After World War II, Soviet strategists believed that the future war would be a "war between engines". However, the characteristics of combat operations in Afghanistan in the early 1980s forced the Soviet military to reconsider this view. In mountainous conditions, infantry fighting vehicles and armored transport vehicles, as the main fire support weapons of the motorcycle detachment, are inefficient or completely unusable in most cases.
Infantry need powerful collective fire support weapons. Only 30mm агс- 17 automatic Grenade launcher belongs to this kind of weapon in the standard weapon of Mobu battalion, while paratroopers' collective fire support weapons are агс- 17 automatic Grenade launcher and 82mm mortar. Only the airborne assault battalion is equipped with 12 in addition to the above weapons.
The lessons of the early war in Afghanistan forced the Soviet military to reconsider the establishment system of all troops and arms that "provided internationalist assistance to the Afghan people". Heavy weapons such as Cliff 12.7mm heavy machine guns have increased in the establishment of infantry units (sometimes outside the establishment).
It is no accident to choose the "cliff" machine gun. From the first day of the war in Afghanistan, the Soviet army fought against the Afghan guerrillas who were mainly equipped with the China version of дшкм (Russian "Degtiarev-Shpagin improved large caliber"). At the same time, the number of China 54 12.7mm machine guns equipped by Afghan guerrillas is increasing day by day. According to the requirements of the armed leaders of the Afghan opposition, each 15 ~ 20-person battle group is equipped with a large-caliber machine gun. It was only the first time that Soviet infantry used inefficient individual light weapons when they encountered the devastating fire of Afghan guerrilla дшкм machine guns in areas where armored technical weapons could not reach.
In this case, only by equipping the infantry with machine guns similar to the дшкм machine guns can we reverse the passive situation. The 1972 Cliff machine gun equipped by the Soviet Union is such a machine gun.
Two types of cliff machine guns: HCBC- 12.7 infantry heavy machine guns and HCB-т tank machine guns were equipped with troops at the beginning of 1972. They have the same structure. The infantry type is only characterized by a gun rack, and the tank type is characterized by an electric lighter behind the engine box.
Cliff machine gun is superior to its predecessor дшкм large caliber machine gun. Only one thing is surprising. The designer equipped the machine gun with a sight with a working distance (500 meters) less than дшкм, and this sight is an optical sight with a maximum magnification of 6 times. The second feature of cliff machine gun is its cost, about 5000 rubles, which was very expensive at that time. Of course, this deficiency has no effect on the effectiveness of weapons. If you look at the machine gun carefully, then the price is not surprising. Its structure is indeed much more complicated than the дшк machine gun. At the same time, the complex structure affects the use of "cliff" machine guns in the extreme conditions of deserts and mountains in Afghanistan.
The HCBC- 12.7 machine guns of Soviet infantry are mainly used to suppress the heavy weapons of Afghan guerrillas who are active in mountainous areas. The optical sight of Cliff machine gun gives it a great advantage in the confrontation with the opponent дшкм machine gun. The advantage of Soviet machine gun squad lies in its mobility. When necessary, the two soldiers can easily change the shooting position of the "cliff" large-caliber machine gun (the whole system including machine gun, gun rack and sight weighs 42.7 kg).
However, Afghan guerrillas can't quickly change their shooting positions with HCBC- 12.7 machine guns like Soviet soldiers. If you change the position of the дшкм machine gun without disassembling it, you need to use a wheeled gun rack, but the latter is basically useless in mountainous areas. To move a position on a high mountain, it is necessary to remove the machine gun weighing 35.7 kilograms from the gun bed and gun rack which are heavier than the weapon itself, and then disassemble the gun rack and gun rack.
Although the demolition work doesn't take a long time, it takes 4-5 people to change the shooting position. Usually, the дшкм machine gun squad of Afghan guerrillas consists of 4-5 people. The only way to reduce the burden of heavy weapons transportation is to draft animals. For the дшкм machine gun with ammunition base of 200-300 rounds, two donkeys are completely enough.
Due to the poor mobility of the дшкм machine gun, Afghan guerrillas mostly use preset positions. It is not easy to destroy the enemy in this position with cliff machine guns. So under normal circumstances, the Soviet army only suppressed this reinforced machine gun nest with light weapons such as large-caliber machine guns, and then destroyed it with combat aviation and artillery or carried out a storm.
Due to the characteristics of the gun frame structure and the fortifications of the shooting position of the дшкм machine gun, the large-caliber machine gun of Afghan guerrillas has a large shooting dead angle in mountainous areas, which was successfully used by the Soviet attack detachment. Afghan guerrillas only use two kinds of fortifications: underground fortifications and ground fortifications. The former, also known as "Fox Cave", is used for shooting in the air, and can shoot ground targets in a sector with limited height and aiming at the horizontal line. Ground bunkers are relatively general and can attack various targets. Stone is often used as a closed or semi-circular low wall, and sandbags are rarely used.
