Machine gun "Kord" is being upgraded

Machine gun "Kord" in the infantry version on a tripod

The Russian army is armed with the Kord heavy machine gun and is widely used. This weapon It is distinguished by high technical and firing characteristics, which determine its value for the army. At the same time, it is planned to modernize the existing structure, due to which it will be possible to increase firepower and improve the performance of the machine gun.

New goals

On June 8, the RT news agency reported on the development of a new modification of Korda. Information about this project was received from representatives of the Kovrov Plant. Degtyarev - leading design engineer Vladimir Lezov and chief designer of the direction of small arms and cannon weapons Roman Spirin. They talked about the launch of the project and revealed some of its features.

ZiD representatives recalled that the Kord machine gun in its current form is capable of firing up to 100 shots in one burst. After that, a break is required to cool the barrel or to replace it. Failure to follow these recommendations may adversely affect the accuracy and accuracy of fire, as well as reduce the resource of the barrel. At the same time, in combat conditions, the shooter does not always have the ability to control the number of shots and timely perform all the required procedures.

In this regard, a decision was made to develop an updated machine gun with increased resistance to thermal loads. He will get a new barrel that will only have to be cooled/changed after 300 rounds without a break. How exactly such an engineering problem will be solved has not yet been specified.

Machine gunners in position

At what stage of development is the new project, they did not say. Also, the timing of the completion of work and the appearance of updated weapons in the troops is not specified. However, the project is not particularly complex, and it can be expected that it will be completed in the near future.

The developers revealed the intended scope of the upgraded Korda. Such a machine gun is proposed to be mounted on remotely controlled combat modules of armored vehicles or on installations for helicopters. In these cases, there is no possibility of a quick replacement of the barrel, and the increased characteristics of the machine gun will make it possible to remove objective restrictions on the use of weapons.

Initial design

The large-caliber machine gun "Kord" ("Kovrov gunsmiths-Degtyarevtsy") was developed in the nineties as a modern replacement for the existing NSV "Utes" product. As part of the new project, it was planned to create a more advanced design with improved performance characteristics. In addition, the task of import substitution was set, because the main production of "Cliffs" remained abroad. By the end of the nineties, "Kord" coped with the tests and went into series. It was officially accepted into service with the Russian army in 2001. The machine gun was intended for infantry and for use on various carriers.

The production of "Kordov" is carried out at the Kovrov ZiD. According to the management of the enterprise, after the start of the Special Operation last year, the number of orders for such products has increased. To fulfill all existing contracts, the plant operates in three shifts, and also modernizes production and is looking for new employees. In turn, the armed forces receive the necessary weapons.

Tank "Cord"

From a technical point of view, Kord is a machine gun for 12,7x108 mm ammunition, suitable for use on different platforms and in different configurations. So, for infantry, variants of a machine gun with a bipod or on a tripod machine are intended. A tank modification with the possibility of remote control has also been developed.

Depending on the modification, the machine gun has a length of 1,6 m (tank) to 1,98 m (infantry). Product weight - approx. 35 kg excluding machine, ammunition, sight, etc. Automation "Korda" uses the energy of powder gases; a gas piston with a long stroke is placed under the barrel. The barrel is locked by turning the bolt behind the barrel breech. There are 14 lugs arranged in two transverse rows. Rate of fire - up to 650 rds / min. Cartridges are fed by tape on the right or left.

The machine gun is equipped with a 12,7 mm rifled barrel 1070 mm long. The barrel is equipped with a developed multi-chamber muzzle brake or a conical flash hider. The barrel is cooled by air, due to natural air circulation and an optimized design. In this case, the barrel is made quick-change. If necessary, the locks are opened, and the barrel is removed from the receiver. After installing a new machine gun is ready to fire.

Ways of modernization

How exactly the Degtyarev designers plan to modernize the existing Kord and improve its combat characteristics has not yet been specified. However, it is not difficult to determine an approximate range of suitable solutions and technologies. Which or which of them they decided to use on the ZiD will become clear later.

It is possible to increase the resistance of the barrel to thermal loads and multiply the duration of continuous firing by replacing materials. This requires finding a suitable alloy capable of maintaining mechanical characteristics over a wider temperature range. A barrel made of such metal will be able to solve the tasks and remain compatible with existing machine guns. At the same time, there is a risk of excessive growth in its cost, making such a project inexpedient.

It makes sense to preserve and improve the means of air cooling. The barrel may have a more pronounced ribbing on an increased part of the length - to increase the area of ​​​​contact with air and better heat transfer. In addition, the barrel can be equipped with a casing through which atmospheric air will be drawn with the help of powder gases, as on the serial Pecheneg.

