MOSCOW, May 27. /TASS/. Russia’s Pribor Research and Production Association (part of Tecmash Group within the state hi-tech corporation Rostec) will complete work in the immediate future on creating 57 mm controlled-burst shells, Tecmash Group Deputy CEO Alexander Kochkin told TASS on Monday.
"Our Scientific and Production Association Pribor is working on this. The ‘foresight’ idea and technology incorporated in the small caliber is also transferred to this [57mm caliber] today. There are certain technical difficulties in this process but we know how to remove problems and that is why everything will be solved in this area in the immediate future," the deputy chief executive said.
CEO of the Burevestnik Central Research and Development Institute (part of Uralvagonzavod defense manufacturer within Rostec) Grigory Zakamennykh told TASS at the Army-2018 arms show last year that controlled-burst shells for the most advanced Derivatsiya-PVO self-propelled air defense artillery system were undergoing preliminary trials.
As the Burevestnik chief executive said, two types of 57mm shells are under development: one with the controlled time of detonating the projectile in any trajectory point and the other is a multifunctional munition with a remote-controlled fuse whose detonation time cannot be changed in flight as it is pre-set by a special program at the time of firing.
Editor-in-Chief of the Arsenal of the Fatherland journal Viktor Murakhovsky earlier explained to TASS that the basic 30mm caliber for the Russian armor was no longer effective against advanced foreign armored vehicles and only the military hardware with the 57mm caliber could reliably strike them. Also, 57mm munitions boost the capabilities for fighting enemy air targets and manpower, he added.
The new Armata, Kurganets and Bumerang combat platforms and battlefield air defense missile systems, such as the Derivatsiya-PVO weapons, will be armed with the 57mm guns, in the first place, the expert said.
Eventually, options will emerge modernizing previous-generation military hardware, such as the BMPT tank support combat vehicle, the BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicle and others, he said.
Today, 57mm guns are mounted on the promising T-15 heavy infantry vehicle based on the Armata combat platform and on the Derivatsiya-PVO self-propelled anti-aircraft artillery system.