Drizzt
Member
BBC Monitoring International Reports
January 25, 2003
LENGTH: 750 words
HEADLINE: RUSSIAN TV SHOWS OFF RANGE OF SECURITY FORCES' SILENT WEAPONS
BODY:
Presenter What is a soundless weapon? Why are pistols with silencers, familiar from crime and action films, being produced by the state at its closed factories? And what are these weapons like in action? Here reporting is Boris Kurdin.
Correspondent The secret service man you can see on your screens is holding a menacing weapon. It is the soundless complex Vul. It is so soundless that the first time you pull its trigger, you cannot believe this miniature actually shoots. They have not only removed the sound and spark from the shot. There is no recoil, and there's hardly any sound from the breech mechanism. Nevertheless, the PSS can hit its target from 50 metres. It is the only silent, self-loading pistol without a silencer. In the 20 years since its introduction, no country has managed to surpass or even copy it... Our engineers decided to include a modified version of a silencer in the cartridge itself. You now have a very rare opportunity to witness the silent shot from the inside. Pay attention. The bullet is forced out of the cartridge case not by gas but by a piston which operates from within. In this computer model just one liberty has been taken. The burning light which you see in the cartridge cannot be viewed by any instruments.
Viktor Korablin, professor at the General Military Academy of the Russian Armed Forces The creation of this cartridge was the deciding factor in the development of the complex. However, the pistol is also an interesting invention. In order to bring about the ejection of the cartridge case, which is under enormous pressure from the gunpowder gas, they had to come up with something. What they came up with was a mobile chamber. The chamber moves along with the breech mechanism. During this time the gunpowder gas is diffused, the pressure falls, and the cartridge case can be ejected from the chamber. If you try to do this when the cartridge case is under huge pressure it will disintegrate and the pistol will jam.
Correspondent The PSS pistol and SP-4 cartridge were given their combat baptism in Afghanistan. It was there that the fighters got to know about another of the wonder weapons of Klimovsk. This is the VSS - Sniper's Special Rifle - or the Vintorez. Originally made with a 7.62-mm calibre, it weighed just 1.8 kg - a toy as its makers said. It could penetrate a steel helmet with ease at a distance of 400 metres. However, the customer wanted it to be able to go through a Class 3 bullet-proof jacket. The cartridge was not up to this.
In less than a year a new 9-mm cartridge was developed, whose bullet weighed twice as much. In 1987 the special services of the KGB and GRU Main Intelligence Directorate got a new unique weapon - the AS special assault rifle or the Val. With all the features of the rifle, it has a folding shoulder-butt and a 20-cartridge magazine. The effect of its introduction into warfare was fully comparable to the advent of the machine gun, whereas its cost was equivalent to the series production of a common firearm.
But the price was not the only thing that was important. The intelligence officers recognized the special worth of this weapon: the unique combat quality, reliability, and its lightness.
In 1995 in the course of just one operation near Serzhen-Yurt in Chechnya a Russian subunit wiped out 60 rebels. Of course, the rebels also appreciated the effectiveness of the new complex. The race was on for them to get hold of the Val and Vintorez. Soon this weaponry was in the hands of the terrorists.
It was necessary, if not to seize the weaponry from them, then at least to put it out of action. This was helped by the fact that it is no easy matter to get hold of the ammunition. The operation to supply the rebels with the cartridges was executed brilliantly. And then?
Nikolay Kuzin, chief designer at Tsniitochmash (Central Research and Development Institute of Precision Machine-Building) It you put a mixture of gunpowder and some sort of explosive like Hexogen then you'll get the effect mentioned. The weapon will be put out of action, and could even maim the gunman...
Correspondent The arms-makers of the whole world have not been able to produce anything even faintly resembling the Val or Vintorez. On the other hand, in Klimovsk they have already a new-generation sniper complex, which must at all costs be kept out of the hands of terrorists.