Machine guns of archaic designs and some modern artillery systems use water-cooled barrels. The heated part is located inside the liquid, which takes away excess heat from it. With all the advantages, this method of cooling has a number of disadvantages - it increases the mass and dimensions of the weapon, reduces combat survivability, etc.

A combination of different technologies and solutions cannot be ruled out. So, the most successful is the manufacture of the barrel from a new alloy and its equipment with improved means of air cooling. At the same time, it is necessary to maintain the previous dimensions and design features of the barrel so that it is compatible with the body of the basic version of the machine gun.

The advantages of a machine gun with a new barrel are obvious. Such weapons will be able to fire more intensively and / or for a longer time. In this case, we are talking about a large-caliber system with appropriate combat characteristics. As a result, all the main parameters and capabilities of the machine gun and its carrier will improve.

Reserve for the future

Thus, one of the main types of small arms of the Russian army continues to develop and adapt to new requirements. According to the results of the announced modernization, the Kord machine gun will receive new capabilities, and will also be able to expand its scope of presence.

The development of the upgraded "Korda" has already begun and should not take much time. The following messages about the start of testing the modified machine gun, incl. in a war zone, may appear in the near future.

Comments

[Mordvin 3]

Why not use sodium for cooling, like in car exhaust valves? Expand the barrel at the outlet by a few millimeters, and in theory all the heat will go there.

[Lynx2000]

Quote: Mordvin 3

use sodium like in car exhaust valves

Not a designer, but it’s interesting, as a former user, how constructively such a “cooling” of the barrel will look like? With double walls, a la machine gun cooling casing of the H. Maxim system?

[Mordvin 3]

Quote: Lynx2000

With double walls, a la machine gun cooling casing of the H. Maxim system?

In principle, yes, only the casing will be very thin, and not such a bullshit as Maxim's. Sodium, unlike water, will not evaporate, its boiling point is under 900 degrees. It is unlikely that the barrel will be heated to such a temperature. Maxim's water boiled after about 700 shots. And that's 100 degrees. Water 4 liters. In general, you need to experience. Well, sodium from the valves and we picked it from early childhood and threw it into puddles.

[Lynx2000]

Quote: mordvin xnumx

In principle, yes, only the casing will be very thin, and not such a bullshit as Maxim's. Sodium, unlike water, will not evaporate, its boiling point is under 900 degrees. It is unlikely that the barrel will be heated to such a temperature. Maxim's water boiled after about 700 shots. And that's 100 degrees. Water 4 liters. In general, you need to experience. Well, sodium from the valves and we picked it from early childhood and threw it into puddles.

Why complicate things with double-walled barrels, sodium fills? I remember Utes had a quick-detachable barrel, and he had a good resource. In addition to the tank one, there was also an infantry one, without a machine tool, it weighs a lot on bipods. It is clear, if I am not mistaken, that sodium has a lower specific gravity than steel ... I think that there are no problems with the barrel on Korda either.
Now sodium is not placed in cylinder head valves everywhere and not everywhere.

[Sergey Aleksandrovich]

Enemy drones will not wait when you change the barrel. As part of combat modules and machine gun installations, the ability to use long belts is needed. If not like an infantry fighting vehicle for 300 rounds, then at least like in a Kalashnikov machine gun for 200-250 rounds.

[Lynx2000]

Quote: Sergey Alexandrovich

Enemy drones will not wait when you change the barrel. As part of combat modules and machine gun installations, the ability to use long belts is needed. If not like an infantry fighting vehicle for 300 rounds, then at least like in a Kalashnikov machine gun for 200-250 rounds.

To Utes, if I'm not mistaken, it was supposed to be 1 or 2 interchangeable barrels. A 50-shot burst is already tough. Kord has just a lightweight barrel, but it seems like lightweight ammunition was developed for it (or even from Utes).

See at 0:23 sec. removes the barrel from the receiver (the principle is the same), manipulations before that do not count.
In our country, such an infantry variant was served by over-conscripts-contractors, it happened to "populate".

Py.Sy. I don’t know how things are with Kord now, but Utes at one time was and is a wonderful heavy machine gun.

[Sergey Aleksandrovich]

A burst of 50 shots is for one moving target. And then, for a confident defeat of the bullet, it is desirable to have explosive ones. And if there are several moving targets, as in the case of the recent attack by naval drones on the reconnaissance ship "Ivan Khurs"? Will you ask the attacking drones to wait while you change the tape and barrel?

[Lynx2000]

On Khurs, if I'm not mistaken, there were checkpoints on pedestals in four trunks.

