The Kord-12.7 mm

heavy machine gun A heavy machine gun (HMG) is significantly larger than light machine gun, light, medium machine gun, medium or general-purpose machine guns. HMGs are typically too heavy to be man-portable (carried by one person) and require weapon mount, mountin ...

is a Russian design that entered service in 1998 replacing the older

NSV machine gun The NSV (Russian НСВ Никитина-Соколова-Волкова), also known as the «Utyos» (Project: ''Lonely Cliff''), is a 12.7mm caliber heavy machine gun of Soviet origin, named after the designers, G. I. Nikitin (Г. И. Ник� ...

. Externally the weapon resembles the NSV; however, the internal mechanism has been extensively reworked, changing from a horizontally pivoting breech block to a rotating bolt design. Additionally the gas system has been changed and the muzzle baffle redesigned. These changes give the weapon reduced

recoil Recoil (often called knockback, kickback or simply kick) is the rearward thrust generated when a gun is being discharged. In technical terms, the recoil is a result of conservation of momentum, as according to Newton's third law the force requ ...

compared with the NSV, allowing greater accuracy during sustained fire.

Development

The catalyst for the development of the weapon was a complete lack of any heavy machine guns in construction at that time in the Russian Federation. Prior to the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the weapon that had functioned as the heavy machine gun was the NSV, or "Utes" or "Utjos" ("утёс", meaning ''one lonely cliff'' in Russian, this name was its designation during development) machine gun. The main production centre for the NSV was located in what is now

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

. The Russian Degtyarev bureau was given the job of producing an updated version of the weapon chambered in the 12.7×108mm cartridge, which could be used for support, mounted on vehicles or in an anti-aircraft capacity. All variants of the weapon are also available chambered in the .50 BMG (12.7×99mm NATO) cartridge for export sales. Interpolitex 2011 (405-2)

The weapon employs new construction, and consequently is significantly lighter than its predecessor. The firing mechanism is very rugged, and is capable of a greater rate of fire and significantly less recoil. Because a new barrel made of a high-tech

alloy An alloy is a mixture of chemical elements of which at least one is a metal. Unlike chemical compounds with metallic bases, an alloy will retain all the properties of a metal in the resulting material, such as electrical conductivity, ductility, ...

minimizes distortion and drop, accuracy has increased tremendously over previous Soviet machine guns. Unlike its predecessor, it may be fired from a

bipod A bipod is a V-shaped portable attachment that helps support and steady a device, usually a weapon such as a long gun or a mortar. The term comes from the Latin prefix ''bi-'' and Greek root ''pod'', meaning "two" and "foot" respectively. Bipod ...

; a rather unusual feature for 12.7 mm/.50 caliber heavy machine guns. Its relatively light weight and lesser recoil allows stronger soldiers to move the gun around without assistance.

Variants

* 6P49: Baseline variant for vehicle mounting. * 6P50: Basic infantry version. * 6P50-1 (6P57): 6T19 Bipod-mounted infantry version. Bipod provides ±15° range of traverse. * 6P50-2 (6P58): Infantry variant. * 6P50-3 (6P59): Infantry version on a 6U16 multipurpose mount. Casing ejection is to the right side. * 6P51: Co-axial version with left-hand feed system and forward casing ejection.

Remote weapon stations

* 6C21 is a Russian

remote weapon station A remote controlled weapon station (RCWS), or remote weapon station (RWS), also known as a remote weapon system (RWS), is a remotely operated weaponized system often equipped with fire-control system for light and medium- caliber weapons which c ...

using Kord machine gun or PKMT machine gun.

Combat history

The Kord machine gun was used by the Russian forces in 1999–2000 during the

Second Chechen war The Second Chechen War (russian: Втора́я чече́нская война́, ) took place in Chechnya and the border regions of the North Caucasus between the Russia, Russian Federation and the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, from Augus ...

and in 2008 during the

Russo-Georgian War The 2008 Russo-Georgian WarThe war is known by a variety of other names, including Five-Day War, August War and Russian invasion of Georgia. was a war between Georgia, on one side, and Russia and the Russian-backed self-proclaimed republics of Sou ...

. It later saw action in the

Russo-Ukrainian War The Russo-Ukrainian War; uk, російсько-українська війна, rosiisko-ukrainska viina. has been ongoing between Russia (alongside Russian separatist forces in Donbas, Russian separatists in Ukraine) and Ukraine since Feb ...

and in the Syrian Civil War. 6P67, 6P68, 6P69 versions entered service in 2019.

Users

* : for purposes of NSV replacement testing. * * * * : on

T-90S The T-90 is a third-generation Russian main battle tank. It uses a 125mm 2A46 smoothbore main gun, the 1A45T fire-control system, an upgraded engine, and gunner's thermal sight. Standard protective measures include a blend of steel and compos ...

tank

References

External links

V.A. Degtyarev Plant – official site

Image of Kord on Tripod

{{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 12.7×108 mm machine guns Degtyarev Plant products Gas-operated firearms Heavy machine guns of Russia Post–Cold War weapons of Russia Weapons and ammunition introduced in 1998