AGS-17
Automatic grenade launcher
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The AGS-17 Plamya[8] (Russian: Пламя; Flame) is a Soviet-designed automatic grenade launcher in service worldwide.
| AGS-17 Plamya | |
|---|---|
AGS-17 mounted on tripod. | |
| Type | Automatic grenade launcher |
| Place of origin | Soviet Union |
| Service history | |
| In service | 1970–present |
| Used by | See Users |
| Wars |
|
| Production history | |
| Designer | KB Tochmash |
| Designed | 1967 |
| Manufacturer | Molot Plant |
| Produced | 1967 |
| Variants | AG-17A helicopter-mounted version |
| Specifications | |
| Mass | 31 kg |
| Length | 840 mm |
| Cartridge | 30×29mm grenade |
| Caliber | 30 mm |
| Action | Blowback |
| Rate of fire | 400 round/min |
| Muzzle velocity | 185 m/s |
| Effective firing range | 800 to 1,700 m |
| Feed system | 29 grenades belt |
| Sights | Adjustable iron sights, optional mount required for optical sights |
Description
The AGS-17 is a heavy infantry support weapon designed to operate from a tripod or mounted on an installation or vehicle. The AGS-17 fires 30 mm grenades in either direct or indirect fire to provide suppressive and lethal fire support against soft-skinned or fortified targets.
The weapon uses a blowback mechanism to sustain operation. Rounds are fired through a removable (to reduce barrel stress) rifled barrel.
The standard metal ammunition drum contains 29 linked rounds.[9][10]
The tripod is equipped with fine levelling gear for indirect fire trajectories.
Development
Development of the AGS-17 (Avtomaticheskiy Granatomyot Stankovyi—Automatic Grenade launcher, Mounted) started in the USSR in 1965 by the OKB-16 design bureau (now known as the KB Tochmash), under the leadership of Alexander F. Kornyakov.[11]
This lightweight weapon was to provide infantry with close to medium range fire support against enemy personnel and unarmored targets, like trucks, half-tracks, jeeps and sandbag-protected machine-gun nests. The first prototypes of the new weapon entered trials in 1969, with mass production commencing in 1971.[11] The AGS-17 was widely operated and well-liked by Soviet troops in Afghanistan as a ground support weapon or as a vehicle weapon on improvised mounts installed on armoured personnel carriers and trucks.[1]
A special airborne version of the AGS-17, the AG-17A, was developed for installation on helicopters, including the Mi-24 Hind in gun pods and the Mil Mi-8 on door mounts. This weapon had a thick aluminium jacket on the barrel and used a special mount and an electric remotely controlled trigger.[11][12]
It is still in use with the Russian army as a direct fire support weapon for infantry troops; it is also installed in several vehicle mounts and turrets along with machine guns, guided rocket launchers and sighting equipment. It is being replaced by the AGS-30 launcher, which fires the same ammunition, but weighs only 16 kg unloaded on the tripod and has an upgraded blowback action.
Variants
- AG-17A - remotely controlled aircraft-mounted version with an electric trigger mechanism.
- AGS-17D - remotely controlled vehicle-mounted version with an electric trigger mechanism.
Ammunition
The AGS-17 fires 30×29 mm belted cartridges with a steel cartridge case.[13] Two types of ammunition are commonly fired from the AGS-17. The VOG-17M is the version of the original 30 mm grenade ammunition, which is currently available and has a basic high explosive fragmentation warhead. The VOG-30 is similar, but contains a better explosive filling and an enhanced fragmentation design that greatly increases the effective blast radius. New improved VOG-30D grenade was taken into service in 2013 for use with AGS-17 and AGS-30 grenade launchers.[14][15] It was ordered by the Russian Defense Ministry in August 2023.[16] The same month, the Russian troops fighting in Ukraine begun to receive VOG-17 grenades, factory modified for use by commercial drones.[17]
The Bulgarian weapons manufacturer Arcus produces AR-ROG hand grenades based on VOG-17 cartridges and UZRGM (Russian: УЗРГМ), which is also a Soviet design of fuse.[18] Similar improvised grenades are known as "khattabkas".[19]
- VOG-17M (HE)
- IO-30 (HE)
- IO-30TP (Practice)
- VOG-30 (HE)
- VOG-30D (HE)
- VUS-30 (Smoke)
Users
Current
Afghanistan[20][21]
Angola[20][2]
Armenia: Imported[citation needed]
Azerbaijan[22][23]
Bulgaria: A modernized version, the AGL-30M, produced locally by Arsenal AD with documentation from DSO Metalhim .[24]
Chad[20]
China: Produced by Norinco based on captured examples from Mujahideen groups.[25][20][26]
Cuba[20]
Czech Republic
Ecuador: Used during Cenepa War 1995.[27]
Georgia[28]
Iraq: Produced under license.[20][26]
Islamic State[29]
Ivory Coast[30]
Montenegro: Designated the M93.[20]
Mozambique[20]
Myanmar[31]
Nicaragua[20]
North Korea[32]
Russia[33]
Serbia: Designated the M93[20] Produced under license.[34]
Sierra Leone[35]
Slovakia[36]
Somalia[20]
Sudan: Used by the Sudanese Armed Forces, some captured by the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North[4]
Syria[37]
Turkey[38]
Vietnam: Made under license in Z125 Factory.[39][40] Known under the Vietnamese industrial name of SPL-17.[41]
Former
Afghanistan- Czechoslovakia[42]
Finland: designated 30 KrKK AGS-17, replaced by the HK GMG in 2005.[43]
Latvia: Used in the 1990s, now replaced by the HK GMG.[20]
Soviet Union: Passed on to successor states.
See also
- AGS-30, first successor
- AGS‑40 Balkan, second successor using caseless high-explosive 40mm 7P39 grenades.
- Daewoo Precision Industries K4, South Korean 40 mm grenade launcher
- GA-40 similar weapon (in Polish)
- HK GMG, similar weapon
- Howa Type 96, similar weapon
- Milkor MGL, another South African 40 mm grenade launcher
- Mk 19 grenade launcher, similar weapon
- SB LAG 40
- Type 87 grenade launcher, used by the People's Liberation Army
- Vektor Y3 AGL
- XM174 grenade launcher, similar weapon