Quote: Sergey Alexandrovich

A burst of 50 shots is for one moving target. And then, for a confident defeat of the bullet, it is desirable to have explosive ones. And if there are several moving targets, as in the case of the recent attack by naval drones on the reconnaissance ship "Ivan Khurs"? Will you ask the attacking drones to wait while you change the tape and barrel?

Your suggestions... Arm every platoon with something like a Minigun with six barrels? Or an AK-630 module on wheels with batteries to carry to spit out a lead cloud? UAVs of various types and purposes. The means of struggle are different. State interesting...

[Sergey Aleksandrovich]

".. Did Ostap suffer?.." You, please, do not ascribe your own fantasies to me. I just find the increase in barrel life important. Although a few years ago there were reports that work to improve the accuracy of the machine gun had already been carried out. And it is strange that even then they did not do this.

[Lynx2000]

Quote: Sergey Alexandrovich

".. Did Ostap suffer?.." You, please, do not ascribe your own fantasies to me. I just find the increase in barrel life important. Although a few years ago there were reports that work to improve the accuracy of the machine gun had already been carried out. And it is strange that even then they did not do this.

Here you tune in to a normal dialogue, so immediately someone starts to be smart, to narrate in a mentor's tone.
I am trying to understand from the point of view of the infantry, when you often have to carry on yourself, calculate the payload: take more ammo, whether to drag a spare barrel, rations. The AGS also had to carry on itself, and the SPG-9 crews, mortarmen, and their machine gunners also helped ...
How can you increase the resource of the barrel without complicating the design, making it unreliable, without lowering the lethality of the ammo for such weapons.

The dialogue didn't work. Keep smart...

[IImonolitII]

It can be easily increased - use the best steel, as on the trunks of aircraft guns. Only the price tag will increase 5 times)

[Sergey Aleksandrovich]

You take on a lot. Without you, the designers will figure out how to increase the barrel resource.

[Ivan 1980]

KORD is a sniper machine gun, and for this you do not need to shoot the entire belt, in short bursts; to suppress enemy manpower, there are Pechenegs in medium-short bursts.

[bandabas]

Anyway. It’s better to drag a two-pound “car” on yourself, smash everything to smithereens and survive by helping your comrades. The same "bullet" a quarter of a century ago. But, NSV impressed. I hope "Kord" has surpassed in performance and efficiency.

[Aviator_]

It is clear, if I am not mistaken, that sodium has a lower specific gravity than steel ...

Make no mistake, it floated on the surface of a puddle, that is, its density is less than the density of water. Didn't they do such experiments in childhood?

[George Sviridov]

Codr seems to be able to shoot the entire BC anyway ...

[Bingo]

Well, with machine guns, we are superior to mattresses by two heads, and with large-caliber ones - in general for a century, Kord can even shoot from his hands, or you can use it instead of a regular PC. Hello to the centenary of the celebrated fool M2, whose machine gun body is much heavier. than the entire Cord is completely assembled, and you can drag the hell out of it manually))) Well, this is not a budget to cut - you need to design a machine gun, but in the USA they have not been able to do this for a hundred years
Well, additional survivability is always useful, although even now Kord has barrel survivability for a large caliber, which is incorrectly the best in the world, as far as I heard

[Soldatov V.]

I did not like the phrase "excessive cost of the barrel." First make a barrel for 1000-2000 shots and then make it cheaper if it's expensive. The life of a Russian soldier is worth much more. Yachts for billions of dollars are not expensive, buying a football player for tens of millions of euros is not expensive, and a barrel made of an alloy, such as steel and nickel, is expensive.

[Sergey Aleksandrovich]

The approach chosen is wrong. If you can get 5 machine guns for 100 shots or 1 for 1000 shots for the same money, then in the rifle version 5 cheap machine guns will be preferable.
The situation is different if the machine gun is part of a combat module or in an anti-aircraft version, a more tenacious and expensive barrel is preferable there.
The minus is not mine.

[Soldatov V.]

The miser pays twice or even thrice. Steel and all sorts of microadditives, such as nickel, chromium, vanadium and so on. Then a steelmaker-chemist melts an alloy with the necessary properties for the manufacture of the barrel. Maybe tens or even hundreds of combinations until it turns out. But there is no conceivable high cost here. One hundredth or even less of the salary of a football player is far from being the best.
It's just that everyone wants to make money. Especially the top effective managers.
Sometimes, for the sake of interest, as a shipbuilder, I calculate how much it costs to build a ship and you wonder, not at times, but dozens of times, or even hundreds of times the price is too high, that's where the managers are in a crazy state, palaces abroad.

