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Chinese scientists build ‘recoilless AK-47’ that can be used by almost any drone

Umito November 24, 2024

An automatic rifle specially designed for drones was developed by the Chinese scientistsmarking a huge step forward in unmanned warfare technology.

The firearm uses the same 7.62 mm caliber bullet as the famous AK-47, while the bullet speed can reach 740 to 900 meters per second (2,427 to 2,952 feet per second), at 10 meters (33 feet) from the muzzle, which corresponds to the power of the AK-47.

But the main innovation that differentiates this weapon is its almost non-existent recoil. Recoil is as smooth as typing on a keyboard.

This means that even a consumer drone – or a toy robot dog – can wield this weapon and fire at will, according to scientists and engineers involved in the project.

Before that, these scenes were reserved for cinema. On real battlefields, like in Ukrainesmall drones were limited to dropping grenades or mortar shells. Even specialized unmanned weapons platforms or heavily modified drones struggle to handle machine gun recoil, compromising their firing accuracy and versatility.

Now, the new rifle developed by a team led by Professor Liu Pengzhan of the School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering at North China University offers a solution to these challenges.

The team discovered that drilling a strategically placed hole in the rear of the gun barrel allowed the gas shock wave generated by the gunpowder explosion to escape. Then, to maintain the initial speed of the bullet, Liu and his colleagues designed a new bullet with a high-strength membrane sealed on the back and an electromagnetic induction chip inside.