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Russian arms manufacturers have announced a 12.7mm ShAK-12 submachine gun designed to shoot through modern body armour and walls.
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The unique assault rifle is designed for use in close combat during anti-terrorist operations in urban areas. It’s able to pierce walls and body armour, according to a statement from Russian state-owned company Rostec State Corporation on 20 April.
The bullpup style firearm is based on the 12.7mm VKS large-caliber sniper rifle and developed by Russian arms manufacturer Central Design Research Bureau of Sports and Hunting Weapons and Rostec holding company, High-Precision Complexes.
Three ammunition types have been developed including a subsonic lead bullet for use with a silencer at ranges up to 200 metres, an aluminium core supersonic bullet less likely to harm hostages at ranges up to 100 metres, and an armour-piercing steel bullet designed to penetrate heavy armour or walls with a range of 300 metres.
“(The armour-piercing steel bullet) is designed to hit targets protected by heavy armour or hiding behind an obstacle,” a Rostec spokesperson said.
“With the first shot, a special forces soldier can break through, for example, a brick wall, and with the second shot, he can already hit the enemy.
“ShAK-12 is a powerful weapon for counterterrorism … where it is necessary to ensure maximum safety of the civilian population. The submachine gun, which has already received the nickname ‘meat grinder for terrorists’, is one of the few successful models of automatic weapons in the world with a calibre of 12.7x55mm.”
The design was heavily influenced by the Beslan school siege from September 2004, the hostage attack that lasted three days and ended with the deaths of 333 people including 186 children and 10 special forces personnel.
As such, the firearm reportedly features higher stopping power, a shorter stamped steel, and plastic frame for improved use in confined environments, picatinny rail for attachments, short tactical or full-length silencer, and larger projectile to sufficiently impact adversaries under the influence of psychotropic drugs that increase the pain threshold.
High-Precision Complexes has also begun work on a moderisation program for the RPO-A Shmel rocket-assisted infantry flamethrower in service with the Russian army.
That anti-fortification weapon casts a projectile-rocket filled with flammable mixture, which distributes a cloud of the mixture on impact and is detonated by a cumulative charge.
