Vietnam has successfully manufactured 30mm ammunition for the AK-630 artillery piece.

Vietnam's successful development of 30mm ammunition for the AK-630 cannon could allow Vietnamese warships to operate with confidence without worrying about importing ammunition.

Successful production

According to the People's Army Newspaper, the Weapons Institute under the General Department of Defense Industry (GDDI) has successfully manufactured and tested 30mm ammunition for the AK-630 (or AK-630M) naval gun – a type of gun currently equipped on Molniya missile boats and Gepard warships of the Vietnamese Navy.

Vietnam tests domestically produced ammunition.

Currently, the AK-630 and AK-630M are automatic naval guns using 30mm YOF-84 ammunition manufactured in Russia, and are widely deployed on combat ships of the navies of several countries, including Vietnam.

To support training and exercises, we consume a large quantity of imported 30mm ammunition annually, costing the State budget a significant amount.

To address this issue, as early as 2013, the Institute of Weapons (General Department of Defense Industry) was assigned by the Minister of National Defense to carry out the project "Research, design, and testing of 30mm naval artillery shells," and this project was actively implemented shortly thereafter.

The successful production of the 30mm DPST-30 ammunition (the Vietnamese version of the YOF-84 ammunition) demonstrates that with the technological capabilities of the domestic defense industry, it is entirely possible to manufacture this type of ammunition and even move towards researching and producing other types of ammunition.

Through rigorous testing and close supervision by relevant authorities, the project "Improving the design and developing the manufacturing technology for the 30mm DPST-30 naval artillery shell," undertaken by the Institute of Weapons, has been successfully completed.

The power of the AK-630 on a missile boat.

In addition to 16 Uran-E subsonic anti-ship missiles, the Molniya missile boats of the Vietnamese Navy are also equipped with two powerful AK-630 gun mounts. The AK-630 30mm six-barreled automatic naval gun is designed to destroy airborne targets such as anti-ship missiles, aircraft, helicopters, and other types of air attack vehicles, as well as small displacement surface vessels, torpedoes, enemy coastal firing positions, and troops.

In early 1976, the AK-630 was put into service. Its main component is the turret, equipped with a 6-barreled AO-18 30mm gun. Due to its extremely high rate of fire (up to 5000 rounds/minute), it can destroy all types of targets.

AK-630 gun on Vietnam's Molniya missile boat

However, due to the demands of modern warfare, in late 1983, the Russian Navy decided to upgrade the AK-630 with new technical and tactical requirements, and the upgraded variant was designated AK-630M1-2 "Roy".

The development of this new variant took only a few months. In March 1984, Plant No. 535 (part of the Tula Machine-Building Plant) began trial production. The P-44 missile boat of the Black Sea Fleet's Class 2066 was selected to be fitted with the AK-630M1-2 "Roy" twin-barreled gun system.

On the P-44, the AK-630M1-2 fired its first rounds in the summer of 1989. The AK-630M1-2 hit a simulated missile target at an altitude of 10m with only 200 rounds, a remarkable performance.

Basic specifications: Caliber 30mm; Effective range 5km; Rate of fire up to 5,000 rounds/minute; Horizontal sight -180 degrees to 180 degrees; Vertical sight -12 degrees to 88 degrees; Muzzle velocity 875m/s; Magazine capacity 2000 rounds; Turret weight (unloaded) not exceeding 1 ton.

Currently, the AK-630 has upgraded variants: AK-630M1-2 Roy and AK-630M2 Duet. The main and most important component of the AK-630M family is the two 6-barreled AO-18 30mm rapid-fire automatic rotary cannons. The distance between the axes of the two cannons is 320mm.

The AK-630M1-2 has a firing rate of 10,000 rounds per minute, while the "Duet" can fire from 4,000 to 10,000 rounds per minute at will. The ammunition used in the AK-630M1-2 and AK-630M2 is completely the same as that of the AK-630. It consists of 390g high-explosive fragmentation rounds containing 48.5g of explosive, using an A-498K warhead.

Roy and Duet used the Vimpel-AM2 fire control system with MR-123AM2 and MR-176M2 radars. In addition, they were equipped with KM-11-1 and LDM-1 "Cruiser" laser rangefinders.

Laska radar control system: Number of tracking channels: 4; Coverage range: over 21 km; Elevation angle: 40 degrees; Orientation range: plus or minus 180 degrees; Response time: 2-3 seconds; Number of simultaneous gun emplacement controls: 2; Power consumption: 10 kW.

The AK-630 and its variants are equipped on most Russian warships. On Vietnamese warships, the AK-630 is also widely used. The AK-630 is considered the "last line of defense," used in cases where the anti-aircraft missile and artillery systems fail to neutralize all anti-ship missiles threatening the warship.

Video shows Vietnam testing domestically produced ammunition:

According to Baodatviet