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BBC Monitoring International Reports
March 6, 2003
LENGTH: 551 words
HEADLINE: RUSSIAN TV FEATURES MILITARY GUN-MAKER AND HIS LATEST DESIGNS
BODY:
Presenter Today Russian military designer Vasiliy Gryazev is celebrating his 75th birthday. Creating weapons has always been in the centre of his life and even his brightest memories of youth relate to successful tests of a new gun. Our correspondent Yuriy Bogdanov met the designer:
Corespondent Fifty-two years under a top secret regime. Gryazev's automatic guns have been installed on almost all types of modern combat equipment: the Black Shark Kamov Ka-50 Chernaya Akula helicopter, the nuclear-powered battle cruiser Petr Velikiy and the Tunguska anti-aircraft system. There have been no complaints about the automatic guns. Gryazev became interested in weapons back during the Great Fatherland War when he was 13 years old. He learned his first lessons by taking apart trophy Schmeissers and Soviet TTs. By the way, all the most exciting memories in the life of the designer are connected with weapons.
Gryazev, captioned as deputy chief constructor of the instrument-building design bureau We tested a 30mm six-barrel gun for the first time on a ship in Sevastopol at the Black Sea in 1971. It was a success as we managed to shoot down a missile in flight. This is the happiest memory I can recall.
Correspondent BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicle . Three specialist design bureaus refused to create a gun for this machine. They could not find a compromise between the calibre and the weight. But Gryazev found it: the gun turned out three times lighter than in the original proposal and it emitted less gunpowder exhaust inside an infantry fighting vehicle than a Kalashnikov assault rifle. The gun immediately became a generally-recognized masterpiece.
Gryazev himself says he always experienced shortage of criticism.
Gryazev When we were told that we had to rectify some or other deficiencies, we naturally responded to that. But a simple positive assessment does not really give us any information.
Correspondent At present, Gryazev is working on personal and anti-terrorist weapons. Among the developments are (?assault rifles with folding stock) skladnyye avtomaty , hand-held grenade launchers and anti-armour sniper rifles.
Gryazev's latest creation is the GSh-18 pistol. It has magazine capacity of 18 rounds whereas the weight is absolutely fantastic: only 500 grams. The main competitors of this weapon weigh twice as much. The secret of lightness is in the plastic frame of the pistol. It is tougher, more reliable and longer lasting than its metallic cousins. Its armour-penetration capability is nearly as good as that of a rifle. From 15 metres GSh penetrates a 8-mm steel plate.
The nearest plans of the designer comprise another grenade launcher and three models of firearms. Gryazev has had these ideas for a long time but there has not been time to implement them. Gryazev promised himself that he would not leave the business until these models are commissioned.
Yuriy Bogdanov, Sergey Mukhin, Channel One.
Video shows Gryazev shooting a pistol, guns firing, Gryazev at a drawing board, ship-based multi-barrel gun firing and target exploding, infantry fighting vehicle, men in camouflage with hand-held weapons, vehicle-mounted gun firing.
Source: Channel One TV, Moscow, in Russian 1500 gmt 4 Mar 03
March 6, 2003
LENGTH: 551 words
HEADLINE: RUSSIAN TV FEATURES MILITARY GUN-MAKER AND HIS LATEST DESIGNS
BODY:
Presenter Today Russian military designer Vasiliy Gryazev is celebrating his 75th birthday. Creating weapons has always been in the centre of his life and even his brightest memories of youth relate to successful tests of a new gun. Our correspondent Yuriy Bogdanov met the designer:
Corespondent Fifty-two years under a top secret regime. Gryazev's automatic guns have been installed on almost all types of modern combat equipment: the Black Shark Kamov Ka-50 Chernaya Akula helicopter, the nuclear-powered battle cruiser Petr Velikiy and the Tunguska anti-aircraft system. There have been no complaints about the automatic guns. Gryazev became interested in weapons back during the Great Fatherland War when he was 13 years old. He learned his first lessons by taking apart trophy Schmeissers and Soviet TTs. By the way, all the most exciting memories in the life of the designer are connected with weapons.
Gryazev, captioned as deputy chief constructor of the instrument-building design bureau We tested a 30mm six-barrel gun for the first time on a ship in Sevastopol at the Black Sea in 1971. It was a success as we managed to shoot down a missile in flight. This is the happiest memory I can recall.
Correspondent BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicle . Three specialist design bureaus refused to create a gun for this machine. They could not find a compromise between the calibre and the weight. But Gryazev found it: the gun turned out three times lighter than in the original proposal and it emitted less gunpowder exhaust inside an infantry fighting vehicle than a Kalashnikov assault rifle. The gun immediately became a generally-recognized masterpiece.
Gryazev himself says he always experienced shortage of criticism.
Gryazev When we were told that we had to rectify some or other deficiencies, we naturally responded to that. But a simple positive assessment does not really give us any information.
Correspondent At present, Gryazev is working on personal and anti-terrorist weapons. Among the developments are (?assault rifles with folding stock) skladnyye avtomaty , hand-held grenade launchers and anti-armour sniper rifles.
Gryazev's latest creation is the GSh-18 pistol. It has magazine capacity of 18 rounds whereas the weight is absolutely fantastic: only 500 grams. The main competitors of this weapon weigh twice as much. The secret of lightness is in the plastic frame of the pistol. It is tougher, more reliable and longer lasting than its metallic cousins. Its armour-penetration capability is nearly as good as that of a rifle. From 15 metres GSh penetrates a 8-mm steel plate.
The nearest plans of the designer comprise another grenade launcher and three models of firearms. Gryazev has had these ideas for a long time but there has not been time to implement them. Gryazev promised himself that he would not leave the business until these models are commissioned.
Yuriy Bogdanov, Sergey Mukhin, Channel One.
Video shows Gryazev shooting a pistol, guns firing, Gryazev at a drawing board, ship-based multi-barrel gun firing and target exploding, infantry fighting vehicle, men in camouflage with hand-held weapons, vehicle-mounted gun firing.
Source: Channel One TV, Moscow, in Russian 1500 gmt 4 Mar 03
