Mortal blow in melee
The small-sized machine designed by Arkady Shipunov and Vasily Gryazev will ensure the guaranteed destruction of terrorists and not hurt the hostages.
Recently, more and more often not only in the mass media, but also in social networks and on video hosting sites, photos and even entire video footage have appeared on the counter-terrorist operation that is ongoing in the North Caucasus region. The events captured on video and photos do not differ in originality: the soldiers of the special divisions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the interior troops and the Federal Security Service liquidate the militants, hold special events.
At the same time, each published material is studied literally by frames and pixels, not only by experts, but most importantly - by amateurs. weapons and military equipment. Everything is discussed, starting from what kind of collimator sight or “inkwell” (muzzle compensator) is installed on the machine gun of the special forces soldier, and ending with the brand of body armor and even shoes that are worn on it.
It must be admitted that on most photos and videos from the KTO venue, you can see not only “fully tuned”, as they say, “fully” Ak-74 submachine guns and PC and PKM machine guns, but also quite interesting small arms models - GM-94 rocket launchers , various sniper rifles, often foreign-made, as well as an unusual kind of small-sized 9А-91 submachine guns with silent and flameless PBS firing devices installed on them, or more simply - silencers.
Against body armor
9А-91 twenty years ago as a melee weapon, especially effective in confined areas when performing tasks to free hostages, took a firm place in the arsenals of various special-purpose units. Moreover, on the basis of a small-sized machine gun, a VSK-94 sniper rifle was developed, which is still actively used by special forces soldiers.
“9-91, of course, will not replace AK-74 and it is foolish to compare them. But the small-sized machine gun has its own rather narrow tactical niche - close combat in the premises, when the enemy is dressed in individual means of protection and firing from cover. There may be civilians in the room, so the 9А-91 bullets must not only “load the carcass” of the terrorist-terrorist in the “bronika” or behind the barricade of improvised objects, but also not give a ricochet. We understand perfectly well that ricocheting bullets are often more dangerous for both special forces soldiers and civilians, ”a specialist of the rocket-artillery service of one of the special-purpose units tells Military Industrial Courier.
The 9А-91 compact machine gun was developed at the Tula Instrument Engineering Design Bureau by Arkady Shipunov and Vasily Gryazev at the beginning of the 90, although the idea of such a weapon appeared ten years earlier when special forces were created in the structure of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the State Security Committee fight against terrorism.
The experience of similar foreign structures, such as the German GSG-9 and the French GIGN, argued that anti-terrorist fighters operate mainly at short distances in buildings or on airplanes, passenger buses, or train cars. Hence, the requirements for special forces weapons - it should be quite small, but at the same time providing not only high accuracy of fire, but also firing rate. The pistols and revolvers used by the anti-terror units in the 70-s, despite their relatively small size, were ineffective, and therefore the MP-90 submachine gun from the Heckler German company was the most popular type of small arms used by fighters against terrorists until the middle of the 5-s. und Koch.
In the 80-ies, the designers of Klimovskiy TSNIITOCHMASH developed unique special cartridges SP-5 and SP-6, not only ensuring the exit of a bullet from the barrel with a subsonic speed, which is very important when shooting a weapon with a silencer, but also capable of piercing a standard armor jacket. At the same time, in the armed forces of the countries of the world, and indeed in law enforcement agencies, individual means of protection began to flourish. The level of protection of body armor and protective helmets grew, plus they became more and more light and compact.
Already at the end of the 80-s, individual protective equipment became an obligatory attribute not only of law enforcement officers, but also of various criminals and terrorists. The idea of Gryazev and Shipunov was to create weapons for special forces of the KGB and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, designed for close combat, the bullets of which could hit the enemy using personal protective equipment. It is noteworthy that the creators immediately laid in the design of the new machine the possibility of its use with the device of silent and flameless shooting, PBS. Extensive research has also been carried out on how strongly ricochets can be fired from a new type of small arms.
