Very soon, production of a new microwave sniper rifle will begin in Russia, which will replace the legendary SVD, which has faithfully served in the ranks of the armed forces for more than 55 years. The new Chukavin sniper rifle, developed in Izhevsk by the engineers of the Kalashnikov concern, will be put into production in 2020. General Director of the enterprise Dmitry Tarasov told about this in an interview with IA "Udmurtia". A rifle chambered for 7, 62x54 mm will go into production. At the same time, at the end of 2017, Kalashnikov presented a long-range microwave model chambered for the.338 LAPUA MAGNUM cartridge (8, 6x70 mm), which at least provides an interesting future for the new product of Izhevsk gunsmiths.
Replacing the SVD rifle
The Dragunov sniper rifle chambered for the main Russian cartridge 7, 62x54 mm, which is rightly considered one of the oldest rifle cartridges of our time, was officially adopted in 1963, that is, 56 years ago. The cartridge 7, 62x54 mm R itself was adopted by the tsarist army, it was specially developed for the new Mosin rifle of the 1891 model, the famous three-line. The only rifle cartridge that is equally widely used in the world is the overseas analogue - 7, 62x51 mm, adopted for service in 1954. Both cartridges feel great in the 21st century, since over the decades this caliber has created the widest range of ammunition for every taste.
And if the rifle cartridge 7, 62x54 mm R does not raise questions today, then there are already questions for the SVD. This rifle does not fully meet the modern requirements of military operations, its replacement is long overdue and, apparently, there is very little left to wait for this. Izhevsk promises to launch a new Chukavin sniper rifle, which falls into the same niche and is a direct replacement for the SVD, in 2020. In fairness, it should be noted that the new rifle has not yet been adopted for service. According to the TV channel "Zvezda", the adoption of microwave ovens by the Russian army will take place in the next two years.
For the first time, a new microwave rifle designed to engage targets at short and medium distances was shown to the general public in 2017 as part of the Army International Military-Technical Forum. The demonstration of the novelty from Izhevsk immediately aroused increased interest, largely because of the differences from the traditional SVD, which are still flickering in reports from all hot spots of our planet. Externally, the microwave is a completely different weapon, in which high-strength ergonomic plastic parts have replaced wood. The microwave is slightly shorter than the SVD, the maximum rifle length is 1080 mm, while the rifle immediately received a butt adjustable in length. The length of the standard SVD rifle is 1225 mm (the stock does not fold), the SVD-S variant with a folding stock is 1135 mm, the length of the SVDM model is 1155 mm. At the same time, the new weapon is lighter, the declared weight of the microwave with a magazine without cartridges is 4.5 kg, the weight of the SVDM is 5.3 kg, the SVDS is 4.7 kg. If we talk about the length of the barrel of these rifles, then they are almost equal. For the SVDM model, the barrel length is 565 mm, for the new microwave rifle, according to the latest videos published on the kalashnikov.media website, 560 mm. Earlier, many feared that the barrel length of 410 mm would negatively affect the firing accuracy of weapons chambered for 7, 62x54 mm, but it seems that you can exhale, since the barrel of this length will receive a civilian version of the microwave.
The new model of the Kalashnikov concern is more compact and lighter than the entire SVD line, which is very important in modern combat conditions. Like the SVD, the Chukavin rifle is primarily a weapon of well-aimed shooters, who are called markmen or infantry snipers in foreign armies. At its core, this is a real squad sniper rifle, which significantly increases the unit's firepower in battle. The task of such well-aimed shooters is to cover their comrades and hit those targets that are difficult to hit with a machine gun. The threshold for the effectiveness of such rifles is 600-800 meters. Due to the fact that such rifles are self-loading, the shooter always has a chance to send another bullet at the target, correcting his shooting. Since ordinary infantrymen are armed with a rifle, they also have to participate in assault operations in urban areas, where compactness and lighter weight of weapons play a big role, here the microwave also outperforms the SVD. It will be easier to use new weapons in the limited space of premises inside various buildings, which, undoubtedly, is also a plus of the new model.
