The NSV (Russian НСВ Никитина-Соколова-Волкова), also known as the «Utyos» (Project: ''Lonely Cliff''), is a
12.7mm caliber heavy machine gun
A heavy machine gun (HMG) is significantly larger than light, medium or general-purpose machine guns. HMGs are typically too heavy to be man-portable (carried by one person) and require mounting onto a weapons platform to be operably stable or ...
of
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
origin, named after the designers, G. I. Nikitin (Г. И. Никитин), Y. S. Sokolov (Ю. М. Соколов) and V. I. Volkov (В. И. Волков). It was designed to replace the
DShK
The DShK 1938 (Cyrillic: ДШК, for russian: Дегтярёва-Шпагина Крупнокалиберный, Degtyaryova-Shpagina Krupnokaliberny, links=no, "Degtyaryov-Shpagin large-calibre") is a Soviet heavy machine gun with a V-shaped but ...
machine gun and was adopted by the
Soviet Army
uk, Радянська армія
, image = File:Communist star with golden border and red rims.svg
, alt =
, caption = Emblem of the Soviet Army
, start_date ...
in 1971. It is no longer being produced in Russia; the
manufacturing license for the NSV ended up in
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 ...
after the
break-up of the Soviet Union
The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...
. The NSV has been manufactured in Bulgaria, India, Poland and Yugoslavia under license.
The NSV weighs , has a rate of fire of 700–800 rounds per minute, and an effective range from to against airborne and ground targets, respectively. A loaded ammunition belt with 50 rounds weighs .
The NSVT version is used on the
T-72
The T-72 is a family of Soviet/Russian main battle tanks that entered production in 1969. The T-72 was a development of the T-64, which was troubled by high costs and its reliance on immature developmental technology. About 25,000 T-72 tanks h ...
,
T-64
The T-64 is a Soviet tank manufactured in Kharkiv, and designed by Kharkiv Morozov Machine Building Design Bureau. The tank was introduced in the early 1960s. It was a more advanced counterpart to the T-62: the T-64 served in tank divisions, whil ...
and
T-80
The T-80 is a main battle tank (MBT) that was designed and manufactured in the former Soviet Union and manufactured in Russia. The T-80 is based on the T-64, while incorporating features from the later T-72. The chief designer of the T-80 was S ...
tanks.
The new
Kord machine gun has replaced worn-out NSVs in some countries.
History
The
Soviet Army
uk, Радянська армія
, image = File:Communist star with golden border and red rims.svg
, alt =
, caption = Emblem of the Soviet Army
, start_date ...
began looking for a new heavy machine gun to replace its older
SGM SGM, or sgm, may refer to:
Science
* Second Generation Multiplex DNA profiling system - also see SGM+
* Scanning gate microscopy
* Spherical Grating Monochromator beamline of Canadian Light Source
* Semi-global matching algorithm in stereo i ...
and
DShK
The DShK 1938 (Cyrillic: ДШК, for russian: Дегтярёва-Шпагина Крупнокалиберный, Degtyaryova-Shpagina Krupnokaliberny, links=no, "Degtyaryov-Shpagin large-calibre") is a Soviet heavy machine gun with a V-shaped but ...
machine guns in the early 1950s. The Soviet Army liked the idea behind the German
MG 42
The MG 42 (shortened from German: ''Maschinengewehr 42'', or "machine gun 42") is a German recoil-operated air-cooled general-purpose machine gun used extensively by the Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS during the second half of World War II. Enter ...
; a versatile weapon used on a variety of mounts to perform many different roles. Two Soviet weapon designers were asked to design one weapon each utilizing the same principle.
Testing approved
Mikhail Kalashnikov
Mikhail Timofeyevich Kalashnikov ( rus, Михаи́л Тимофе́евич Кала́шников, p=kɐˈlaʂnʲɪkəf; 10 November 1919 – 23 December 2013) was a Soviet and Russian lieutenant general, inventor, military engineer, writer, ...
's solution; it was found to be more reliable and cheaper to manufacture than the design of Grigory Nikitin and Yuri Sokolov. Kalashnikov's machine gun became the new standard machine gun, and was named
PK.
Nikitin's and Sokolov's design was however not forgotten. It was developed into the heavy NSV machine gun about 10 years later and selected in 1969 as the successor to the
DShK/DShKM machine gun. It was accepted in service by the Soviet Army in 1971. The machine gun was also license-manufactured in
Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...
, India,
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label= Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavij ...
and Poland. The Yugoslavian version of the NSVT is called the
M87.
Production of the NSV has ended in Russia, and it is currently being replaced by the
Kord heavy machine gun. The
Russian Army
The Russian Ground Forces (russian: Сухопутные войска �ВSukhoputnyye voyska V}), also known as the Russian Army (, ), are the land forces of the Russian Armed Forces.
The primary responsibilities of the Russian Ground Force ...
needed a more accurate heavy machine gun, and it has also been increasingly difficult to get hold of spare parts. NSV production was located in
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inva ...
and in
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 ...
and was disrupted by the end of the Soviet Union.
