OMSK, Southern Siberia, June 7 (AVN) - The Dyagteryov plant is exhibiting Russia's latest AGS-30 second generation antipersonnel automatic light grenade launcher at the VTTV-Omsk 2001 international arms show, a spokesman for the plant's administration said on Thursday.
The plant is located in the town of Kovrov, Vladimir region, and is a part of the New Programmes and Concepts industrial holding company.
AGS-30 was designed by the Tula-based Instrument Engineering Design Bureau, the spokesman told the Military News Agency. Its main peculiarity is the considerably low weight of 16.5kg together with the tripod while AGS-17 weighs 31kg. AGS-30 includes the grenade launcher itself, tripod rig, cartridge magazine with 30mm rounds fitted into metal wire and scope sight. The range of fire is up to 1,700 metres and the rate of fire is 400 rounds per minute. Low weight of the grenade launcher helped reduce the combat crew to two people.
The mounted AGS-30 is placed on the tripod rig weighing almost 6kg which provides the grenade launcher with stability while firing from any ground and coverage in prone, sitting and kneeling positions. The weight reduction did not lead to worsening of specifications. On the contrary, the use of the modernised VOG-30 high-explosive grenade instead of VOG-17M permitted to extend the belt of fire 1.5 times in comparison with the M-384 grenade. Use and servicing of the AGS-30 is considerably easier that those of its analogues.
The grenade launcher is serially produced by the plant and is in stable demand among foreign customers.