[Sergey Aleksandrovich]

After all, you will not deny that the military budget is limited? And if you offer a choice of expensive machine guns or anti-aircraft missiles for air defense systems, then I am sure that the majority will prefer anti-aircraft missiles.

[barbos]

I will not deny your statement about the non-rubber budget (although this is debatable). I think you also understand that the number of soldiers is not infinite and their replenishment is much more time consuming than applying modern approaches from materials science.
At the same time, I completely agree with the idea about anti-missiles with their accuracy and range.

[Frettaskyrandi]

The barrel is locked by turning the bolt behind the barrel breech. There are 14 lugs arranged in two transverse rows.

In the articles of this author, there are two "branded" features - verbosity on the verge of reasoning and lack of knowledge in the topics under consideration. From here, pearls are born about the location of the lugs "in two transverse rows", that is, one row is perpendicular to the other. In reality, the lugs of the barrel and the lugs of the bolt head are arranged in two parallel rows.

Placing lugs in several rows allows you to reduce their size.

Rate of fire - up to 650 rds / min.

This is not a rate of fire - this is the rate of fire, that is, the technically possible maximum number of shots per unit of time (usually 1 minute) that can be fired from a given type of weapon with continuous firing without taking into account the time of reloading, aiming, changing the barrel, etc.
The combat rate of fire of the Kord machine gun is 80-100 rounds per minute.

[Bingo]

Quote from Frettaskyrandi

In the articles of this author, there are two "branded" features - verbosity on the verge of reasoning and lack of knowledge in the topics under consideration.

And in your post, typical riveting is the desire to get to the bottom of the rivets, as they call it. These experts sin very much, they say, the rivet does not correspond to the literature ... Do you want to write your post in the same vein as an example?

Quote from Frettaskyrandi

"in two transverse rows", that is, one row is perpendicular to the other.

It is not said what is transverse. And you - it is not said what is parallel. Two rows parallel to the trunk?

Quote from Frettaskyrandi

Combat rate of fire of a machine gun

It doesn’t exist, there is a practical one, but in battle, for example, cartridges may run out, and the combat rate of fire will be zero. The indicator is generally subjective and does not say anything, depending on what qualification the machine gunner will swim at times, therefore it is practical - achievable as much as possible in practice, and according to the mind, the meaning is only in its upper value, the lower one is always zero.
And the author writes in the military press, and not in the technical documentation, and in the press it is customary to refer to the rate of fire as the rate of fire, and if he wrote the rate of fire is 80-100, they would not understand him. It is customary to separately mention "practical rate of fire" in such cases.
That's all the rivets

[Frettaskyrandi]

Does not exist, there is a practical

I agree with this, I was wrong. The rest is author's verbiage. .

And the author writes in the military press

And in what "military press" can one find publications of this author - "Military Thought", "Russian Military Review", "Military Academic Journal"?

[Foul skeptic]

It's not the rate of fire - it's the rate of fire

Which, among other things, is known in Russian terminology as a technical rate of fire.
For English speakers, yes, it's more uniform - the rate of fire is enough. Which can be of three types: cyclic, sustained, and rapid

[Yuriy77]

They will make an air cooling jacket like Kord’s - don’t go to the grandmother. Simple and effective solution!

[acetophenone]

IMHO, you need to have some kind of emergency cooling system. Which is activated if it is NECESSARY to issue a queue for all 200-300 rounds. Some kind of closed casing with a tear plug and a boiling stuffing. Because there is little hope of what barrels that work when heated to red heat will do. There are no such metals, but ceramics ... I don’t know.

[Couchexpert]

