ORSHA DISTRICT, 14 June (BelTA) – As he visited the manufacturing and technical cluster Ustye on 14 June, Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko was made familiar with samples of small arms and scope sights of Belarusian make, BelTA has learned.
Some of the small arms are fully made in Belarus. Some of the small arms use imported components – only a Russian barrel and a breech casing. The Belarusian assault rifles and pistols have been tested by the Belarusian army and received a positive feedback. Foreign customers are also pleased with the weapons.
The head of state saw samples of the Belarusian assault rifles VSK-100 and VSK-100BP, which are based on Kalashnikov's light machinegun. These three-in-one weapons can be used as an assault rifle, a light machinegun, or a supernumerary sniper rifle. This kind of weapons can be equipped with all the modern gadgets such as, for instance, a suppressor and a folding stock and can be used not only by infantry but by reconnaissance units, who can appreciate the ability to fire very precisely, fast, and without noise or flash.
Experts believe that the Belarusian assault rifles VSK-100 and VSK-100BP can be a decent substitute for the Kalashnikov light machineguns, which are rather worn out. Apart from that, rounds for flashless noiseless shooting for Kalashnikov's are hard to come by. The suppressor fitted on Belarusian assault rifles allows using any modern rounds, including of Belarusian make.
There is another important advantage: the Belarusian assault rifle is more reliable than foreign analogs. It can handle water and sand. Just like Kalashnikov's assault rifles the Belarusian assault rifles are most durable. A Belarusian assault rifle fired 10,000 rounds over the course of five days as part of a barrel durability test. The performance parameters went down slightly as a result: four punctures and 5cm fire accuracy.
The president also saw the sniper rifle SV-01 of Belarusian make. The rifle has a thick barrel fit for 7.62x51 rounds.
The products on display also included the Belarusian submachine gun Saiga-9, the hunting sport rifle HSR-1200, and the PV-17 pistol.
Aleksandr Lukashenko was also made familiar with the optical products, which are made in Belarus. Those include scope sights, including thermal-imaging ones for small arms, optoelectronic scopes and observation devices for armored vehicles.
The head of state was also informed about anti-armor weapons. The guided antitank missile 9M114 Shturm, which had been repaired by an enterprise in Ustye, was mentioned. The missile is designed to destroy modern tanks and other armored targets, including small ground ones (fortified emplacements) and low-altitude flying ones (helicopters, slow aircraft). Specialists believe that the missile cannot be thrown off its course thanks to a secure control channel. Thanks to the Belarusian upgrade the missile was fitted with Belarusian components, it became lighter and more controllable. During testing the missile hit a target sized four by four meters at the maximum distance of 4,800 meters.
