Aug 1937

The Department of Mechanization and Motorization of the Commission for Modernization of the Russian Army has issued guidelines for improvements of the army's equipment in the field.

Aircraft

Given the relative importance that aircraft support has played in recent campaigns, Army planners have long desired for an aircraft designed for supporting ground offensives. While dedicated fighters have been able to strafe enemy positions, the ability to drop small bombs would be useful in disrupting enemy troop formations without having to call in dedicated bombers. The latest design is the Shturmovik-Tandem, also called the Sh-Tandem. Powered by a Tumansky M-87 930hp engine, the aircraft is capable of a cruising speed of 488 km/h. As the name suggests it has a crew of two, a pilot and rear gunner. The aircraft is equipped with 5 7.62mm ShKAS machine guns (4 wing mounted and 1 turret mounted) for strafing and carries 200kg of bombs under-wing.

Artillery

The Army has been relatively disappointed by the performance of its artillery support companies in the prosecution of recent campaigns. Therefore, it has called for the improvement of existing artillery designs to international standards [m] Interwar artillery tech [/m]. These improvements will improve the firing effectiveness and accuracy in a way that can be retrofitted onto existing artillery in the field.

Infantry Support Equipment

The Army has also noted that its soldiers are equipped with relatively primitive support weapons (machine guns, grenades, etc), most dating back to the Weltkrieg. Improved designs will help Russian soldiers to be more effective in the field.

Machine Gun: Maxim–Tokarev

Our machine guns are in need of improvement based on the lessons of the Weltkrieg and our recent conflicts. Based on the Maxim M1910 that was adopted before the Weltkrieg, the new Maxim–Tokarev utilizes the same 7.62x54R cartridge. The water jacket of the Maxim M1910 has been discarded and replaced by a thin perforated steel jacket. The barrel has been shortened and lightened from 2.1 kg to 1.7 kg. A mechanism for changing the barrel in field conditions is now provided. The spade grips were replaced with a rifle-type stock and the thumb-trigger was replaced by a rifle-type trigger. A folding bipod with tubular legs is attached to the barrel jacket. The rate of fire of the new machine gun is 600 rounds/min, an improvement from the 300 rounds/min of the M1910.

Grenade: Dyakonov grenade launcher

Grenade launcher attachment for Mosin-Nagant rifle. It launches a 40.5mm grenade. There are five grenade types created for this laucher:

• Fragmentation

• Daylight Rifle Flare (Signaling)

• Night Action Rifle Flare

• Smoke Grenade

• High Explosive Armor Piercing