ShVAK cannon

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Illustration of the cannon

The ShVAK (Russian: ШВАК: Шпитальный-Владимиров Авиационный Крупнокалиберный, Shpitalnyi-Vladimirov Aviatsionnyi Krupnokalibernyi, "Shpitalny-Vladimirov large-calibre for aircraft") was a 20 mm autocannon used by the Soviet Union during World War II. It was designed by Boris Shpitalniy and Semyon Vladimirov and entered production in 1936. ShVAK was installed in many Soviet aircraft including Yakovlev Yak-1, Polikarpov I-153 and I-16, Lavochkin La-5 and La-7, LaGG-3, early Ilyushin Il-2, and Soviet-modified Hawker Hurricane aircraft as well as T-38 and T-60 tanks.

The TNSh was a version of this gun for tanks (Russian: ТНШ: Tankovyi Nudel’man-Shpitalnyi).

1 Description
2 Specifications
3 Ammunition specifications
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Description

ShVAK 20 mm autocannon is a large-caliber version of the 12.7 mm ShVAK machine gun. The machine gun entered production in 1934 but proved unreliable, difficult to manufacture, and prone to jamming which often required partial or complete disassembly of the weapon. Its production was stopped in 1936. The autocannon version differed only in larger caliber of the barrel. It is a gas-operated belt-fed weapon with either cable or pneumatic charging in remote applications. ShVAK ammunition consisted of a mix of fragmentation-incendiary and armor piercing-incendiary rounds. The damaging effect of this ammunition was considered weak for the caliber. As the result, towards the end of Great Patriotic War ShVAK was supplanted by Berezin B-20, Volkov-Yartsev VYa-23, and Nudelman-Suranov NS-37 autocannons.

[edit] Specifications

Caliber: 20 mm
Rate of fire: 700-800 rounds/min
Muzzle velocity: 2,675 ft/s (815 m/s)
Weight: 88 lb (40 kg) without ammunition for the wing version
Length: 66.1 in (1679 mm) for the wing version

[edit] Ammunition specifications

Calibre: 20 millimetres
Shell weight: 1,491 grains (96.6 grams)
Explosive weight: 424 grains (27.5 grams)
Round weight: 2,855 grains (185 grams)
Ballistic coefficient: 2.45 lb/in² (kg/m²)
Tracer ammunition duration: 3,280 ft (1,000 m)
Armor piercing: 20 mm at 400 m (¾ in at ¼ mi)

[edit] See also

[edit] References

Широкоград А.Б. (2001) История авиационного вооружения Харвест (Shirokograd A.B. (2001) Istorya aviatsionnogo vooruzhenia Harvest. ISBN 985-433-695-6) (History of aircraft armament)