MOSCOW, June 21. /TASS/. Russia’s Terminator advanced tank support combat vehicles that have recently arrived for the troops will be capable of firing smart 30mm shells with controlled air burst, the press office of Techmash Scientific and Production Association told TASS on Thursday.

The work on developing these munitions is at the final stage, Techmash said.

Similar Western munitions are used to hit sheltered enemy manpower and destroy missiles and small-size drones.

"In the interests of the Russian Army, work is now nearing completion for tank support combat vehicles to create a system with 30mm controlled burst shells," Techmash said, without specifying the munition’s design.

So far, the Terminator can fire 30mm shells with the ordinary contact fuze, which explodes when hitting an obstacle.

European variants

Small-caliber (35mm and 30mm) shells with the programmed air burst were earlier developed by the Swiss company Oerlikon (currently, part of Rheinmetall). The munition is furnished with ready-made strike elements that are ejected by a small knock-out charge at a time calculated by a specialized fire control system. Thus, shells can be activated over enemy trenches to destroy manpower hiding from the direct impact by a burst of strike elements. These munitions can be used to reliably destroy air targets, including small-size drones or missiles.

The data on the activation time is entered into the shell by a programming device located at the end of the gun barrel. Smart shells can be used as munitions for Germany’s Puma infantry fighting vehicles, on which MK-30-2/ABM guns are mounted. Their 30mm shell contains 162 ready-made cylindrical strike elements. The fragments fly to the target using kinetic energy received together with the shell during the shot and the task of the ejection charge is to spread strike elements in the form of a circular field (the projectile’s size does not allow inserting both a powerful blast charge and a sufficient number of ready-made fragments).

‘Terminator’ tank support combat vehicle

The ‘Terminator’ tank support combat vehicle is armed with two 30mm 2A42 guns with a combat load of 900 rounds. The combat vehicle is also furnished with the Ataka-T anti-tank missile system, 30mm automated grenade launchers and a large-caliber machinegun. The vehicle is designed to provide fire support for the armor in an offensive, including neutralizing enemy manpower that uses man-portable anti-tank systems.

It was officially announced in April this year that ‘Terminator’ tank support combat vehicles had been accepted for service in the Russian Army. As a source in the domestic defense industry earlier told TASS, a batch of 10 such combat vehicles had been delivered to the troops.