Use in Finland
The NSV is called 12,7 Itkk 96 or ''12,7 ilmatorjuntakonekivääri 96'' (12,7 anti-aircraft machine gun 96) in Finland. It is often used as a vehicle-mounted machine gun, and can be seen on the
Pasi armoured personnel carrier, the
Nasu transport vehicle and the
Leopard 2
The Leopard 2 is a 3rd generation main battle tank originally developed by Krauss-Maffei in the 1970s for the West German army. The tank first entered service in 1979 and succeeded the earlier Leopard 1 as the main battle tank of the West Ger ...
R tank.
Due to its high rate of fire, the NSV is intended to be used as a close-range anti-aircraft weapon against
helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attribu ...
s,
UAVs and
aircraft
An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to flight, fly by gaining support from the Atmosphere of Earth, air. It counters the force of gravity by using either Buoyancy, static lift or by using the Lift (force), dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in ...
. In dismounted ground combat it is placed on a special mount.
The
Finnish Navy
The Finnish Navy ( fi, Merivoimat, sv, Marinen) is one of the branches of the Finnish Defence Forces. The navy employs 2,300 people and about 4,300 conscripts are trained each year. Finnish Navy vessels are given the ship prefix "FNS", short f ...
also uses the NSV in the anti-aircraft role, where it complements other unguided anti-aircraft weapons like the
23 ITK 95,
Bofors 40 Mk3 or
Bofors 57 Mk2 and Mk3.
Variants
* NSVS-12.7 (Russian > ''Nikitina-Sokolova-Volkova Stankovy'' 12.7 = "NSV-designed mounted 12.7mm machinegun"): Used on tripod mount.
* NSVT-12.7 (Russian > ''Nikitina-Sokolova-Volkova Tankovy'' 12.7 = "NSV-designed coaxial 12.7mm machinegun"): Used on T-72 and T-80 main battle tanks.
* 12.7 Itkk 96: Finnish designation. Guns acquired from Soviet Union, Russia and Germany (Ex-
Nationale Volksarmee
The National People's Army (german: Nationale Volksarmee, ; NVA ) were the armed forces of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) from 1956 to 1990.
The NVA was organized into four branches: the (Ground Forces), the (Navy), the (Air Force) an ...
).
* M87 NSVT: Serbian license built version by
Zastava Arms
Zastava Arms ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Застава oружје, Zastava oružje) is a Serbian manufacturer of firearms and artillery, based in Kragujevac, Serbia. It was founded in 1853 when it cast its first cannon. It is the leading producer of firear ...
. The M87 has seen use with the armies of the former
Yugoslav states.
* NSW: Polish version, license built NSV.
* WKM-B: Polish version adapted for
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two N ...
-standard
.50 BMG ammunition.
* KT-12.7: Ukrainian version.
* MG-U: Bulgarian version
Users
* : Produced by Arsenal
*
*
*
*
[''Jane's Armour and Artillery'', Volume 23, p. 450]
*
* : Manufactured NSVT at
Ordnance Factory Tiruchirappalli of the
Ordnance Factories Board
Ordnance Factory Board (OFB), consisting of the Indian Ordnance Factories, now known as Directorate of Ordnance (Coordination & Services) was an organisation, under the Department of Defence Production (DDP) of Ministry of Defence (MoD), Gove ...
.
*
*
* : Locally produced by
Western Kazakhstan Machine-Building Company
Western may refer to:
Places
* Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
*Western, New York, a town in the US
*Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
* Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
* Western world, countries that ...
(ZKMK)
* : Mounted and used on M-84 tanks
*
* :Used by
UNGERIN
The Marine Assault Team (MAST) ( ms, Unit Gempur Marin, Jawi: اونيت ڬمڤور مارين), formally known as the UNGERIN is a maritime counter terrorism and tactical unit of the Royal Malaysia Police's Marine Operations Force. Fully ope ...
* : Used by
Namibian Marine Corps
*
* : Manufactured at
ZM Tarnów as NSW. Poland also developed their own machine gun based on NSV and chambered to
.50 BMG NATO round, known as WKM-B.
*
* : Manufactured at
Zastava Arms
Zastava Arms ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Застава oружје, Zastava oružje) is a Serbian manufacturer of firearms and artillery, based in Kragujevac, Serbia. It was founded in 1853 when it cast its first cannon. It is the leading producer of firear ...
. Copies were produced as the
M02 Coyote
*
* : Mounted and used on
T-80
The T-80 is a main battle tank (MBT) that was designed and manufactured in the former Soviet Union and manufactured in Russia. The T-80 is based on the T-64, while incorporating features from the later T-72. The chief designer of the T-80 was S ...
U tanks.
*
[NSV-12,7 'Utes'](_blank)
world.guns.ru
*
*
* : Produced locally by
Z111 Factory.
* : Produced locally by Zastava Arms.
See also
*
List of firearms
This is an extensive list of small arms—including pistols, revolvers, submachine guns, shotguns, battle rifles, assault rifles, sniper rifles, machine guns, personal defense weapons, carbines, designated marksman rifles, flamethrowers, multipl ...
*
List of Russian weaponry
References
*
{{Reflist, 2
12.7×108 mm machine guns
.50 BMG machine guns
Machine guns of the Soviet Union
Heavy machine guns of Russia
TsKIB SOO products
Weapons and ammunition introduced in 1971