PDW vs. Drones: Personal Defense Weapons in a New Quality
Submachine gun (SMG) vs. drones?
It would seem absurd, but it is not that simple. Below we will consider a number of facts, and then try to formulate a concept for the application of such weapons against kamikaze unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or more precisely, primarily against numerous FPV drones.
Uzi (Uzi)
About 20-25 years ago, the author happened to read in one of the weapons magazines history development and use of Uzi submachine guns by the Israeli company IMI in various armed forces and security agencies. One of the users of the Uzi submachine gun from 1960 to 1990 was the US Secret Service, which provided security for US presidents and vice presidents.
According to the information published in that magazine, at a certain point in time, one of the leaders of the US Secret Service purchased a huge batch of expired 9x19 mm cartridges “cheaply” and began using them for intensive training of Secret Service agents – the possible presence of delays in this case is not so critical.
PP Uzi
There was ammo to spare, and no restrictions on its consumption, as a result of which some agents became so skilled in using the Uzi submachine gun that they managed to shoot clay pigeons (sporting clays) out of them.
This suggests that submachine guns have the potential to engage high-speed, small-sized targets, albeit in the hands of highly skilled shooters.
Unfortunately, not all magazines from that period have been scanned and digitized, so the author was unable to find the above-mentioned article, and therefore there is no way to say for sure whether it was talking about full-size Uzi SMGs with a rate of fire of 600-950 rounds per minute or Mini-Uzi with a rate of fire of 1200-1500 rounds per minute.
Why are two rates of fire listed for one PP? This is for firing with the bolt open and closed, so we can assume that Secret Service agents used the maximum rate of fire for shooting at clay pigeons.
PP Mini-Uzi
It is also worth noting that for the 9x19 mm cartridge, the Uzi PP has a fairly high weight - 3,5 kilograms for the full-size Uzi PP and 2,7 kilograms for the Mini-Uzi PP, which reduces the convenience of carrying, but allows you to significantly reduce recoil and control the weapon during shooting.
Glock-18 and APS
The rate of fire of most automatic small arms is at the level of 700-900 rounds per minute, is it possible to do more?
Yes, the specified rate of fire is set as such not because it cannot be made higher from a design point of view - on the contrary, often increasing the speed of moving parts will only lead to an increase in the weapon's resistance to contamination, although the weapon will "break" more.
The choice of rate of fire is primarily determined by the need for the fighter to maintain control over his weapon - ensuring the necessary accuracy and precision of fire, as well as the effective consumption of ammunition.
For example, the Austrian Glock-18 pistol chambered for 9x19 mm cartridges, which has a fully automatic fire mode, has a rate of fire of 1200 rounds per minute, while the Soviet Stechkin Automatic Pistol (APS) chambered for 9x18 mm cartridges has a rate of fire of 700-750 rounds per minute due to a built-in rate-of-fire slowing mechanism.
Shooting from Glock-18 and APS
The Nikonov AN-94 assault rifle, model 1987 (Abakan theme), in the two-shot burst mode, has a rate of fire of 1800 rounds per minute, resulting in two bullets firing practically one after the other.
PDW
The PDW (personal defense weapon) concept is a term used in Western countries to describe light and compact weapons intended for use by "second-line" military personnel - combat vehicle crews, artillery crews, etc., who, due to the nature of their service, do not require "full-size" small arms such as machine guns or assault rifles, but who may need more firepower than pistols can provide.
Globally, there is nothing new in the PDW concept - essentially, these are the same submachine guns, but with ammunition optimized for hitting targets protected by personal body armor (PB).
In Russia, for this purpose, they simply developed armor-piercing cartridges for existing submachine guns for 9x19 mm cartridges, as well as for the domestic reinforced 9x21 mm cartridge. In addition, the most popular PDW in Russia is still the AKS-74U assault rifle, made on the basis of the standard Kalashnikov assault rifle, for the standard 5,45x39 mm cartridge.
PP SR-2 (SR.2) "Veresk" caliber 9x21 mm from TsNIITochMash
However, thanks to the requests and tenders held within the framework of the PDW theme, several interesting ammunition and weapons designed for them have appeared in the West.