It is almost never necessary for a machine gun to issue a queue for 200-300 rounds in combat conditions. For example, a soldier does not need to pull up or do push-ups in combat conditions (but for some reason they train to do this in accordance with the standards?). It’s just convenient to check the ability to work in conditions of overheating in continuous bursts: something can withstand 100, something - 200. In practice, fire is fired in short bursts of 3 shots, and even then the 2nd and 3rd already significantly deviate from the aiming point.
A large-caliber machine gun suffers from its excessive (yes, like that!) Unification between its infantry and turret (or, more precisely, the modern essence - "remote-controlled") versions. For an infantry crew, this is the main "tool of labor" in the hands of two bodies that live with it in an embrace. They are important overall lightness, ease of maintenance (repairability by their forces), ergonomics of shooting (installation in position, firing, changing the barrel / tape, sights). In technology, things are very different. When a machine gun is installed just next to the hatch in the roof, its operating conditions are already changing: only the person who sticks out in this hatch has access to it. In his movements, he is already limited (not to mention the risk due to the presence of the upper half of the body behind the armor), therefore, various operations for the preparation of firing should be minimized if possible (they will not change the barrel in case of danger, and it’s unlikely to stick out to shoot whether). On the other hand, there are no strict weight restrictions, you can make a barrel even with water casings, at least like on the Pecheneg with air channels (you can even hang a computer fan from the on-board network a la cooler) - a couple of kilograms is not critical. Therefore, there is no need for a quick-release barrel mount (a more rigid connection has its advantages). All the more, this is aggravated by the use of a machine gun in the DUMB: it’s not only not convenient there, but it’s generally closed from the outside with armored walls (but it’s always fun to watch how the front sight on the barrel still proudly sticks out: well, what the hell is a new one to develop now?).
In general, in short, the situation resembles the development of machine guns in early aviation: at the beginning, they also put just infantry guns, but very quickly came to the development of special ones (up to de-unification in terms of ammunition). Just to separate the butt and the machine was not enough.

[Sergey Aleksandrovich]

Queues of 200-300 rounds may not even turn out to be in some conditional urban battle, when you need to process a couple of floors in a building nearby at 400-600 meters, clear of snipers, ATGM operators and spotters .. If you do not have the opportunity to withdraw armored personnel carriers or BMP for direct fire. Then all you have to do is drag the "Kord" and fire at the windows with explosive or at least tracers.

[KSVK]

Quote from Frettaskyrandi

Placing lugs in several rows allows you to reduce their size.

Placing stops in several rows increases the reliability of locking. But an increase in the number of stops in one row reduces the angle of rotation of the shutter. For example, with 2 lugs, the angle of rotation is 90 degrees, and with 3 lugs, the angle is already 60.

[Frettaskyrandi]

Placement of stops in several rows increases the reliability of locking

Lugs in several rows are placed to reduce the cross-section of the locking assembly without losing strength.

But an increase in the number of stops in one row reduces the angle of rotation of the shutter.

Believe it or not, I am familiar with the design of small arms and can even calculate the strength of the locking unit.

[kamakama]

As I understand it, the armored shield (at least) didn’t even think of screwing it on here. I wish the designers to get out of the hatch up to their waists and stand still for 15 seconds in battle (cocking, aiming, shooting) under fire. Why in the middle of the 20th century the life of the shooter was more expensive and the machine gun was removed into the tower, or in general it was a course, but here ...

[Sergei N 58912062]

Quote: kamakama

As I understand it, the armored shield (at least) didn’t even think of screwing it on here. I wish the designers to get out of the hatch up to their waists and stand still for 15 seconds in battle (cocking, aiming, shooting) under fire. Why in the middle of the 20th century the life of the shooter was more expensive and the machine gun was removed into the tower, or in general it was a course, but here ...

And here is the armored shield when it comes to a machine gun ?!

[_6]

My rationalization proposal is as follows: on a portable machine gun, try to find new alloys, a casing, possibly with materials that quickly transfer heat to other elements. For a machine gun on vehicles, implement antifreeze cooling with connection to the standard vehicle cooling system.

[air wolf]

they are cunning, the barrel will be like that of an air-cooled Pecheneg-Lewis, the only way to create a light sample with a non-replaceable barrel with aluminum in the cooling fins.

[bunta]

He will get a new barrel that will only have to be cooled/changed after 300 rounds without a break. How exactly such an engineering problem will be solved has not yet been specified. At what stage of development is the new project, they did not say. Also, the timing of the completion of work and the appearance of updated weapons in the troops is not specified. However, the project is not particularly complex, and it can be expected that it will be completed in the near future.

An amazingly informative post.

[acetophenone]

How exactly such an engineering problem will be solved has not yet been specified. At what stage of development is the new project, they did not say. Also, the timing of the completion of work and the appearance of updated weapons in the troops is not specified.

'''Good-for-in''' - as Shefner's heroes used to say in such cases.

[max702]

There are two real options, this is to thicken the barrel, and make an ejector like on the Pecheneg, or better yet, combine it... No one will look for new steel and it’s not a matter of price (the cost of the steel itself (any) is pennies compared to the price of a machine gun), but in the number of tests and checks that the desired option will have to pass. So they will follow the PKT path by thickening the barrel and hanging the ejector on it, these are modifications for equipment and the weight is not important there, it will be say 10 kg heavier and so what? And by thickening the barrel, the accuracy will increase.

[Klausp]

Dear author! In your material, in five photographs, three depict the Cliff, and only two depict Kord.