here. Western armies are content with pistols and knives.

Underwater assault rifle
special (APS-5)

APS-5 was put into service Soviet army in 1975 and is still used by combat swimmers. Under water, a long bullet-arrow of a special cartridge MPS or MPST of 5.66 mm caliber hits a target at a distance of 30 m at a depth of 5 m.The deeper, the lower the effective firing range: 20 m at a depth of 20 m and only 10 m at 40 - meter depth. At extreme ranges, the arrow strikes a scuba diver in a diving suit with foam insulation and pierces the plexiglass of the mask 5 mm thick. APS was invented to fight against enemy "seals" and for self-defense from sharks and other predatory marine fauna.

The assault rifle can fire both single shots and bursts. If necessary, it can be used on land, but practically only for self-defense. Firstly, the range of aimed firing by shooters in the air is not large - no more than 100 m. Secondly, the resource of the APS, designed for the aquatic environment, is consumed too quickly. All automatics are designed to move in a receiver filled with water, when water reduces the speed of the bolt carrier, and without water, instead of 2,000 design shots, the strength of the parts will only be enough for 180. The weight of the equipped machine is 3.4 kg.

1 Front sight of an unregulated mechanical sight.

2 Smooth barrel. An ordinary bullet under water would travel a very short distance and overturn: due to the density of the medium, hydrodynamics is very different from aerodynamics. Therefore, the APS shoots not bullets, but steel arrows about 12 cm long. There are no grooves protruding in the barrel.

3 Retractable stock.

4 Enlarged trigger guard for a comfortable grip for the gloved diver.

5 Special magazine for 26 rounds.

6 Due to the very long cartridge, the bolt has a very long stroke. Because of this, the fuse - the translator of fire modes had to be placed not on the right side of the receiver, like in Kalashnikov assault rifles, but on the left.

7 MPS cartridge (5.66 × 39 mm). Length 15 centimeters.

Underwater pistol
Heckler & Koch P11

The P11 pistol was developed by the German company Heckler & Koch in the 1970s. It is in service with the saboteurs of the armies of Germany, Norway, Italy, France, England and the United States. The weapon has a block of five barrels, into each of which a cartridge with a 7.62 mm needle-shaped bullet and an electric igniter is inserted at the factory. After that, the unit is hermetically sealed with membranes and is essentially a disposable replaceable cartridge. After the use of all five bullets in combat conditions, the block of barrels is thrown away, in training - it returns to the plant for reloading. The electric igniter is triggered by a pair of 9 V batteries when the trigger is pulled. The pistol weighs 1.2 kg without cartridges and is capable of hitting a target at a distance of 15 m with a submersion depth of 30 m.But you can shoot in the air at 30 m.

1 The front sight is a simple open sight.

2 Block of five equipped barrels.

3 Handle with sealed compartment for a pair of 9V batteries.

4 Trigger switch sealing.

5 Fuse.

6 Mounting pin for replaceable barrel block.

7 Cartridge P11 (7.62 × 36 mm). Length 5.87 centimeters.

Special pistol
underwater SPP-1M

SPP-1 was developed at the Central Scientific Research Institute of Precision Engineering and in 1971 was adopted by combat swimmers of the USSR Navy. Produced at the Tula Arms Factory. The pistol shoots needle-shaped long bullets (their length is almost equal to the length of the barrels) with a caliber of 4.5 mm. In the air, the lethal range is 20 m, in water at a depth of up to 5 m - 17 m, and when diving to 40 m - 6 m.

SPP-1 has a block of four smooth barrels and fires from them alternately. The firing pin is located on a rotating base and with each pull of the trigger it cocks and turns a quarter turn, going to the next barrel. For reloading, the barrel unit was hinged downward. All barrels are reloaded at once: the sleeves of four cartridges are combined into one block using a flat steel clip, which is inserted into the barrels from the breech end and removed from them manually. This operation takes 5 seconds underwater. If the barrels were loaded with separate cartridges, it would take much more time.

1 Block of four smooth-bore barrels.

2 The safety catch has three positions: "fire", "safety" and "loading". When the fuse is moved to the upper position - loading - the barrel block is unlocked, and then it can be folded down for loading.

