ASH-12 assault foreign market
Due to the fact that the domestic ASH-12 automaton will be offered on the foreign market, it will not be superfluous to look at it again weapon, to evaluate its positive and negative aspects, as well as to clarify certain points that relate to ammunition.
The prospects and specific markets for weapons are not clear due to the not-so-warm relations between the countries, but Rostec has already announced its participation in the Defexpo India-2018 exhibition. Of course, there is no such thing as to show the goods, but they do not start selling it, therefore you can draw certain conclusions.
Writing another article about this weapon, which will again be given all the same information as in previous materials, does not make sense, however, some points that were not previously explained or were not described accurately enough, should be considered, but you need to start in the first place, with ammunition.
Cartridges for ASH-12
Very often, if not in 90% cases, photos of 12х12,7 cartridges are added to the ASH-55 machine guns description, yes, indeed, the weapon is powered by these ammunition, with this metric designation, only ammunition for ASH-12 is shown in the photos and cartridges for rifle "Exhaust", which have the same metric designation. Such confusion leads to the fact that one can often find incorrect data on cartridges and, as a result, a wrong idea about the capabilities of the weapon.
If you pay attention to the image with ammunition, then only the first four from the top in the first column are directly related to ASH-12, but in the second column, from the second to the fourth, ammunition is already used in the VSSK Vykhlop. Despite the same metric designation and the same sleeve, it is obvious that ammunition is completely different and will have different parameters.
Strangely enough, but in open sources there are no data either on the weight of the bullets or on their initial speeds, there is only a brief description of the 4 types of ammunition.
The design of the machine ASH-12
Despite the fact that there are more than enough data on the weapon itself, inaccuracies are also found here. Apparently someone, one of the first to write an article about this weapon, called the AL-12 an "increased" Thunderstorm, from which the comparison went, which is absolutely incorrect. Despite the fact that both machines have a bullpup layout, they are completely different in their design and principles of automation.
Now the majority of self-loading rifles and machine guns use part of the powder gases discharged from the barrel to reload. Automation, built on this principle, in various versions, has already become a “classic” for certain categories of weapons, from which the ASH-12 machine gun seems not the most common in terms of design. For reloading, this weapon does not use some of the powder gases, recharging is carried out by the recoil energy in the short course of the barrel, but the barrel bore is locked when the bolt is turned.
The main reason for the use of such a scheme of automatic weapons, is not the most pleasant impact when shooting, in particular when firing "queue". With such an automation system, the recoil impulse becomes stretched in time, which is positively perceived by the shooter, which means that the weapon becomes not only more comfortable to use, but also more stable when firing. In addition, with proper workmanship, weapons of similar design are easier to maintain. The disadvantage is the relatively low accuracy of firing, which in this case is not particularly important in view of the short distances of use.
Competitors ASH-12
Once the weapon enters the market, it would be nice to look at those samples that can compete with the domestic machine. Unfortunately, it is not possible to give an accurate assessment of the competitiveness of the ASH-12 without specific figures for its ammunition; for the same reason, it is not easy to pick up competitors to the domestic assault rifle.
If you take for comparison cartridges with heavy bullets, designed primarily to ensure that even an elephant crouches when hit, the .50 Beowulf cartridge comes to mind. In addition to the heavy bullet caliber 12,7 millimeters in this munition is another big plus, namely the design of the liner. Despite the large caliber, the bottom is smaller than the diameter of the sleeve itself and corresponds to the dimensions of the cartridge 7,62х39. Thus, many bolt rifles can use this ammunition after replacing the barrel, if the receiver box allows. Semi-automatic weapons are unlikely to be able to safely move from one cartridge to another. The following parameters are typical for the cartridge variant with a bullet mass in 19 grams. With a barrel length of 610 millimeters, the initial speed of the bullet is 570 meters per second, respectively, the kinetic energy of such a bullet will be equal to 3160 Joule. In total, with a semi-shell or expansive bullet, hitting with such kinetic energy at an unprotected target will require only one; it will not be necessary to shoot a second time.
Even more “interesting” ammunition is the .50 Alaskan cartridge, which is very close in metric designation to 12,7x55, namely 12,7x53. For a cartridge with a bullet mass of 34 grams, which the powder charge starts at a speed of 516 meters per second, corresponds to the kinetic energy of 4500 Joule.
In fact, this list can be continued for a very long time, since there are more than a dozen of such ammunition. Here you can add and cartridges from Winchester and Colt, but the absolute majority of these munitions have one thing in common, they are designed for hunting a large beast, which is felled with a single shot, although the range of such munitions is broad, but it does not have armor-piercing, but especially two-bullet cartridges.
Of course, there are variants of cartridges that are closer to military requirements. For example .50 Hushpuppy. This munition, by the way, is very close in its idea to the domestic SC-130, namely, by installing a bullet from 12,7х99 into another sleeve, our designers also did with the cartridge 12,7х108. It is indeed possible to draw parallels between these cartridges, but this will already concern the VSSK Vykhlop and its foreign analogues.
Will there be a demand for ASH-12?
First of all, you need to pay attention that such an automatic weapon is very specific. It is for this reason that direct analogues with it, at least, widely known, no. This uniqueness of the domestic automaton is explained by just a very narrow range of tasks in which it will be indispensable. This will have an impact on sales. Not good for sales will go and the fact that the weapon eats non-standard ammunition, which also have to be purchased.
To be objective, the ASH-12 is clearly not widespread, even if it is offered in combination with RS and VSSK Vykhlop at the lowest possible price. Most likely, the weapons will be of interest to countries in which there is an internal terrorist threat, and since counter-terrorist organizations are usually few, it means that they will need not tens of thousands of weapons, especially narrowly specialized weapons.
