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KPVT, machine gun. Large-caliber machine gun Vladimirova CPV
The idea of destroying aircraft and lightly armored vehicles led to the creation of heavy machine guns of caliber greater than 12 mm. Such machine guns were already able to hit a lightly armored target, to get a low-flying aircraft or a helicopter, as well as shelters, behind which the infantry was.
According to the classification of small arms, the 14.5-mm CPVT machine gun is already adjacent to artillery armament. And in the construction of heavy machine guns have much in common with automatic guns. In this case, some modifications of large-caliber machine guns have a shot energy more than automatic guns of small calibers.
Design assignment
Before designing the KPVT (Vladimir Vladimirov's machine gun), it was necessary to choose the concept of weapons. The 20 mm B-20 aircraft gun of its design was used as a basis.
At the factory tests the first machine gun was introduced in November 1943.
The Arms Acceptance Commission noted a number of advantages of the new development, such as:
- Seriously developed automation;
- The strength of the components of the machine gun meets the requirements of combat antiaircraft weapons.
At the same time, the commission emphasized the possibility of using a machine gun in air defense. By April 1944, the People's Commissariat was ordered to manufacture the plant No. 2 for conducting military tests:
- Machine guns (under the designation KPV - 44) - 50 pcs .;
- Antiaircraft installation - 1 pc.
When the Great Patriotic War was over, both the machine gun and the anti-aircraft gun in May 1945 were sent for military tests. And already in 1946 they were accepted for service, and the release of the 14.5-mm infantry control panel and its anti-aircraft version was established at the plant. Degtyaryova. By 1952, eight thousand anti-aircraft missile systems were delivered to the armed forces.
Simultaneously, work was carried out to create a CPVT (14.5 mm machine gun) for installing an upgraded version (with electric drive) for tanks and various types of BMP.
Machine gun
Automation has been redesigned in such a way that the kickback of the barrel, using a short stroke, uses the energy of the powder gases that are diverted through a special muzzle device (a recoil amplifier).
The weighted barrel of Vladimirov's machine gun is made from the calculation of the shooting of a cartridge with a large charge of gunpowder. The movable barrel during the operation of the machine gun made it possible to make the automation work smooth, which, in turn, does not increase the stroke length of the entire system.
The design of the trigger mechanism provides only automatic fire when firing from the rear sear. As soon as the drive of the mobile system is locked in an extremely forward position, a shot is fired.
KPVT - machine gun, which has automatic fuses, excluding the locking of the shutter and the production of a shot with an incorrectly connected trunk. The fuse also blocks the feed of the tape into the machine gun if the cartridge from the link has not been removed.
It was possible to switch the direction of feed of the tape, which facilitated the installation of the machine gun in complex installations. Accordingly, and the recharge handle can easily be installed from the left or right side.
Also, the advantages include the presence of a quick-release barrel, which is removed together with the casing, for which the latter is provided with a handle.
KPVT in figures
The Vladimirova machine gun is so powerful that a bullet fired from it keeps its killability at the entire flight distance, which is from 7 to 8 km!
But since at such large distances the scattering of bullets increases, and monitoring of the results of shooting and its correction is difficult, then the target range is recommended to be limited to 2000 m.
KPVT is a machine gun, the TTX of which is shown in the illustration below.
Also, the merits of the system can be attributed to the fact that there is no need for precise adjustment of the gaps, which provides high reliability, despite the various operating conditions.
Interesting Facts
Tank machine gun KPVT during combat showed so high armor penetrating ability on the steel armor RHA of the NATO standard that, beginning in the 1970s, And to this day the countries of NATO, issuing those. The task of designing and creating new military equipment, took into account the damaging effect of an armor-piercing bullet fired from the KPVT!
And this is not surprising, since at 500 to 800 m the KPVT confidently punched the front armor of the main types of armored personnel carriers of the probable enemy. Under the threat of defeat was the most common BTR M113 (USA).
Proceeding from such penetrating ability, the combat mass of the main infantry fighting vehicles of NATO countries "Marder A3" (Germany) and "M2A2 Bradley" (USA), relative to Russian infantry fighting vehicles, was doubled.
Tandem installation
KPVT - a machine gun, a photo of which is presented in the article, found its use as an anti-aircraft weapon for the destruction of air targets by single (ZPU-1) and coupled installations (ZPU-2, ZU-2).
In the ZU-2 installations, an automatic type anti-aircraft sights were installed, equipped with a second (right) gunner seat and an additional frame for the cartridge case. In this version, it was adopted in 1955.
The installation had wheels for towing over long distances, but by calculating the installation it was possible to move it along the field for short distances.
Mountain modification
For use in mountain conditions, ZGU-1 was used because of the possibility of disassembling it to move through the mountains by calculation forces. The mining facility was developed back in 1954, but its adoption into service was halted because of the then fashionable "rocketomania" in the Soviet government.
But in 1968, the dismantled ZGU-1 was adopted, and at first it was tested in the Vietnamese army as a help to this country in the fight against American aircraft.
Also in later military conflicts in Afghanistan and in the Chechen company ZGU-1 have found wide application.
The quadruple antiaircraft machine gun
A quadruple antiaircraft installation from the large-scale CPV ZPU-4 was adopted in 1949 under the index GAU 56-U-562. ZPU-4 entered the arsenal of air defense to protect against air attacks of tank, motorized rifle regiments and airborne divisions.
To fire from ZPU-4, the automatic sight APO-3-C was introduced into the application. Due to the counting-solving mechanism, the calculation of the target hit task was accelerated, taking into account the speed, course and dive angle.
All these parameters had to be calculated manually by the gun, which, under conditions of rapidly increasing airspeeds, reduced the possibility of installation. But at that time it was a significant step forward, if we compare the previous anti-aircraft sights.
But also the 14.5-mm KPVT machine gun at ZGU-4 for such an arrangement can also be called its main drawback, since the installation showed a low "survivability" of its main armament. And this is due to the fact that the machine gun itself was originally developed as a tank machine.
What is the KPVT intended for?
The KPVT itself is a machine gun, the characteristics of which were initially laid with the expectation of installing tanks. And the idea of creation was such that to use it in pairing with the gun of the tank.
It was not excluded, and the option, in which the CPVT was located on the turret as a turret installation.
The tank version received an electrospin from a 21-V source and a pulse counter of shots, respectively, based on tank application, the firing of the spent cartridges was provided. He also had a detachable receiver.
In addition to domestic armored vehicles, KPVT (machine gun) was also installed on armored vehicles of the Warsaw Pact countries.
When using the CPVT on armored vehicles, it turned out to be the most "long-lived" weapon, as, as a rule, they were equipped with all armored vehicles of the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union.
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