Any rifle, including one with an electronic drive, is a murder weapon. And the more perfect she is, the more effectively she carries out this very murder. The same bullet with a caliber of 5.45 mm and a weight of 3.4 grams can be accelerated to 890 m / sec, and an armor-piercing bullet weighing 4.1 grams up to 840 m / sec. In previous materials, it was noted that due to the significantly longer barrel length, the bullet speed will be higher under the same equal conditions, which means that the flatness of the weapon and its armor penetration will increase. Well, if you use a more efficient, say, liquid fuel in ampoules, then the speed will increase even more.
Ammunition for the grenade launcher: cartridge and grenade, which is in it.
But the ammunition itself for such rifles will have to be developed anew, although all the components of such a development are already available and they just need to be properly combined in one "cartridge". Why is the word patron given in ""? Yes, because it should not be quite a patron in the usual sense of the word.
Let's start with the bullet. Since the rifle barrels are smooth (and chrome-plated), the bullet has an unusual design, and outwardly resembles a German hand grenade "potato grinder". It has a cylindrical head of the corresponding outlines, then a rather long "rod-tail" at the end of which an X-shaped stabilizer is fixed. Three “rings” are worn on the “tail”. The first is a coil-inductor that catches microwave radiation from the control unit and converts it into an electric current, which feeds the microcircuit of the second "ring", which acts as a "receiver". The third "ring" is a primer-igniter, which is triggered by a command from a microcircuit. The propellant - either gunpowder or liquid fuel in four ampoules, is placed in a combustible cylindrical cartridge that plays the role of a metal sleeve. In the barrels, the bottom parts of the previous bullets rest against the head parts of the subsequent ones, and those, respectively, with their bottoms against the breeches. Thus, the recoil is transmitted to the entire structure and the cartridges are not wrinkled when fired! And since they enter the barrels very tightly, the breakthrough of gases from the firing cartridge to the rest is excluded.
The cartridge is inserted into the barrel, and the grenade has ready-made projections for grooves on the walls of the cartridge. Therefore, leaving it when fired, it begins to rotate.
The material from which the bullets are made is steel. That is, they are simple technologically - no non-ferrous metal shirts for you, and no lead. Naturally, both the speed and destructive power of such a bullet will be much higher than that of bullets of traditional design. As for their electronic filling, robotic factories will be engaged in its production, so that human hands will not even touch these cartridges. Well, the ready-made ones will immediately be inserted into pneumatic-driven cartridges, and again the soldier does not even have to pick them up. Testing for suitability is carried out using a computer, that is, in the most modern way, as it should be. Actually, all this is already there, and in the near future it will become a ubiquitous norm. Well, except that in the Amazon jungle and on the Maclay Coast in New Guinea, everything will remain the same as it is now, and as it was even before.
British SA-80 with a grenade launcher.
In this photo, do you see the British SA-80 rifle? paired with a grenade launcher. And so she did not shine with design, but with him it became even worse. Firstly, the barrel of the grenade launcher leans to the side, which is not very convenient. Secondly, a grenade with a sleeve. Well, one more pistol grip, trigger, fuse. That is, a lot of all kinds of details. And why all this when you can make it much easier?
However, warheads for EVN-18 rifle barrels are not all. It is now fashionable (and also practical!) To equip automatic rifles with grenade launchers. So she also has a removable grenade launcher under the barrel. He turned away two "lambs", and he is removed. He put them back, screwed them into place - now he is already for battle and ready. Actually, now there is a great variety of various grenade launchers, which are on our Kalashnikov, and the American M16, and the British SA-80, but this grenade launcher among them is certainly the simplest. In fact, this is just a 45-mm barrel and that's it, no special mechanization is provided in it. The thing is that he also has an electronic drive, and if so, what kind of "mechanisms" and why does he need? True, the ammunition for such a grenade launcher is somewhat different from the usual ones. First of all, the grenades for it (except for one, about which there will be a story ahead) are in cylindrical cartridges that play the role of capping the 45-mm caliber. There are grooves in the walls of the cartridge, and on the case of a 40-mm grenade, respectively, there are ready-made protrusions. The grenade has a so-called "flying away sleeve", that is, the propellant charge is detonated directly in the body of the grenade, after which the pressure of the gases throws the grenade out of the barrel. Naturally, the cartridge is kept from falling out by a latch in the breech. It prevents the cartridge from flying out of the barrel along with the grenade when it moves along the rifling. But then the cartridge flies out of the barrel by itself, but only after the grenade leaves it. The solution is simple and elegant! There is a small hole in the back of the cartridge. Powder gases pass into it at the moment of firing, but they do not immediately fill the space behind it, since it is very small. But then they still fill in and squeeze the latch holding the cartridge. Well, by this time the grenade had already flown out of the barrel, followed by the powder gases, which always leads to a decrease in pressure. But the pressure on the bottom of the cartridge is still high, and that's what it throws it out of the barrel!