3 Enlarged trigger guard for a comfortable grip with a gloved diver.

4 Barrel block hinge for reloading.

5 SPS cartridge (4.5 × 39 mm). Length 14.5 centimeters.

Two-medium machine
special (ADS)

This unique machine gun was created at the Tula Instrument Design Bureau (KBP) after 2005. In 2009, it passed military tests. The assault rifle is unique in that it can shoot on land with standard 5.45 mm ammunition, and for firing under water, it is enough to attach a magazine with special PSP cartridges of the same caliber to it. Since their sizes are typical, the magazines for both types of ammunition are standard and interchangeable - from the AK-74. All earlier types of underwater weapons could be effectively used practically only under water, while on land they were inferior to a conventional machine gun.

An underwater armor-piercing bullet weighing 16 g moves in water, reducing resistance due to the cavitation cavity created around the bullet due to its cut off nose. The bullet penetrates the body armor or the bottom of small boats. The firing range under water depends on the depth: at a depth of 5 m it is 25 m, and at a diving depth of 20 m it is already only 18 m.However, visibility at a depth is low, so it will not be possible to notice a target at long distances.

1 Silent firing device (tactical silencer) - on land. And under water, it works as a diffuser of powder gases, reducing the bubble when fired. This is important, since a huge bubble of powder gases and water vapor makes it difficult for the shooter to observe the results of the shot and aim to continue shooting, and even unmasks it in shallow water - all this gaseous rubbish rises to the surface of the water.

2 Sight for an under-barrel grenade launcher.

3 Front sight with the ability to mount a laser designator.

4 The Picatinny rail is a universal bracket for mounting all kinds of scopes: optical, night, thermal, hydroacoustic, etc.

5 The bullpup arrangement reduces the length of the weapon, helping to crawl through the hatches of underwater vehicles, and reduces recoil. The latter is especially true under water, where the shooter does not always have a fulcrum.

6 A magazine for 30 rounds of 5.45 × 39 caliber. On land, massive machine-gun cartridges of this caliber are used, and under water - special ones, with a sub-caliber bullet.

7 Safety trigger.

8 The trigger of an underbarrel grenade launcher.

9 40 mm underbarrel grenade launcher.

10 Grenade launcher fuse.

11 PSP cartridge (5.45 × 39 mm). Length 5.67 centimeters.

Back in the 1970s, unique samples of underwater weapons were adopted by the combat swimmers of the Soviet Navy - the SPP-1 pistol and the APS machine gun. They were developed by the designers of the Central Scientific Research Institute of Precision Engineering (TsNIITOCHMASH), which is now part of the Rostec structure.

Since ordinary bullets cannot "float" and the range of a shot in water can reach only a few meters, the specialists of TsNIItochmash have created special cartridges-needles for underwater pistols and machine guns. This weapon is still being successfully used by Russian combat swimmers in a modernized form.

Cartridge for the water element

As you know, ordinary bullets lose their speed very quickly in water. This happens in accordance with the well-known laws of physics: the density of water is higher than the density of air. That is why, after a couple of meters in the water, an ordinary bullet is absolutely “unarmed”.

To make an underwater weapon effective, bullets must be long enough. It was such a needle-shaped bullet with a length of up to 115 mm that was first proposed by the designers of TsNIItochmash. A special streamlined spear-shaped shape, when moving in water, created a cavity (air cavity) around the bullet, reducing resistance. The telescopic pallet, which is equipped with the cartridge case, prevents the release of powder gases after the shot is fired and the bullet is ejected.

The development of a new ammunition made it possible to create the first underwater pistol and in 1970, the designers presented the four-barreled SPP-1 to the State Commission. A little later, in 1975, the APS underwater assault rifle was also adopted. In 1982, the creators of underwater cartridges, TsNIItochmash engineers PF Sazonov and O. P. Kravchenko received the USSR State Prize.

Ammunition designed for firing from a 4.5-mm SPP-1 pistol and a 5.66-mm APS assault rifle are still produced at TsNIItochmash. The company has recently put into operation a line for the automatic assembly of such cartridges. The new production facility will make it possible to produce over 10 thousand cartridges per day.

SPP-1: Special Underwater Pistol

SPP-1 (Special Submarine Pistol) was put into service in 1971 and since then has been the personal weapon of a combat swimmer-scuba diver, it serves to defeat underwater targets, both marine predators and enemy divers. It was developed by the designers of TsNIItochmash, and is produced at the Tula Arms Plant, which is also part of Rostec.

SPP-1 has a block of four smooth barrels and shoots from them alternately long needle-shaped bullets of 4.5 mm caliber - their length is almost equal to the length of the barrels. In the air, the lethal range is 20 meters, in the water at a depth of 5 meters - 17 meters, and when submerged to 20 meters - 11 meters.

