Index of Soviet Military Equipment & Hardware

The following is a list of vehicles, firearms, aircraft and other weapons used by the Soviet Military as of the year 2057 (i.e. the opening of the NATO-Soviet War). Entries in the list are separated into categories, and each category is sorted according to a loose descending order by increasing weight / power.

Land Vehicles

 * VPK-5660 "Gepard" (Russian:  ВПК-3927  «гепард») - a 4x4, mtulipurpose, lightly-armored tactical utility vehicle. In the west, the Gepard (meaning Leopard) would be categorized as an "Infantry Mobility Vehicle". Meaning it is a wheeled, lightly-armored all-terrain car intended primarily for patrol, reconnaissance and security purposes, usually operating behind the front lines or in relatively peaceful areas.


 * BRDM-8 (Russian: БРДМ-8) - a 6x6 amphibious mutlirole armored car capable of being fitted with a variety of mission-specific packages and weapons. BRDM-8 is short for "Armored Reconnaissance / Patrol Vehicle" (Бронированная Разведывательная Дозорная Машина, Bronirovannaya Razvedyvatelnaya Dozornaya Mashina). The standard BRDM-8 comes equipped with a Gsh-23MB 23mm revolver cannon in a remote mount at the left-side center of the roof (behind the driver's position) and a cupola with an integral 12.7mm machine gun over the passenger's seat, which may also be operated from inside the vehicle. A small compartment at the rear of the vehicle may be used to accomodate passengers, cargo or ammunition for various additional weapons mods.


 * Ural-8243 (Russian: Урал-8243) - an 8x8 armored utility truck for transportation of supplies. May be fitted with an MLRS (Multiple Launch Rocket System) package capable of firing rockets and missiles to transform it into a self-propelled rocket artillery unit. See "BM-573-A self-propelled artillery" for description of the weapon system.

Rotary Aircraft (Helicopters)

 * Mil Mi-65 (Russian: Миль Ми-65) - twin-engine general-purpose utility / armed reconnaissance helicopter
 * Kamov Ka-72 (Russian: Камов Ка-72) - Twin-engine gunship / attack helicopter
 * Mil Mi-80 (Russian: Миль Ми-80) - Twin-engine heavy armed and armored transport-capable attack helicopter / gunship.


 * Kamov Ka-95  (Russian:  Камов Ка-95 ) - triple-engine armed cargo / transport / utility helicopter


 * Mil Mi-212 (Russian: Миль Ми-212) - very heavy armored and armored cargo / transport helicopter

Fixed-wing Aircraft (Manned)

 * Mikoyan MiG-65 "Lisa" (Russian: МиГ-65  «лиса» ) - High-performance supermaneuverable air superiority fighter with ground-attack and STOVL/VTOL capabilities named "Lisa", meaning "Fox". NATO Reporting Name: "Fanion".


 * Sukhoi SU-72 (Russian: Сухой Су-72) - high-speed, light-weight fighter-bomber for precision strikes and close air support with air-to-air combat capabilities. NATO Reporting Name: "Fusil".


 * Sukhoi SU-84 "Orel" (Russian: Сухой Су-84 «орел») - high-speed swing-wing bomber / strike aircraft with interdictor, electronic warfare and reconnaissance capabilities. NATO Reporting Name: "Blancher".


 * Yakolev Yak-50 (Russian: Яковлева Як-50) - Super high-speed swing-wing medium tactical / strategic bomber. NATO Reporting Name: "Blacklight".


 * Tupolev Tu-600 (Russian: Туполев Ту-600) - Extremely large, eight-engine heavy strategic bomber. NATO Reporting Name: "Boaz".


 * Tupolev Tu-620 (Russian: Туполев Ту-620) - Superheavy strategic airlifter / transport derived from the Tu-600 bomber. NATO Reporting Name: "Canard".


 * Antonov An-500 (Russian: Антоно Ан-500) - four-engine strategic airlifter / transport aircraft. NATO Reporting Name: "Chalice".

UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) / Drones
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Personal Weapons (Rifles, handguns, etc)
AKN-40 (Russian: АКН-40) - Standard-issue automatic battle rifle, designed for use by front-line troops equipped with powered exoskeletons. It is the nominal successor to the Kalashnikov line of weapons - though its mechanisms bear almost no similarities, the external appearance still retains a distinctive "AK Style". The rifle's firing mechanism was first developed in the 1990s by Gennadiy Nikonov and used on the AN-94 rifle, a weapon which was too expsenive to see general issue among Soviet Ground Forces.