Against terrorists and criminals
It was only at the beginning of the 9-s that it was possible to complete work on the new automaton that received the 91А-90 index. But already in 1994, the first samples of the small-sized machine gun began to be supplied to the special purpose units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, in particular, the legendary Moscow Special Purpose Parasite Police Department and the newly created special rapid response unit of the GYBOP “Rys”. A little later, 9А-91 appeared in the armament of special forces detachments of the internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia.
“We really liked 9-91. Compared with the standard AK-74M quite compact, convenient to manipulate. It weighs only a little more than two kilograms, cool them as you like. This is now a tactical pen almost an indispensable element of each of our machines, but for the first time we saw them, surprisingly, on the 9А-91. The handle is very conveniently hidden in the forearm, at any time you can get it or remove it, and when you throw the machine behind your back, it does not cling to the "equipment". This is especially important when working in a suspension system and hanging on a cable in 10 – 20 meters above the ground, often upside down, ”says an employee of one of the special forces units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
However, according to the interlocutor, there are claims to the small-sized 9-91 submachine gun: “Folding butt is not always convenient, especially if you need to quickly change hands. Well, it does not immediately turn out to perform tactical movements with an automatic, for example, to look out of the corner or out the door. But this is a matter of skill and habit. So these problems are not critical. Everything can be mastered, only it is necessary to train. ”
Also, a silent VSK-9 sniper rifle was developed for the Ministry of the Interior on the basis of the 91-94. “In the middle of the 90s, when there were no collimator and holographic sights and magnifiers of various multiplicities for them, we used conventional optical sights. From the experience of various counter-terrorist operations, it became clear that the battle had to be fought not only at arm's length, but often it was necessary to hit targets in neighboring buildings at a distance of one hundred, or even two hundred meters. SVD with itself on the assault can not drag and even shoot silently it can not. So there was an idea to make a fairly small-sized sniper rifle, which is convenient to carry, and in case of which, conduct close combat with it, ”recalls the specialist of the missile-artillery service of one of the special-purpose units.
VSK-94 essentially remained the same 9-91, only instead of a folding butt and a standard handle, the so-called skeletal one was used, similar in shape to the SVD and BCC butt. At the same time, the new sniper rifle was much more compact, fit in a disassembled state in a small bag. The weight of the VSK-94 is slightly less than the 2,5 kilogram. It is noteworthy that the laser designators (LTS) were immediately supplied with the delivery of the silent sniper rifle.
“We had both VSS and VSK-94 in the detachment in service. In the forest, in the fields - in general, in nature "Vintorez", of course, will be more interesting. But when we worked in development, in cities, villages, then VSK-94 is definitely better. Snipers with her will climb anywhere, in the rooms they can work along with the usual "attack aircraft". At one time, the fighters from the FAC-94 firing zone passed. Strongly helped and LCC. The laser more than once rescued in a difficult situation, when it was necessary to accurately hit a suddenly arising target, ”an officer of one of the special forces detachments of the Interior Forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia told a military-industrial columnist.
Even now, when the weapons tuning market is actively developing and tactical pens, adjustable butts, flashlights, collimator and holographic sights, various magnifiers and others are put on regular AK-74, 9А-91 and ВСК-94 continue to be in special arsenals - divisions.
“Still, the task of cleaning the premises arise quite often. Usually, in addition to the standard AK-74М, we always take a pair of 9А-91 into the assault group, sometimes we put silencers on them. Although the "tuning" on them now do not release, we ourselves have finalized. They put tactical lights, collimator sights. It is especially convenient to work with this machine gun when you go behind a fighter with a shield. Little space to turn around with AK, but with the 9A-91 thing. But it is also important that you are always sure: your bullet to you or your friend will not ricochet back to the forehead. At close distances, even if you hit the opponent’s hand or leg, you are guaranteed to disable it, ”explains the special forces officer.
9A-91 and the VSK-94 sniper rifle created on its basis for almost 20 years have been in service with various special forces units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Interior Troops. During this time, they were constantly used in hostilities and counter-terrorism operations, the detention of various criminals, the release of hostages. The principles introduced by 80-9 and VSK-91 creators back in the end of 94, such as small size, high efficiency against personal protective equipment, gave this weapon unique opportunities and longevity.
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