The TASS news agency, citing the press service of NPO Tekhmash, reports that new shells are being developed for the BMPT Terminator’s 30-millimeter guns, and work has already entered its final phase: work on the creation of a complex with a 30-millimeter shells controlled blasting ". Recall that the BMPT Terminator, represented by the general public at the Victory Parade of 2018, is designed to support tanks and infantry as a multipurpose combat weapon both in local conflicts and in conditions of the use of weapons of mass destruction by the enemy.
Its development began in the 1980s on the basis of the T-72 tank, but the subsequent negative political events led to the fact that the work was interrupted for a long time and resumed only in the late 90s, when it was decided to develop BMPT based on the T-90 tank. . In 2000, the first version was presented, armed with a paired 30-mm cannon and a 7.62-mm machine gun, four Kornet anti-tank guns and two 30-mm AGS-17D grenade launchers. However, in 2002, a modern version of weapons was proposed, which includes:
- 2 × 30 mm guns 2А42;
- 1 × 7.62 mm PKTM machine gun;
- 4 PU ATUR "Ataka-T";
- 2 grenade launchers AG-17D.
In the course of state tests, two pre-series samples overcame up to 10,000 kilometers, performed thousands of shots from machine-gun and artillery weapons and dozens of launches from an ATGM. In 2006, it was announced the successful completion of state tests, but the adoption for 2009, scheduled for 2009, did not take place. This was due to the plans to create on the basis of the "Terminator" a new combat module, armed with more powerful 57-mm guns, which could be installed on obsolete tanks, in particular T-55, several thousand of which were mothballed during the collapse of the USSR. The fate of the machine was decided by the conflict in Syria, where it passed combat tests in the summer of 2017, after which the Ministry of Defense decided to order the first batch of BMPT for combined-arms tests. Obviously, the Syrian experience has shown that the existing version of the T-90 chassis equipped with 30 mm guns is optimal.
2А42, new shells to which became the subject of this article - the domestic automatic gun, developed in the 70s by a tandem of designers Gryazev and Shipunov and mass-produced at Tulmashzavod since 1980. It is designed to defeat manpower, light military equipment and low-flying aircraft. Shooting is possible with single and automatic fire. Ammunition is carried out of two sets, ammunition (500 shots) includes BS and OFS. It is worth noting that when all the BC is shot, the gun does not need to be cooled.
The standard projectile for this gun, 30 × 165 mm, which had an AO-18 index during the development period, was created in the mid-1970s as a universal ammunition for the SV, the Navy, and the Air Force — however, different requirements for it were put forward by different arms of the armed forces. led to the fact that interchangeability had to be forgotten. So by the mid-1980s, the following main types of shells were developed:
- Armor-piercing tracer (BT);
- High explosive incendiary (OFZ);
- Frag tracing (FROM).
These munitions currently form the basis of the ammunition for the 2A42 cannon, but they are all united by the principle of firing after hitting the barrier. The idea to develop a projectile with a programmable air explosion is not new, so not so long ago, the Swiss company Oerlikon, well known since World War II for its groundwork in the field of anti-aircraft weapons, created 30-mm projectiles of such purpose.
They are stuffed with shrapnel, which is thrown out by the expelling charge at the moment of the explosion, calculated by the MSA of the particular combat vehicle. As a result, the projectiles, which have been activated above the enemy’s trenches, mow the living force that was hiding in them with fans of damaging elements. They are also very effective against low-flying aircraft, including missiles and unmanned reconnaissance aircraft. The time of activation of the munition is determined by the programmer located at the end of the gun barrel. After that, 162 destructive elements of a 30-millimeter projectile of a Swiss cannon fly away, forming a circular sphere, which grows sideways and forward along the course of the projectile due to the kinetic energy of its flight.
Unfortunately, so far little is known about domestic developments in terms of creating a projectile with controlled blasting, except that the work on the Russian steel rain is almost completed and the TKN-4GA-02 sight, equipped with a laser projectile control channel, has a key place in them. However, in the press there is information that the Ministry of Defense in April 2018 received a batch of ten BMPT "Terminator" for military trials. These data suggest that information about new ammunition for the 2A42 gun will not be secret for long.