In particular, the PDW concept is largely associated with the Belgian FN Herstal P90 submachine gun chambered for 5,7x28 mm and the German Heckler & Koch MP7 A1 PDW submachine gun chambered for 4,6x30 mm.
A distinctive feature of the 5,7x28 mm and 4,6x30 mm cartridges is the use of small-caliber bullets in combination with the energy of 9x19 mm and larger caliber cartridges, which allows for greater armor penetration, albeit at the potential cost of less stopping power.
FN P90 SMG, MP7 A1 SMG (top) and FN Five-seveN 5,7x28mm pistols (bottom)
True, there is still no final opinion on the issue of stopping action - the author considered this issue in October 2019 in the material Stop cannot be killed. Where to put a comma?, and in terms of small-caliber ammunition, everything is not as clear-cut as it seems.
But let's return to the PDW - the 4,6x30 mm cartridge and weapons for it have not become widespread, while the 5,7x28 mm cartridge feels quite good, not only the above-mentioned FN P90 submachine gun and the FN Five-seveN pistol are produced for it, but also a number of other models - even Ukraine has distinguished itself here with its Fort-28 pistol of 5,7x28 mm caliber.
If you look at sources in the US, you get the feeling that the main factor holding back the spread of weapons chambered for 5,7x28 mm is the high cost of both the cartridge itself and the weapon chambered for it. Among the advantages of weapons chambered for 5,7x28 mm, users highlight its multi-charge capability, low recoil, high accuracy and shooting density – the cartridge is low-impulse.
Another interesting powerful small-caliber ammunition, not directly related to the PDW concept, is the .22 WMR (Winchester Magnum Rimfire) 5,6x34 mm cartridge - essentially an extended 22 Long Rifle "small-bore" 5,6x15,6 mm cartridge.
What is the main advantage of small-caliber ammunition developed within the framework of the PDW theme (and not only)?
This is a high power-to-small-size ratio, allowing for the creation of accurate, multi-shot, and compact weapons. For example, the standard magazine of the Kel-Tec PMR-30 pistol holds 30 rounds of .22 WMR (the extended one holds even more), and the magazine of the FN P90 submachine gun holds 50 rounds.
Kel-Tec PMR-30 with standard magazine
Kel-Tec PMR-30 with extended magazine
The 50-round magazine from the FN P90 submachine gun is also used for the Kel-Tec P50 5,7x28mm pistol.
Kel-Tec P50 pistol
Now let's get back to our reality.
PDW vs Drones
In October 2019, the author published the material A promising army pistol based on the PDW concept, which examined the advantages of powerful small-caliber cartridges for an army pistol and the feasibility of developing a domestic “weapon-cartridge” complex, to which the following requirements were imposed:
1. As ammunition, a small-caliber cartridge with a bullet of the caliber 5-7 mm (maximum dimensions of the cartridge 8x40 mm), with a carbide bullet and an initial energy of 400-600 J should be used.
2. The main mode of operation should be firing in short bursts of two rounds, with a rate of 1700-2000 rounds per minute.
3. The magazine capacity should be 26-30 cartridges.
The basis could be the domestic OTs-23 "Drotik" pistol chambered for 5,45x18 mm, which has an automatic fire mode with a cutoff of three rounds, with a rate of fire of 1700 rounds per minute, modified for a conditional reinforced 5,45x30 mm cartridge.
How effective could a promising military pistol based on the PDW concept be against FPV drones?
Currently, 12-gauge shotgun shells with 00-0000 pellets are used quite effectively against FPV drones, where each 12-gauge shell contains about 60 pellets, that is, one 12-gauge shell contains more pellets than a pistol magazine designed according to the PDW concept.
On the other hand, for work against FPV drones, the Techcrim company has developed the Perekhvat-S anti-drone munition, caliber 12/70, which includes 6 lead striking elements connected by a Kevlar thread.
Also in the previous material we talked about homemade fragmentation ammunition for the standard 5,45x39 mm Kalashnikov assault rifle cartridge and the possibility of industrial production of such cartridges with a corresponding improvement in their characteristics.