The prospects and specific markets for weapons are not clear due to the not-so-warm relations between the countries, but Rostec has already announced its participation in the Defexpo India-2018 exhibition. Of course, there is no such thing as to show the goods, but they do not start selling it, therefore you can draw certain conclusions.
Writing another article about this weapon, which will again be given all the same information as in previous materials, does not make sense, however, some points that were not previously explained or were not described accurately enough, should be considered, but you need to start in the first place, with ammunition.
Cartridges for ASH-12
Very often, if not in 90% cases, photos of 12х12,7 cartridges are added to the ASH-55 machine guns description, yes, indeed, the weapon is powered by these ammunition, with this metric designation, only ammunition for ASH-12 is shown in the photos and cartridges for rifle "Exhaust", which have the same metric designation. Such confusion leads to the fact that one can often find incorrect data on cartridges and, as a result, a wrong idea about the capabilities of the weapon.
If you pay attention to the image with ammunition, then only the first four from the top in the first column are directly related to ASH-12, but in the second column, from the second to the fourth, ammunition is already used in the VSSK Vykhlop. Despite the same metric designation and the same sleeve, it is obvious that ammunition is completely different and will have different parameters.
Strangely enough, but in open sources there are no data either on the weight of the bullets or on their initial speeds, there is only a brief description of the 4 types of ammunition.
The design of the machine ASH-12
Despite the fact that there are more than enough data on the weapon itself, inaccuracies are also found here. Apparently someone, one of the first to write an article about this weapon, called the AL-12 an "increased" Thunderstorm, from which the comparison went, which is absolutely incorrect. Despite the fact that both machines have a bullpup layout, they are completely different in their design and principles of automation.
Now the majority of self-loading rifles and machine guns use part of the powder gases discharged from the barrel to reload. Automation, built on this principle, in various versions, has already become a “classic” for certain categories of weapons, from which the ASH-12 machine gun seems not the most common in terms of design. For reloading, this weapon does not use some of the powder gases, recharging is carried out by the recoil energy in the short course of the barrel, but the barrel bore is locked when the bolt is turned.
The main reason for the use of such a scheme of automatic weapons, is not the most pleasant impact when shooting, in particular when firing "queue". With such an automation system, the recoil impulse becomes stretched in time, which is positively perceived by the shooter, which means that the weapon becomes not only more comfortable to use, but also more stable when firing. In addition, with proper workmanship, weapons of similar design are easier to maintain. The disadvantage is the relatively low accuracy of firing, which in this case is not particularly important in view of the short distances of use.
Competitors ASH-12
Once the weapon enters the market, it would be nice to look at those samples that can compete with the domestic machine. Unfortunately, it is not possible to give an accurate assessment of the competitiveness of the ASH-12 without specific figures for its ammunition; for the same reason, it is not easy to pick up competitors to the domestic assault rifle.
If you take for comparison cartridges with heavy bullets, designed primarily to ensure that even an elephant crouches when hit, the .50 Beowulf cartridge comes to mind. In addition to the heavy bullet caliber 12,7 millimeters in this munition is another big plus, namely the design of the liner. Despite the large caliber, the bottom is smaller than the diameter of the sleeve itself and corresponds to the dimensions of the cartridge 7,62х39. Thus, many bolt rifles can use this ammunition after replacing the barrel, if the receiver box allows. Semi-automatic weapons are unlikely to be able to safely move from one cartridge to another. The following parameters are typical for the cartridge variant with a bullet mass in 19 grams. With a barrel length of 610 millimeters, the initial speed of the bullet is 570 meters per second, respectively, the kinetic energy of such a bullet will be equal to 3160 Joule. In total, with a semi-shell or expansive bullet, hitting with such kinetic energy at an unprotected target will require only one; it will not be necessary to shoot a second time.
Even more “interesting” ammunition is the .50 Alaskan cartridge, which is very close in metric designation to 12,7x55, namely 12,7x53. For a cartridge with a bullet mass of 34 grams, which the powder charge starts at a speed of 516 meters per second, corresponds to the kinetic energy of 4500 Joule.
In fact, this list can be continued for a very long time, since there are more than a dozen of such ammunition. Here you can add and cartridges from Winchester and Colt, but the absolute majority of these munitions have one thing in common, they are designed for hunting a large beast, which is felled with a single shot, although the range of such munitions is broad, but it does not have armor-piercing, but especially two-bullet cartridges.
Of course, there are variants of cartridges that are closer to military requirements. For example .50 Hushpuppy. This munition, by the way, is very close in its idea to the domestic SC-130, namely, by installing a bullet from 12,7х99 into another sleeve, our designers also did with the cartridge 12,7х108. It is indeed possible to draw parallels between these cartridges, but this will already concern the VSSK Vykhlop and its foreign analogues.
Will there be a demand for ASH-12?
First of all, you need to pay attention that such an automatic weapon is very specific. It is for this reason that direct analogues with it, at least, widely known, no. This uniqueness of the domestic automaton is explained by just a very narrow range of tasks in which it will be indispensable. This will have an impact on sales. Not good for sales will go and the fact that the weapon eats non-standard ammunition, which also have to be purchased.
To be objective, the ASH-12 is clearly not widespread, even if it is offered in combination with RS and VSSK Vykhlop at the lowest possible price. Most likely, the weapons will be of interest to countries in which there is an internal terrorist threat, and since counter-terrorist organizations are usually few, it means that they will need not tens of thousands of weapons, especially narrowly specialized weapons.
Information