Grenades of 40 mm caliber for an under-barrel grenade launcher for this rifle can be of various types: high-explosive fragmentation, cumulative fragmentation, incendiary smoke with a "filling" of white phosphorus, and even thermobaric, since the size of the grenade allows it to have a decent charge of the gas mixture … The fuse is programmable through an electronic control unit. A very expensive but effective 45-mm guided ammunition with a TV camera installed on it, and therefore does not have a rifled cartridge, can also be used. After all, it does not need to rotate in flight, and it is controlled with the help of drop-down steering surfaces.
The grenade cartridge is sealed, which, of course, is convenient. The cover of the cartridge protrudes beyond the dimensions of the barrel, so it is convenient not only to insert it, but also to remove it.
Imagine, for example, that a unit of fighters with rifles like this is holding its defenses on the reverse slopes of the hills and is subjected to brutal machine-gun fire from several tanks, which, however, do not go forward. But their commanders and loaders are firing such heavy fire from the turret machine guns that they cannot stick their heads out, but they themselves are behind the armored shields. What to do? The unit commander contacts a UAV soaring high in the sky, which gives him a "picture of the battle", the computer indicates the location of his shooters and which of them is closest to the annoying unit of tanks. He fires a grenade like this, and it flies towards the enemy along a ballistic trajectory. As soon as its TV camera turns to the ground and shows the target, the UAV will transfer control of the grenade either to the shooter himself or to his commander, who only need to keep the crosshair of its screen on … the back of the tower. A hit, an explosion, and both machine gunners at once lost their heads, and the tank immediately became practically non-combatant.
Here it is - the ring of the trigger of the grenade launcher. "Weapons of last resort."
Here it is quite possible and we expect the question, but what about the EMP? What if this rifle "burns everything up" and the soldier has nothing left? It will remain, just this grenade launcher. True, you can't shoot a burst of it, but there are soldiers in the unit with mechanical long-range rifles for sniper shooting. But on the other hand, his power is different, and the number of shots is replaced by quality. So the soldier will be able to use it for self-defense in those rare cases when the electronics … "let you down." Please note that there is a ring in the breech of the grenade launcher. This is an ordinary hammer with a firing pin at the end. Pull it back to the limit with your finger, then release it - and the firing pin hits the capsule in the back of the cartridge. The grenade is no longer programmable, but it will still explode on impact when it hits the target. Activates the fuse in this case, the cartridge cover, which is blown off by the grenade when exiting the barrel.
The bottom of the grenade with holes for gas outlet, a socket for a primer and ready-made projections for grooves inside the cartridge. The propelling powder charge can be supplemented with a rocket powder engine, which will be launched at a distance of 10-15 m from the muzzle, so that the jet stream does not affect the shooter.
Moreover, it is quite possible to use this grenade launcher in the version of a light mortar: you lean it on the butt, lower the cartridges into the barrel and pull the ring - that's all. And again the computer will tell you the required angle of inclination of the trunk and the direction in azimuth. Although in which case you can see for yourself!
For self-defense purposes, there is also a special shrapnel shot. It is also essentially a grenade, but only filled with steel balls or cubes, and exploding at some distance from the shooter. This distance can be set through an electronic unit, but if for some reason it does not work, then the detonation will occur, well, say, 50 meters, which is quite enough to prevent the enemy from reaching a closer distance. However, all this must necessarily be established by research, and so, at random, one can only make assumptions.
Buttstock and rear sling swivel for the belt. In principle, nothing in this design prevents you from putting both swivels on four screws and, if necessary, transferring them from one side to the other.
Today, much attention is paid to the convenience of handling weapons, that is, ergonomics, and in this regard, despite its angular appearance, the proposed rifle is distinguished by increased usability. To begin with, it is essentially a "whale", that is, a "kit for assembly", which each soldier carries out for himself. As noted here, the shutter handle works equally to the left and right, so it is suitable for both left-handers and right-handers. Also, with the left and right hand, the cartridge lock is opened and the gas cartridge is turned during reloading.
Take a close look at this photo and compare it with the previous ones. You will see that the pistol grip control box has been pushed back 15 cm. That is, it is not difficult to choose any arrangement of the rifle controls for the anthropometry of each shooter! People with short and long arms can easily "make" it just for themselves.
The electronic unit can be installed both left and right, and it is very important that this rifle has … an adjustable pistol grip, which, together with the casing, moves along the barrel block back and forth, providing the soldier with the maximum convenience of using the rifle. Yes, her stock is motionless, but the handle moves along with the sight and the electronic control unit. On the casing, covering the block of barrels from all sides, there are four screws with "thumbs". He turned it off, chose the most convenient position of the handle relative to the butt, then turned them back and … do not grieve! That is, the level of ergonomics of that rifle is really very high.