Potentially, there are no obstacles to using cartridges with fragmenting striking elements for weapons developed according to the PDW concept. The same conventional 5,45x30 mm cartridge may well include two or three bullets located sequentially in a container that opens after firing, or without one.
Of course, their muzzle energy will be lower than that of a single bullet, but we don’t need to penetrate bulletproof vests, do we? The possibility of coupling bullets using the same Kevlar thread is questionable – it is unknown how the coupled rotating bullets will behave after the container is opened.
Vanguard V57 5,7x28mm cartridge and an example of a fragmentation ammunition with interlocked striking elements based on it
What do we end up with when combining a pistol or submachine gun developed in accordance with the PDW concept and fragmentation ammunition?
Such a weapon should be very "nimble", it should be easy to aim at fast-moving FPV drones, it will have a fairly low recoil when firing "twos" in automatic mode.
Presumably, a trained fighter will be able to fire twice in 1-2 seconds, sending 4-6 striking elements, possibly linked by a Kevlar thread, towards the FPV drone. A magazine with a capacity of 30-50 rounds will contain from 60-90 to 100-150 striking elements and, accordingly, will allow for 15 to 25 paired shots.
Such a weapon, especially in the format of a full-size pistol, will be very compact and can be carried by fighters in a holster on the hip. In addition to working against FPV drones, it can be used in close combat against enemy manpower.
Is it possible to implement a similar weapon based on existing 9mm submachine guns?
Potentially yes, but the efficiency will be lower - the weapon's mass is greater, the recoil impulse is greater, the ammunition is smaller. Of course, in a larger cartridge it is theoretically possible to place more striking elements, but if they are placed sequentially, then you will get "pancakes" with terrible aerodynamics, and if they are placed in parallel, then they will be scattered by centrifugal force due to the rotation caused by the rifling of the barrel.
There are two options to work on - a weapon with a smooth barrel, a kind of "pistol-submachine gun-shotgun" or elements linked by Kevlar threads, perhaps they will not fly apart, but will continue to move towards the target, rotating around the axis of the shot direction - all these options can only be tested in full-scale tests.
An example of a fragmenting striking element for a 9x21 mm cartridge with 4 and 8 quadrant striking elements - all this will be difficult to manufacture and much less reliable than 2-3 consecutive cylindrical submunitions in a small-caliber cartridge
Another point is that weapons for low-impulse, small-caliber cartridges have relatively small dimensions and weight, significantly less than a shotgun, their automation is usually based on the operation of a free or semi-free bolt.
Potentially, based on the above-discussed concept of an anti-drone pistol/submachine gun, an under-barrel anti-drone module weighing about one kilogram (with cartridges) could be created, designed for mounting on a standard weapon instead of an under-barrel grenade launcher or shotgun.
This solution has both pros and cons. On the one hand, there is no need to carry a separate weapon, you can use the standard sights, on the other hand, the standard weapon will become heavier, it will not have the same "agility" as a separate pistol / submachine gun, it will be more difficult to reload.
Conclusions
It is a pity that the concept of pistols for powerful small-caliber cartridges has not been developed in our country, in many ways this is a consequence of the lack of a civilian market for rifled short-barreled weapons. For the military, a pistol is a secondary thing, so, apparently, no one has particularly bothered with this topic.
It is a pity that such an interesting pistol as the OTs-23 "Drotik" was forgotten and abandoned. It is possible that in the "motherland's storehouses" there are other developments of small arms and ammunition that were not relevant then, but could be in demand in a modern war.
There is no doubt that the development of a personal self-defense weapon within the PDW concept, which can be effective both against enemy manpower at close range and against FPV drones, including the development of new ammunition, is not a matter of one month or even a year, and it will take even more time to deploy serial production.
So, for now we don’t have an alternative to shotguns, and it’s true that there aren’t really any shotguns in the troops either, but if you want to, it’s something that can be acquired, for example, like what happened with the airplane shelters: they didn’t build them, they didn’t build them, and then something happened, and construction sort of started.
Perhaps the same will happen with shotguns, and perhaps a promising military pistol based on the PDW concept will someday be in demand.
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