Шрапнель и картечь

2005-09-23T10:56:55Z

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Soviet projectile designation system

2005-09-23T10:55:41Z

Each Soviet projectile has its unique designation. This designation looks like:

AA-XXXBB

where:
AA means Initial Literal Index (ILI) it defines type of a projectile;
XXX means Main Digital Index (MDI), it defines calibre of a projectile;
BB means Optional Literal Index (OLI), it shows additional capabilities/features of a projectile.

Table 1. Indexes of the Soviet projectiles
Index	Russian term	English equivalent
Initial Literal Index (ILI)
F	fugasniy	high explosive
G	betonoboiniy	concrete-piercing
O	oskolochniy	fragmentation
OF	oskolochno-fugasniy	high explosive fragmentation
OH	oskolochno-khimicheskiy	chemical fragmentation
B	broneboiniy	armor-piercing (old)
BR	broneboiniy	armor-piercing (new)
BP	broneboiniy prozhigaushiy (WWII term)	shaped-charge or HEAT
BK	broneboiniy kumulyativniy (later term)	shaped-charge or HEAT
Sh	shrapnel'	shrapnel
She	kartech'	canister
Z	zazhigatelniy	incendiary
D	dymovoy	smoke
S	osvetitelniy	illumination
Optional Literal Index (OLI)
P	podkaliberniy	HVAP
SP	sploshnoy	solid
M	modernizirovaniy	modernized

All other OLIs aren't common for all types of projectiles and used to describe features of a certain projectile.

Normally, Soviet armor-piersing rounds are APHE, i.e. with some explosive charge to increase penetration power. If there is no explosive charge, such round is always desingnated "solid" SP. Therefore, the BR-350 means 76-mm armor-piercing high explosive round, BR-350SP means 76-mm armor-piercing solid round, OF-350 means high explosive fragmentation round.

According to the Soviet nomenclature, each tandem calibre+bore_length has its unique MDI. For example, 350, 353 and 354 are refer to the 76-mm calibre. The table below is my attempt to systematize these figures:

Table 2. Indexes of the Soviet projectiles
Calibre	The projectile's MDI	The shell's MDI
20 mm	111	111
25 mm	240	240
37 mm	167	167
45 mm	240, 241, 242	240, 241, 243
57 mm	271	271
76.2 mm	350, 354, 355, 361, 363	353, 354, 355, 361, 363
85 mm	365, 367	365, 367
100 mm	412	412
106.7 mm	420, 422	-
121.92 mm	462, 471	-
127 mm	4891	-
152.4 mm	501, 521, 530, 531, 533, 540, 542, 550, 551	-
180 mm	620, 621, 625	-
210 mm	643	-
280 mm	674	-
305 mm	724	-

To describe a cartridge-loading shell, the "U" letter used before the ILI. It means "unitarniy" (cartridge-loading ammo). For example: UBR-354P refers to the 76-mm cartridge-loading shell with the BR-350P HVAP projectile. The same is for separate loading ammo but the "V" letter using instead: VBR-471. The "V" letter means "vystrel" (charge).

Field Artillery

Шрапнель и картечь

Soviet projectile designation system