With the advent of new NATO armor technologies around the end of the Soviet Invasion of India, however, Soviet weapons designers were forced to considerably up the firepower of their hardware. The AKN-40 was among the first of this new generation of increasingly unorthodox weapons systems. Compared to many of these later designs, it is relatively simplistic. It uses a unique combination gas and recoil operation mechanism where-in the barrel, gas piston / tube, receiver and bolt carrier are "suspended" within the rifle's outer casing as a single unit and all collectively recoil backwards upon firing together. While a normal short-stroke gas piston cycles the bolt, recoil energy is used to immediately chamber and fire a second round off the same cycle / trigger pull. This unique mechanism is called a "Blowback Shifted Pulse" system (Russian: смещенный импульс свободного затвора, smeshchonnyy impuls svobodnovo zatvora).

When firing in semi-automatic mode, this mechanism means that a single pull of the AKN-40's trigger will fire two bullets almost simultaneously, as if they were one shot, with a reduced and delayed recoil effect due to the entirity of the rifle's inner workings being moved back as it fires. Each of the AKN-40's rounds is a long, caseless 12.7mm high-explosive incendiary / armor-piercing (HEIAP) bullet with an integral pulse jet that keeps it level in flight out to approximately 700 meters, thereby strongly increasing the accuracy and range of the weapon. Standard accessories include an under-barrel grenade launcher, an electronic scope that projects directly onto the HUD of the rifleman's exoskeleton [but can also be used as a conventional scope if the helmet is removed], a laser rangefinder / target designator and side-barrel flashlight.

AN-200 (Russian: АКН-200) - 7.62mm compact assault rifle for use by troops without exoskeletons (like support personnel and vehicle crews). Uses the same dual-action "Blowback Shifted Pulse" mechanism as the AKN-40 and fires 7.62mm AP/HE ammunition that is similar to the AKN-40's rounds, but smaller and without the trajectory-stabilizing pulse jets.

MP-900 (Russian:  MП-900)   - Standard Soviet military service handgun. It is a 5-shot, single-action, 14.5mm revolver designed to have enough power to penetrate NATO body armor at close ranges. Standard ammunition is a caseless armor-piercing / high-explosive round much like that of the AKN-40. However, the round is considerably shorter and lacks any kind of self-propulsion jet.

MPS-2 (Russian: ' MП 'С-2) - fully automatic selective-fire handgun using specialized 5.45x25mm ammunition (similar to the FN 5.7x39mm cartridges used by many NATO weapons, such as the FN Five-Seven handgun). These rounds are small in diameter but dimensionally similar to a rifle bullet, allowing high accuracy and velocity with reduced recoil. This handgun is mostly used by Special Forces, police, support personnel and officers when heavy NATO body armor or powered exoskeletons are not likely to be encountered.

PKNS-R (Russian: ПКНС-Р) - Man-portable variant of the 12.7mm PKNS machine gun, used as a squad-level fire support weapon. See PKNS entry for details.

SVN (Russian:  С ВН) - SVN stands for "Sniper Rifle of Nikonov" (Russian: Снайперская виsteнтовка Никонова, Snayperskaya Vintovka Nikonova). It is a durable, semi-automatic 14.5mm sniper rifle using the "Blowback Shifted Pulse" mechanism of the AKN-40 and AN-200 (hence the "of Nikonov" designation). It is used as a Squad-level support weapon by Soviet troops (i.e. as a "Designated Marksman Rifle").

RPG-60 (Russian: РПГ-60) - disposable anti-tank recoilless rifle / rocket launcher. The RPG-60 is a single-shot, disposable, non-reusable rifled launcher system that is pre-packaged with one of a number of different types of warheads, distinguished by colored rings painted around the end of the barrel. The rockets are SACLOS laser-guided, meaning they will follow a laser beam from the RPG-60's sighting device; the operator must continually point the laser at his or her chosen target until it is hit. If the sighting laser is turned off, the rockets will continue in a straight line, meaning they can also be dumb-fired. The operator may further choose between conventional horizontal and top-down attack patterns, although the top-down trajectory will not work without SACLOS laser input. Each Powered Exoskeleton-equipped soldier is issued two of these launchers, one high-explosive / fragmentation and one HEAT, with more being carried in the transport compartment of the squad's BTR-12 or BMP-7 transport.