This kind of firepower point is called "rock machine gun fortifications" and has been used by both warring sides in Afghanistan. Rock machine gun fortifications are not only used by machine guns, but also used in other weapon systems and as bunkers for individual soldiers and combat teams (three people). The rock machine gun fortifications of дшкм machine guns are usually partially underground.
Talk about the ordinary shooting bunker of large caliber machine guns separately. Usually it is dug into a circle. You can shoot standing or sitting in the ordinary bunker of the дшкм machine gun, and you can only shoot standing in the rock machine gun bunker. The difference between rock machine gun bunkers and infantry bunkers lies not only in the size (2-2.5 meters in inner diameter), but also in the thickness of the low wall, and the thickness of the wall base can reach 1 meter. Only aviation ammunition, BoB, anti-tank grenades and рпоа infantry rocket launchers equipped by Soviet troops stationed in Afghanistan in 1984 can destroy such bunkers.
If the HCBC- 12.7 cliff heavy machine gun is an infantry fire support weapon, then the дшкм machine gun was given the task of attacking low-altitude targets when it was developed. Its supporting equipment includes a miniature sight, which can shoot planes with a height below 1500m. In the war in Afghanistan, the дшкм machine gun posed a serious threat to the helicopters of the Soviet Union and Afghan government forces.
The anti-aircraft firepower of the дшкм machine gun is negligible for high-speed attack aircraft and fighter aircraft (the flying height and speed of the aircraft make it impossible to aim and shoot), but for rotorcraft, it is very dangerous for a 12.7mm bullet to hit its engine or other parts. Because the air defense of Afghan guerrillas is based on 12.7mm дшкм and 14.5mm згу- 1, згу-2 machine guns, Afghan guerrillas
Any air invasion of fortified areas will be hit by concentrated air defense fire. At the same time, it is strange that Soviet helicopters shot down by anti-aircraft machine guns are not the main losses in guerrilla zones in Afghanistan. The Soviet army did not enter the fortified area at all, but used bombers and artillery to suppress the Afghan guerrilla air defense positions determined in the preparation for the operation.
The main reason for the loss of helicopters was that they were ambushed in the air by Afghan guerrillas in the following situations: on the transition flight and air patrol route of Soviet helicopters; When infantry and special forces airborne; In local combat operations outside the basic fortification areas of Afghan guerrillas; When evacuating the wounded and reconnaissance team in an emergency. When Afghan guerrillas ambush in the air, they usually don't reveal the position of the дшкм machine gun shooting position, but only suddenly fire when the helicopter is less than 500 meters away. Rebels usually deploy 1-2 machine guns when they ambush the air on helicopter flights and patrol routes, and portable air defense missile systems have been deployed since the mid-1980s.
In the four flat provinces of southeast, south, west and north of Afghanistan, Afghan guerrillas deployed дшкм large-caliber machine guns in the carriages of light trucks (pickup trucks). The task of "off-road vehicles" equipped with machine guns by Afghan guerrillas is mainly to provide vigilance and protection for convoys transporting weapons and ammunition from Pakistan and Iran to the inland provinces of Afghanistan. Chariots equipped with machine guns are also used as mobile air defense firearms and "infantry" mobile fire support weapons.
At first, the Soviet army underestimated the ability of off-road vehicles with heavy weapons in their carriages. Only the independent airborne assault battalion is equipped with similar combat technical equipment, namely Gass -69, Gass -469 and Luas-976 м vehicles (also known as forward transport vehicles). These vehicles were equipped with large-caliber machine guns, anti-tank missile systems and heavy Grenade launchers in their carriages, but they were not sent to the battlefield in Afghanistan.
In order to make up for the shortage of combat vehicles, the scouts of the 22nd Independent Special Brigade of the Soviet Union who fought in the desert and semi-desert areas of Kandahar and Helmand Province had to use the captured "off-road vehicle" equipped with the дшкм (Type 54) machine gun made in China. Afghan guerrillas use pickup trucks made in Japan as their main chassis. After the Soviet special forces seized the other car, they added HCBC- 12.7 machine gun or агс-1730mm Grenade launcher.
The crew of this car consists of driver, conductor, heavy weapons group and 2-3 scouts equipped with Kalashnikov rifles (equipped with sub-caliber Grenade launchers). Soviet special forces often wear Afghan national costumes when using captured cars to carry out combat missions, but they are different from Afghan guerrillas in some details.
The Soviet special operations forces were commanded by the Soviet General Intelligence Service. The leaders of the General Intelligence Bureau did not ignore the example of scouts using chariots. From 1986 to 1987, the independent special detachment of the ASU Army Group began to be equipped with gun racks equipped with HCBC- 12.7 machine guns, gas -469 chariots equipped with агсс-17 automatic Grenade launchers, and independent airborne assault battalions.
The Soviet reconnaissance detachment usually decomposes the HCBC- 12.7 machine gun and carries it by three people: the machine gun captain carries the barrel (9.2 kg) and the sight (1.7 kg); One person carries a machine gun body (15.8kg), and the other person carries a gun rack (16kg). Machine gun bullets were distributed to other members of the reconnaissance team to carry. Motorcycle infantry, airborne troops and border guards also carry HCBC- 12.7 machine guns in mountainous areas.