Source: Ren TV, Moscow, in Russian 1000 gmt 19 Jan 03
January 25, 2003
LENGTH: 750 words
HEADLINE: RUSSIAN TV SHOWS OFF RANGE OF SECURITY FORCES' SILENT WEAPONS
BODY:
Presenter What is a soundless weapon? Why are pistols with silencers, familiar from crime and action films, being produced by the state at its closed factories? And what are these weapons like in action? Here reporting is Boris Kurdin.
Correspondent The secret service man you can see on your screens is holding a menacing weapon. It is the soundless complex Vul. It is so soundless that the first time you pull its trigger, you cannot believe this miniature actually shoots. They have not only removed the sound and spark from the shot. There is no recoil, and there's hardly any sound from the breech mechanism. Nevertheless, the PSS can hit its target from 50 metres. It is the only silent, self-loading pistol without a silencer. In the 20 years since its introduction, no country has managed to surpass or even copy it... Our engineers decided to include a modified version of a silencer in the cartridge itself. You now have a very rare opportunity to witness the silent shot from the inside. Pay attention. The bullet is forced out of the cartridge case not by gas but by a piston which operates from within. In this computer model just one liberty has been taken. The burning light which you see in the cartridge cannot be viewed by any instruments.
Viktor Korablin, professor at the General Military Academy of the Russian Armed Forces The creation of this cartridge was the deciding factor in the development of the complex. However, the pistol is also an interesting invention. In order to bring about the ejection of the cartridge case, which is under enormous pressure from the gunpowder gas, they had to come up with something. What they came up with was a mobile chamber. The chamber moves along with the breech mechanism. During this time the gunpowder gas is diffused, the pressure falls, and the cartridge case can be ejected from the chamber. If you try to do this when the cartridge case is under huge pressure it will disintegrate and the pistol will jam.
Correspondent The PSS pistol and SP-4 cartridge were given their combat baptism in Afghanistan. It was there that the fighters got to know about another of the wonder weapons of Klimovsk. This is the VSS - Sniper's Special Rifle - or the Vintorez. Originally made with a 7.62-mm calibre, it weighed just 1.8 kg - a toy as its makers said. It could penetrate a steel helmet with ease at a distance of 400 metres. However, the customer wanted it to be able to go through a Class 3 bullet-proof jacket. The cartridge was not up to this.
In less than a year a new 9-mm cartridge was developed, whose bullet weighed twice as much. In 1987 the special services of the KGB and GRU Main Intelligence Directorate got a new unique weapon - the AS special assault rifle or the Val. With all the features of the rifle, it has a folding shoulder-butt and a 20-cartridge magazine. The effect of its introduction into warfare was fully comparable to the advent of the machine gun, whereas its cost was equivalent to the series production of a common firearm.
But the price was not the only thing that was important. The intelligence officers recognized the special worth of this weapon: the unique combat quality, reliability, and its lightness.
In 1995 in the course of just one operation near Serzhen-Yurt in Chechnya a Russian subunit wiped out 60 rebels. Of course, the rebels also appreciated the effectiveness of the new complex. The race was on for them to get hold of the Val and Vintorez. Soon this weaponry was in the hands of the terrorists.
It was necessary, if not to seize the weaponry from them, then at least to put it out of action. This was helped by the fact that it is no easy matter to get hold of the ammunition. The operation to supply the rebels with the cartridges was executed brilliantly. And then?
Nikolay Kuzin, chief designer at Tsniitochmash (Central Research and Development Institute of Precision Machine-Building) It you put a mixture of gunpowder and some sort of explosive like Hexogen then you'll get the effect mentioned. The weapon will be put out of action, and could even maim the gunman...
Correspondent The arms-makers of the whole world have not been able to produce anything even faintly resembling the Val or Vintorez. On the other hand, in Klimovsk they have already a new-generation sniper complex, which must at all costs be kept out of the hands of terrorists.
Source: Ren TV, Moscow, in Russian 1000 gmt 19 Jan 03
