In the past, the development of the rocket and space industry was directly related to military projects. Considering the threats of the future, the superpowers were seriously preparing to conduct battles in orbits and even created special weapons for this. In the mid-seventies, the USSR launched the Almaz military space station into orbit, on board of which was the Shield-1 artillery installation - the first and only one of its kind.
Secret project
According to known data, weapons for the space station were developed in the early seventies and tested in 1974-75. However, for a long time after that, the projects "Almaz" and "Shield-1" remained secret. Later, in the nineties, separate information began to appear, but they allowed only the most general picture to be drawn.
By now, new information has appeared. Moreover, even a prototype (or model) of an artillery mount was shown. However, the available data are still incomplete and sometimes contradict each other. Nevertheless, open information already allows the presentation of the goals, progress and results of the project.
It is known that the development of the Shield-1 product was carried out at OKB-16 (now KB Tochmash) under the leadership of A. E. Nudelman. The goal of the project was to create a special artillery installation suitable for use on spacecraft.
At that time, new military spacecraft were being created, and the customer was seriously afraid of opposition from a potential enemy. Using their spacecraft, the enemy could disable or damage Soviet satellites or orbital stations. To protect against such a threat, it was proposed to use some kind of weapons. First of all, the idea of installing a small-caliber automatic cannon was worked out. Then it was proposed to create a self-defense missile system.
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Lack of information
For a long time, only the very fact of creating a cannon for spacecraft was known. It was also known that this system had a caliber of 23 mm and was based on one of the existing guns. This means that as part of "Shield-1" could be used products NR-23 or R-23 developed by OKB-16.
In October 2015, the Zvezda TV channel made a great gift to all lovers of space technology and artillery. In the next issue of the Military Acceptance program, for the first time, they showed an experimental (or mock-up) sample of an artillery system for the Almaz series spacecraft. In addition, some design details were revealed in the transmission.
Space cannon from the Tochmash Design Bureau.
However, the surprise from the "Military Acceptance" was ambiguous. The program answered some questions, but left new ones. The announced data on the name, ammunition, design, etc. did not correspond to the known data on domestic weapons. At the same time, the available amount of information on the topic has seriously increased.
Riddles from Zvezda
In the TV program, the space gun was designated as R-23M "Kartech". However, in the available literature under this name, a modification of the R-23 aircraft cannon appears for a special shot with ready-made striking elements - buckshot. However, in the case of the TV program, the product name appears to have been sourced directly from the developer.
The declared characteristics of the space system are curious. The TV program stated that it had a caliber of 14.5 mm and showed a rate of fire of 5000 rds / min. All this is not at all similar to the characteristics of the R-23, if it was not a matter of deep modernization.
Together with the cannon, ammunition strips were demonstrated. It was argued that a unitary telescopic cartridge with a fully recessed projectile was created for the space gun, similar to the 23x260 mm product for the R-23 gun. However, the cartridges shown were noticeably smaller than 23 mm rounds. At the same time, they were clearly intended for the weapon on display, as evidenced by the dimensions of the cartridge box and the feed path.
The gun is on the frame, the cartridge box is removed.
The description of the product in the TV show raises questions, but the demonstration of the real product is worthy of praise and gratitude. Before "Military Acceptance", the exact shape of the space weapon remained unknown.
Screen product
Consider the installation shown by Zvezda, both as a whole and its individual components. Fortunately, the alleged Shield-1 product was shown fully assembled and partially disassembled, allowing for a better study of it.
The artillery mount includes several main components. This is the automatic gun itself, the frame for its mounting and the means for working with the ammunition. The layout of the installation is interesting. The frame with the gun is placed at the bottom, and a box of complex shape is installed on top of them, containing the cartridge strip. A sleeve extends from the side of the box, which feeds the tape to the weapon. On the left side of the gun, there is a rigid semicircular guide for the tape. On the right is a branch pipe for ejection of liners forward.
Cartridge tape for the gun.
Recall that the basic R-23 was an automatic revolving cannon with three movable chambers. The rotating block of chambers was located at the rear of the receiver, and the tape receiver was placed above the breech of the barrel. The automation used a system of three gas engines operating in series. Special ammunition of the telescopic type was fed into the chamber with a shift back; the sleeve was thrown forward. Ignition was carried out using an electric trigger. A special scheme made it possible to reduce the dimensions and weight of the gun while obtaining high combat characteristics.
Apparently, the museum's space gun really had a caliber of 14.5 mm. In this case, in essence, it was a large-caliber machine gun based on the R-23 gun. The main design solutions were retained, but the product was scaled for a caliber of 14.5 mm - and at the same time a telescopic cartridge was created similar to the existing 23x260 mm. Such a design could really show a rate of fire at the level of 5 thousand rds / min.
According to known data, the Shchit-1 gun mount was to be rigidly attached to the carrier spacecraft. Weapon guidance was carried out by maneuvers and turning the entire ship. It was proposed to compensate the recoil of the weapon with shunting engines. Control was carried out using a separate control panel at the central post of the carrier ship.
Cannon in orbit
The Shield-1 product was intended for the Almaz station. The only prototype of such an installation was mounted at the Almaz-2 station, also known as Salyut-3. The launch of this station took place on June 26, 1974. A few days later, the Soyuz spacecraft departed for Almaz-2 with a crew of P. R. Popovich and Yu. P. Artyukhin.
Cartridges of a special design, you can see the muzzle of the cases with bullets inside.
For a number of reasons, the gun mount was not tested with the crew. The shooting was carried out only on January 25, 1975 - and directly in front of the arch of "Salyut-3" from orbit. After issuing a braking impulse, the installation, on command from the ground, fired several shots. Over the next few minutes, the prototype burned out in the dense layers of the atmosphere along with the carrier.
Unarmed space
The first and last tests of the Shchit-1 installation took place in 1975. This development did not receive further development. By this time, the Shield-2 project was launched, the purpose of which was to create a self-defense system based on a space-to-space guided missile. As far as is known, this complex was not brought to real tests.
Over time, the military revised their plans for the use of outer space and, among other things, abandoned spacecraft armament. Further work on guns or missiles for satellites and stations was canceled. As a result, the Shchit-1 / R-23M / Kartech installation remained the only one of its kind. To date, there are no weapons in orbit. Even pistols are excluded from the NAZ astronauts.
Almost 45 years have passed since the first and last tests of the space gun. Until now, the complete and accurate history of the Shield-1 project is not available in the public domain, which is why it has to be collected bit by bit, evaluating various data and sifting out some of them. It remains to be hoped that in the future, the domestic rocket and space and artillery industries will nevertheless talk about one of the most remarkable projects and answer the remaining questions. Project "Shield-1" and other bold developments are too interesting and important for history to be forgotten.
Author: Ryabov Kirill