Carrying heavy support weapons including HCBC- 12.7 machine guns in mountainous areas is an independent subject. When moving in the mountains, the mountain environment, hot summer, deep snow and cold winter make it difficult for people to move without load. The actual weight of automatic rifle gunner's combat equipment is usually 16 ~ 25 kg, only slightly more in some cases (automatic rifle and its ammunition base 10 ~ 12 kg, anti-personnel grenades and initiating explosive devices 1.5 ~ 2 kg, water and food for three days, fittings and clothes).
These "extra" loads are enough for an untrained person to fall down in the first few hundred meters of climbing. Naturally, in addition to personal automatic rifles and ammunition base, water, dry food, clothes and fittings, you should also carry all kinds of support weapons (large-caliber machine guns, automatic Grenade launchers, 82mm mortars, anti-tank missile systems, infantry rocket launchers, anti-tank grenades, etc. ) and its ammunition base, radio station and power supply, as well as various optical monitoring and aiming devices.
In this case, experienced commanders will reduce the ammunition base weight of subordinate individual weapons and disassemble the support weapons into multiple parts as much as possible to optimize the load distribution among soldiers. The HCBC- 12.7 machine gun is not broken down into three main parts to be carried by two people, but into more parts. In addition, it is also required to protect the sleeve, deflector and barrel from dust pollution (using rags, sleeves or trouser legs of old military trousers).
The154th Independent Special Brigade and other units of the Soviet Army stationed in Afghanistan organized a lot of combat and shooting training, and mastered the methods and skills of using cliff machine guns in mountain operations. The author thinks that 12.7mm machine gun is far more suitable for mountain conditions than агс- 17 "flame" 30mm automatic Grenade launcher in overall performance, but for some reason, Soviet special forces use the latter more.
First of all, the weight and size parameters of weapons and ammunition of cliff machine guns are better than those of Grenade launchers. Machine guns are indeed heavier than Grenade launchers in combat (42kg and 3 1kg respectively). However, the machine gun can be disassembled into four parts (gun rack 16kg, gun body 15.8kg, barrel 9.2kg, optical sight10.7 kg), while the Grenade launcher can only be disassembled into three parts (bracket 12kg, gun body18.5).
At the same time, the maximum weight of a single part of the агс- 17 automatic Grenade launcher is 18.5 kg, which is nearly 3 kg heavier than the heaviest part of the cliff machine gun. The total weight of ammunition also varies greatly. 100 machine gun bullets weigh 12.3 ~ 12.7 kg (depending on the type of ammunition), while 100 rounds вог- 17 grenades weigh about 35 kg (excluding belts and bullets) It is easy to calculate that the weight of 100 rounds 12.7mm machine gun bullets is equivalent to 30 ~ 32 rounds of вог- 17 grenades.
In the war in Afghanistan, the ammunition base of Soviet special forces reconnaissance team included 100- 150 rounds of HCBC- 12.7 large-caliber machine gun bullets and 58 ~1/6 rounds of агс-/kloc. In other words, the total weight of automatic Grenade launcher weapons and ammunition is 2 ~ 3 times that of HCBC- 12.7 machine gun.
Secondly, the maximum aiming distance of the cliff machine gun is 2,000m, and the enemy's active troops and unarmed guns can be suppressed at a longer distance (2,500-3,000 m) by using the optical sight, while the limit range of the агс- 17 Grenade launcher is1750 m.
Thirdly, the cliff machine gun is much faster than the агс- 17 Grenade launcher in destroying maneuvering targets. 12.7mm machine gun bullets have an initial velocity of 845m/s, and the whole process takes only 4 ~ 6 seconds from finding the target at a distance of 800m to aiming, shooting (short shot) and hitting by the gunner. However, it takes 12 ~ 15 seconds for an automatic grenade launcher (muzzle velocity is 185 m/s) to hit a target with the same distance, which not only increases the flight time of ammunition by 6 ~ 7 seconds, but also increases the aiming time.
The only advantage of automatic Grenade launcher over large-caliber machine guns is the power coefficient of ammunition. A grenade can guarantee the effective force exposed in a 50-square-meter intensive killing zone, but under the same ammunition base weight, the amount of machine gun ammunition is nearly three times that of вог- 17 Grenade.
Practice has proved that heavy machine guns and automatic grenade launchers with large caliber can be used not only as weapons of infantry weapons, but also as weapons of special forces. The contest between the two infantry fire support weapon systems can't tell the winner, but can only complement each other. At the same time, machine guns are more lethal to moving targets (effective forces and means of transport, including light armored vehicles), while automatic Grenade launchers are suitable for destroying fixed targets and targets hidden in various bunkers.
There is a reason for US reconnaissance troops and infantry troops to install 12.7mm M2HB Browning machine gun and 40mm Mk 19 automatic Grenade launcher on Hummer SUV. Both the Soviet Union and later the Russian army liked automatic Grenade launchers. Finally, the HCBC- 12.7 machine gun and its more advanced "striped" machine gun lost their position in Russian infantry.