BD-45 (Russian: БД-45) - selective-fire, magazine fed shotgun using a short-stroke gas piston mechanism patterned off the AK / AN & AKN-series rifles. The BD-45 has an extremely large 23mm bore, making it approximately equivalent to a 6-gauge shotgun under the American system. A complicated off-axis recoil buffer mechanism is used in the weapon to make it operable without an exoskeleton, though without such armor the recoil is considerable. In military scenarios, the BD-45 is often loaded with specialized contact-detonated explosive slugs that, while incapable of penetrating NATO combat armor, will impart enough kinetic force to severely injure and potentially kill an enemy soldier.

Crew-served & Heavy Weapons
PKNS (Russian: ПКНС ) - Basic version of the standard Soviet 12.7mm general-purpose Machine Gun. Fires the same caseless 12.7x120mm HEIAP ammunition as the AKN-40. Extremely high 2000-2400 rpm rate of fire. Double-crescent trigger and fire-selector switch with 3 modes: "Safety", "Low" & "High". Pulling the upper portion of the trigger while fire-selector is set to "Low" mode produces a single shot; pulling the lower portion of the trigger in "Low" mode produces automatic fire at the rate of 700-900 rpm. In "High" mode, the upper trigger produces a 5-round burst and the lower trigger unleashes the full 2000-2400 rpm automatic fire. The secret to the PKNS's high rate of fire is its six-round revolver mechanism that provides an extremely smooth, progressive removal of cartridges from the feed into the weapon. The PKNS comes in several versions: the basic version which is mounted on helicopter doors, hatches and defensive positions, the PKNS-R ( ПКНС-Р ) for being carried by infantry, and the PKNS-T ( ПКНС-T ) for enclosed mountings in armored vehicle cupolas and defensive positions.

 Oborin Ob-14.5 (Russian:  Об- 14.5)  - 14.5x144mm gas-operated rotary cannon (Gatling gun) with three barrels, similar to the older American 12.7x99mm GAU-19. Usually used as an anti-aircraft weapon, as on the turret of the T-110 Main Battle Tank, but is also sometimes found in defensive positions, helicopter door guns or mounted on BRDM armored cars to provide additional point-defense / anti-aircraft firepower. Is also mounted in a remote-control cradle on the Ural-8243 truck.

RPG-72 (Russian: РПГ-72 ) - Shoulder-fired anti-tank weapon system. More powerful, re-usable, non-disposable supplement to the RPG-60 for use by dedicated anti-tank troops. Loads a fire-and-forget, self-guiding 105mm anti-armor missile. Despite the name RPG, for Rocket-propelled Grenade, the RPG-72 launches a jet-powered missile. The name RPG is retained because the RPG-72 is rifled and its ATGMs are loaded in sabbots with a small rocket motor. This rocket propels the missile from the barrel before its sabbot disintegrates and the missile's own propulsion activates. Can be used to engage Armored Fighting Vehicles as well as helicopters.

9M245 "Valtorna" (Russian: 9M245 «валторна») - Heavier anti-tank guided missile system designed to be easily portable, providing integral heavy armor-busting ability to infantry units. The name "Valtorna" is Russian for "French Horn". Has dual fire-and-forget self-guidance / laser-riding SACLOS guidance systems. Designed to be crewed and operated by a team of two men; fires 152mm HEAT guided missiles and can also load thermobaric warheads. Typically used to engage enemy Armored Fighting Vehicles and helicopters.

 SV-23 (Russian:  СВ-23) - Heavy anti-materiel / sniper system loaded with 23mm tungsten-core armor piercing ammunition for use by Special Forces and snipers. Has an extremely powerful electronic multi-spectral scope and operates off of a straight-pull bolt action mechanism.

MPN-23 (Russian: МПН-23) - Six-chamber 23mm revolver cannon used by the Soviet Military as a sort of heavy machine gun on vehicles and tripod crew-served emplacements. Rate of fire 1500-1800 rpm.

PKN-14.5 (Russian: КПН-14.5 ')' - 14.5x144mm heavy machine gun; scaled-down version of the MPN-23. Used primarily when the Ob-14.5 Gatling gun would be unsuitable, such as on the BRDM-8 and BTR-12.

 AGS-85 (Russian:  АГС-85 ) - 85mm crew-served automatic grenade launcher / mortar. Also found mounted on many different Soviet vehicles.