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Automatic grenade launcher From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The AGS-17 Plamya[8] (Russian: Пламя; Flame) is a Soviet-designed automatic grenade launcher in service worldwide.
AGS-17 Plamya | |
---|---|
Type | Automatic grenade launcher |
Place of origin | Soviet Union |
Service history | |
In service | 1970–present |
Used by | See Users |
Wars |
|
Production history | |
Designer | KB Tochmash |
Designed | 1967 |
Manufacturer | Molot Plant |
Produced | 1967 |
Variants | AG-17A helicopter-mounted version |
Specifications | |
Mass | 31 kg |
Length | 840 mm |
Cartridge | 30×29mm grenade |
Caliber | 30 mm |
Action | Blowback |
Rate of fire | 400 round/min |
Muzzle velocity | 185 m/s |
Effective firing range | 800 to 1,700 m |
Feed system | 29 grenades belt |
Sights | Adjustable iron sights, optional mount required for optical sights |
The AGS-17 is a heavy infantry support weapon designed to operate from a tripod or mounted on an installation or vehicle. The AGS-17 fires 30 mm grenades in either direct or indirect fire to provide suppressive and lethal fire support against soft-skinned or fortified targets.
The weapon uses a blowback mechanism to sustain operation. Rounds are fired through a removable (to reduce barrel stress) rifled barrel.
The standard metal ammunition drum contains 29 linked rounds.[9][10]
The tripod is equipped with fine levelling gear for indirect fire trajectories.
Development of the AGS-17 (Avtomaticheskiy Granatomyot Stankovyi—Automatic Grenade launcher, Mounted) started in the USSR in 1965 by the OKB-16 design bureau (now known as the KB Tochmash), under the leadership of Alexander F. Kornyakov.[11]
This lightweight weapon was to provide infantry with close to medium range fire support against enemy personnel and unarmored targets, like trucks, half-tracks, jeeps and sandbag-protected machine-gun nests. The first prototypes of the new weapon entered trials in 1969, with mass production commencing in 1971.[11] The AGS-17 was widely operated and well-liked by Soviet troops in Afghanistan as a ground support weapon or as a vehicle weapon on improvised mounts installed on armoured personnel carriers and trucks.[1]
A special airborne version of the AGS-17, the AG-17A, was developed for installation on helicopters, including the Mi-24 Hind in gun pods and the Mil Mi-8 on door mounts. This weapon had a thick aluminium jacket on the barrel and used a special mount and an electric remotely controlled trigger.[11][12]
It is still in use with the Russian army as a direct fire support weapon for infantry troops; it is also installed in several vehicle mounts and turrets along with machine guns, guided rocket launchers and sighting equipment. It is being replaced by the AGS-30 launcher, which fires the same ammunition, but weighs only 16 kg unloaded on the tripod and has an upgraded blowback action.
Ukrainian company Precision Systems developed a miniaturized handheld version of AGS-17 called RGSh-30[13] "in order to create a grenade launcher that could respond to the needs of Ukrainian units and special forces operating in the Donbas". RGSh-30 is designed to disable armored vehicles.[14][15][16] that can be carried like an assault rifle. RGSh-30 uses magazines with five 30mm VOG-17 grenades.
Precision Systems plans to develop versions using 20mm, 25mm, and 40mm grenades.
The AGS-17 fires 30×29 mm belted cartridges with a steel cartridge case.[17] Two types of ammunition are commonly fired from the AGS-17. The VOG-17M is the version of the original 30 mm grenade ammunition, which is currently available and has a basic high explosive fragmentation warhead. The VOG-30 is similar, but contains a better explosive filling and an enhanced fragmentation design that greatly increases the effective blast radius. New improved VOG-30D grenade was taken into service in 2013 for use with AGS-17 and AGS-30 grenade launchers.[18][19] It was ordered by the Russian Defense Ministry in August 2023.[20] The same month, the Russian troops fighting in Ukraine begun to receive VOG-17 grenades, factory modified for use by commercial drones.[21]
The Bulgarian weapons manufacturer Arcus produces AR-ROG hand grenades based on VOG-17 cartridges and UZRGM (Russian: УЗРГМ), which is also a Soviet design of fuse.[22] Similar improvised grenades are known as "khattabkas".[23]
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