Kyiv-based company Precision Systems has developed a new, handheld version of the Soviet-made 30 mm automatic grenade Launcher AGS-17, which was displayed for the first time at Ukraine`s AviaSvit/Arms and Security show, held in Kyiv Oct 11-14, British military portal IHS Jane`s Defence Weekly reports, according to Ukraine Today.
Company officials said this handheld variant, designated the RGSh30, was developed ”in order to create a grenade launcher that could respond to the needs of Ukrainian units and special forces operating in the Donbas”. They added that this smaller and more portable derivative of the stationary AGS-17 has the virtue of being able to be carried and operated by small, manoeuvrable groups of combatants. Despite its small size and reduced barrel length, the RGSh30 is reported to have an effective range of 1,600 m.
The weapon has a bullpup configuration (with its action and clip behind trigger group) which makes it more compact without sacrificing the length of a barrel. The clip can hold five VOG-17 30 mm grenades.
”The concept of this weapon is to be able to fire small numbers of rounds to disable a BTR APC or other armoured vehicles at close quarters. It has the advantage over the Russian design in that it does not have to be mounted on a pylon in a fixed location but can be carried around just like an assault rifle,” a company representative said.
Precision Systems decided to develop the new weapon from conventional materials so that it would be cheaper in production and easy to repair. The company is also looking to develop an entire line of similar weapons that would fire either 20, 25, or 40 mm grenade rounds (of NATO standard).
It is the second development of Ukrainian handheld grenade launcher. The previous one, RG-1 `Porshen` was presented in 2000, Zbroya.info reports, but at that time it was not adopted by Ukrainian army. Since the start of Russian invasion Defence Ministry returned to that project, and it`s now reported to run a state testing. Its characteristics seems to be pretty similar to RGSh30 but the length: RG-1 has traditional configuration so it is longer and heavier.
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