The Shkval (Russian: Шквал, lit. "squall") was a Russian amphibious assault rifle designed by Aleksandr Shevchenko, Yuri Danilov, A.A. Goyan, D.I. Chistekhin, D.A. Korsakas, N.N. Nosov and E.B. Korotkov and produced by Derzhava in prototype form only.[1]
History[]
The Shkval was developed by a team of designers from Military Unit 33941 and a company by the name of Derzhava (lit. "power") as a weapon that could increase the effectiveness of various special forces performing "special tasks". Exactly when the development of the weapon was carried out is not clear.[1] The weapon does not appear to have been submitted to any sorts of tests and is effectively just a design study only.
Design[]
The Shkval is a bullpup assault rifle based on the AK-74. The weapon is noted as having a very high rate of fire due to its shortened receiver in addition to the short stroke of the bolt carrier. The Shkval is said to have about 50% parts commonality with that of the AK-74. The weapon features a folding metal stock to help reduce its size. A powerful buffer spring is used in lieu of an adjustable gas port.[1]
The weapon features a system to allow the weapon to fire underwater, likely involving gas "blowing" on the barrel. Barrel life above water is about 10,000 rounds; for underwater firing, the barrel life is halved to about 5,000 rounds. The weapon takes 5.45×39mm ammunition, with various different types being used for underwater and above water usage.[1]
See also[]
- Smerch: bullpup assault rifle also developed by Aleksandr Shevchenko
- ASM-DT: dual-medium assault rifle also developed by Aleksandr Shevchenko and Yuri Danilov