The Kord-12.7 mm

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 ...

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

NSV machine gun The NSV ''Utyos'' ( cyrl, НСВ, initialism for ; ), is a Soviet heavy machine gun chambered in 12.7×108mm. It is named after the designers, G. I. Nikitin, Y. М. Sokolov and V. I. Volkov. It was designed to replace the DShK machine gun and w ...

. 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, for 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 "Utyos" ("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 landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

. 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. 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 in most cases at least one is a metal, metallic element, although it is also sometimes used for mixtures of elements; herein only metallic alloys are described. Metallic alloys often have prop ...

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 and Greek root , meaning "two" and "foot" respectively. Bipods are design ...

; 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): Mounted on boats, sea-going ships, and stationary objects 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), remotely operated weapon system (ROWS), or remote weapon system (RWS), is a remotely operated light or medium-caliber weapon system, often equipped with a fire-control system, that can be installed on Co ...

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 Names The Second Chechen War is also known as the Second Chechen Campaign () or the Second Russian Invasion of Chechnya from the Chechens, Chechen insurgents' point of view.Федеральный закон № 5-ФЗ от 12 января 19 ...

and in 2008 during the

Russo-Georgian War The August 2008 Russo-Georgian War, also known as the Russian invasion of Georgia,Occasionally, the war is also referred to by other names, such as the Five-Day War and August War. was a war waged against Georgia by the Russian Federation and the ...

. It later saw action in the

Russo-Ukrainian War The Russo-Ukrainian War began in February 2014 and is ongoing. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia Russian occupation of Crimea, occupied and Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, annexed Crimea from Ukraine. It then ...

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 developed from, and designed to replace the T-72. It uses a 125mm 2A46 smoothbore main gun, the 1A45T fire-control system, an upgraded engine, and gunner's thermal sight. Standard p ...

tank * : Multiple rifles were captured by the Ukrainian armed forces and pressed into service as a complement to the PKM and M249 machine gun.

Gallery

File:TankExercise2020-10.jpg, 6P49 File:12,7-мм пулемет Корд - Технологии в машиностроении-2010 01.jpg, 6P57 File:12,7 мм пулемет 6П60 на пехотном станке 6Т20 - Технологии в машиностроении-2010 01.jpg, 6P60

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 .50 BMG 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