China produces rifle that can mount all types of UAVs, as powerful as AK-47

According to SCMP, Chinese scientists have successfully developed an automatic rifle specifically designed for drones. This rifle uses the same 7.62 mm caliber ammunition, with a muzzle velocity of 740 to 900 mm at 10 meters, comparable in power to the AK-47.

But the main improvement that sets this weapon apart is its virtually nonexistent recoil. Its recoil has been described as "as light as typing on a keyboard." This means that even a civilian drone – or a toy robot dog – could use this gun and fire at will, according to the scientists and engineers involved in the project.

Previously, such scenarios were limited to movies. On the real battlefield, such as in Ukraine, small drones could only drop grenades or mortar rounds.

Even specialized unmanned weapon platforms or heavily upgraded UAVs struggle with the recoil of machine guns, reducing accuracy and firing flexibility. Now, a new rifle developed by a team led by Professor Liu Pengzhan of the Department of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering at North China University offers a solution to these challenges.

The research team discovered that drilling a strategically placed hole at the rear of the gun barrel helped to dissipate the shock wave generated by the gunpowder explosion. Then, to maintain the muzzle velocity of the bullet, Professor Liu and his colleagues designed a new type of bullet with a reinforced membrane sealing the rear and an internal electromagnetic sensing chip.

Upon receiving the firing command, the chip ignites the explosive, propelling the bullet forward. Only when the pressure reaches a critical level does the gas pressure rupture the membrane and escape through the vent, eliminating recoil while maintaining a high muzzle velocity.

This type of gun has a special design and uses smart ammunition with embedded chips to eliminate recoil.

The gun's structure is very simple and the production cost is low. According to the researchers, all that's needed is to install a coil in the barrel to detonate the chip and protect it with a ceramic coating that can withstand high temperatures and pressures.

North China University is a key research institution located in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, established by the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense of China. Engineers from several military- industrial enterprises also participated in the research and testing of this weapon.

" Numerous tests have confirmed the effectiveness of this design ," Professor Liu's team wrote in the scientific paper.

In the tests, the rifle was suspended in mid-air and fired, and the swing amplitude from front to back was only 1.8 cm, indicating negligible recoil.

In 2016, China proposed to the United Nations a ban on converting UAVs into lethal weapons, becoming the first of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council to make such a proposal.

In 2021, China, along with more than 100 other countries, re-proposed this move but it was vetoed by the US and Russia. Since then, China has significantly developed UAV-based weapons and gained a considerable advantage through its industrial capabilities.

Recently, Beijing has added dual-use drone products and technologies to its export control list.

Quartz

Source: https://vtcnews.vn/trung-quoc-che-tao-sung-truong-gan-duoc-moi-loai-uav-manh-ngang-ak-47-ar909675.html