The only real problem of adopting a microwave rifle and the start of mass production may be the high cost of the model in the presence of a large number of SVD, SVD-S and new SVDMs. In conditions when army warehouses are overwhelmed with SVD, which during the years of the USSR's existence were riveted so much that rifles can be used as oars for laying on rubber landing boats, it is quite difficult to force the military to buy new models of small arms. This is especially noticeable in the example of the AK-12, which from a fundamentally new model turned in the course of work into a deep upgrade of the existing AK-74M. For the sake of reducing the cost of weapons and the ease of mastering the machine gun by conscripts, the designers abandoned a number of important progressive solutions that were incorporated into the model, first presented in 2012. In this regard, the microwave oven benefits from the fact that the army needs much less such rifles, and snipers, even if they are conscripts, always undergo special training.
Features of the Chukavin sniper rifle
A special feature of the new Chukavin sniper rifle is that this weapon was completely digital designed. The "electronic model" of the product created by the designers fully corresponds to the physical components of the rifle. All weapons development is carried out in a single digital environment. Here, a 3D model of the future weapon is formed, a static view of the rifle, and the kinematics of its main moving elements is tested.
At the moment, at least three versions of microwave ovens are known, which have already been demonstrated by the Kalashnikov concern. These are models chambered for the Russian cartridge 7, 62x54 mm, for the NATO cartridge - 7, 62x51 mm, and the most interesting option is the long-range microwave chambered for the.338 LAPUA MAGNUM cartridge (8, 6x70 mm). In the near future, a version chambered for cartridge 7, 62x54 mm R, which is sometimes also called the microwave oven-54, will go into production. 10-round magazines from the SVD rifle will be compatible with this model.
Structurally, the rifle is built according to a curtain scheme with a linear recoil when the butt is at the level of the barrel of the weapon. If we talk about the internal structure of the microwave, then the layout itself has not changed much since the time of the SVD. As Mikhail Degtyarev, editor-in-chief of the Kalashnikov magazine, noted in an interview with RIA Novosti, borrowing Dragunov's scheme should be considered an advantage of the new sniper rifle. According to him, the microwave oven is a full-fledged successor to the SVD, since the heart of the new model - the locking unit - was taken from the "older sister". Also, according to Mikhail Degtyarev, the concepts of the gas engine and the bolt group differ only in details. This is also a plus of the new model, since this node in the SVD could be safely called a close to a brilliant solution. At the same time, the declared accuracy of microwave firing increased. The declared spread at 100 meters is 3 cm, for SVD - from 8 to 10 cm.
The new sniper rifle features a telescopic buttstock, which makes it easy to adjust the length of the product and adjust the rifle to the shooter's anthropometric features. Judging by the videos already presented, the stock can be folded. On the samples already presented by the concern, you can see that the fuse is located on both the right and left sides, which also makes it easier to handle the weapon. In general, a lot of attention was paid to microwave ergonomics. The rifle was originally designed with the generalization of the experience of sports shooters. It is known that development assistance was provided by Andrey Kirisenko, who is an honored master of sports and world champion in practical shooting. An important feature of the rifle is that along the entire receiver, a Picatinny rail is located on top, which makes it easy to install any modern sights on the weapon: day optical, night, thermal imaging.
Microwave for civilians. MR-1
Russian fans of firearms can rejoice, as the Kalashnikov concern has already presented a civilian version of a new model of a sniper rifle. The self-loading hunting rifle MR-1, based on the SHF rifle, is on its way. From the military version, the civilian version differs in a shorter barrel - 410 mm, respectively, in a shorter overall length - 859-919 mm (the butt is adjustable in length, the manufacturer promises models with both a fixed and side-folding butt) and a weight of 4, 3 kg.
The MR-1 will use 10-round magazines that are compatible with SVD models and the Tiger hunting carbine. The cost of the MR-1 rifle has not yet been officially announced, but on weapon forums they write that it will range from 100 to 200 thousand rubles.