It takes only 5 seconds to reload underwater. All barrels are reloaded at once: the sleeves of four cartridges are combined into one block using a flat steel clip. If the barrels were loaded with separate cartridges, it would take much more time.

Today, the Russian military continues to use the slightly modernized SPP-1M underwater pistol. The differences between the old and the updated model are not significant, the main differences relate to the trigger mechanism. Externally, pistols differ in an enlarged safety guard and a trigger.

SPP-1 characteristics

Weight 0.95 kg
Dimensions 203 x 25 x 138 mm
Cartridge 4.5 × 40 mm R (SPS)
Caliber 4.5 mm
Sighting range:
at a depth of 5 meters - up to 17 meters
at a depth of 20 meters - up to 11 meters
in the air - up to 20 meters
Type of ammunition 4 rounds loaded into separate barrels

APS-5: Special Underwater Assault Rifle

In 1970, TsNIITOCHMASH began work on the creation of an underwater machine. APS-5 was put into service in 1975. Its serial production was mastered at the Tula Arms Plant. At the same time, the unique machine gun was declassified only in 1993 and was first presented at the IDEX arms exhibition in Abu Dhabi.

Under water, a long 5.66 mm bullet hits a target at a range of 30 meters at a depth of 5 meters. The firing range decreases with depth: 20 meters at a depth of 20 meters and only 10 meters at a 40-meter depth.

The assault rifle can fire both single shots and bursts. If necessary, it can be used on land, but practically only for self-defense. First, the air range is short - no more than 100 meters. Secondly, the resource of the assault rifle is designed for the aquatic environment and is consumed too quickly on land - without water, instead of 2000 design shots, the strength of the parts is only enough for 180.

APS-5 characteristics

Weight 2.46 kg (without magazine); 3.7 kg (with loaded magazine)
Length 832/615 mm with unfolded / folded stock
Cartridge 5.66 × 39 mm MPS, MPST
Caliber 5.66 mm
Rate of fire 500 rounds / min (in water)
Maximum range:
30 m (at a depth of 5 m)
20 m (at a depth of 20 m)
10 m (at a depth of 40 m)
100 m (in air)
Type of ammunition box magazine for 26 rounds

ADS: Automatic Two-Medium Special

Low combat characteristics SPP-1 and APS when firing in the air, as well as an insignificant resource on land, forced the combat swimmers to take two pistols and an assault rifle with them: both underwater and conventional AK and PM. To solve this problem, the designers of the Tula Instrument Design Bureau developed a two-medium automatic control system. Perhaps for the first time in the world, it was possible to achieve equally effective firing of a machine gun under water and on land.

The idea and general design of the ADS machine belongs to an outstanding designer small arms Vasily Gryazev. After his death, colleagues and students who worked at the Central Design Research Bureau of Sports and Hunting Weapons (TsKIB SOO), which is part of the Instrument Design Bureau, embodied the weapon in metal.

A unique underwater cartridge was also created at TsKIB SOO. Under water, the fire is carried out with cartridges of 5.45x39 mm caliber. In the air - classic cartridges of the same caliber. The magazine, loaded with cartridges for underwater shooting, can be easily changed to a magazine with ordinary cartridges for the standard Kalashnikov.

The rate of fire of the amphibious assault rifle varies from 600 to 800 rounds per minute when firing on land. Sighting range is up to 600 meters. You can hit a target under water at a distance of up to 25 meters.

In addition, the amphibious assault rifle has an under-barrel grenade launcher for 40-mm VOG-25 and VOG-25P rounds. The kit may include a tactical silencer and various sights.

The ADS machine has many new products for domestic weapons... For example, for the first time, the ejection of spent cartridges was applied not to the side, but to the front with the box closed, which reduced the gas pollution on the shooter's face. It also made it possible to shoot from the right and left shoulders without reinstalling parts, that is, the assault rifle is equally convenient for right-handers and left-handers. Composite materials made it possible to reduce the weight of the machine and at the same time increase the corrosion resistance.

ADS characteristics

Weight 4.6 kg (with grenade launcher)
Length 660 mm
Cartridge 5.45 × 39 mm (PSP and PSP-U for underwater shooting, 7N6, 7N10 and 7N22 for air firing)
Caliber 5.45 mm
Rate of fire 600-800 rounds / min
Sighting range:
600 m (on land)
25 m (in water)
400 m (grenade launcher)
Type of ammunition sector magazine for 30 rounds