« Responder #921 em: Janeiro 31, 2017, 03:43:05 pm »
http://www.popularmechanics.com/military/weapons/a18187/here-is-the-soviet-unions-secret-space-cannon/The early Soviet space station project code-named Almaz ("diamond") became the first real candidate for defensive space weaponry. The habitable outpost was intended almost exclusively for military purposes, starting with reconnaissance. Along with some state-of-the-art spy equipment, such as cameras and radar, Almaz would carry the cannon in its arsenal.
The weapon's development was assigned to the Moscow-based KB Tochmash design bureau led by Aleksandr Nudelman, whose engineers had distinguished themselves with many breakthroughs in the field of aviation weaponry since World War II. For this project, Nudelman's team developed a 14.5-millimeter rapid-fire cannon that reportedly could hit targets as far as two miles away. Depending who you ask, the 37-lb. weapon could fire from 950 to 5,000 shots per minute, blasting 200-gram shells at a velocity of 690 meters per second (1,500 miles per hour). According to veterans of the Almaz project, the space cannon successfully pierced a metal gasoline canister from a mile away during its ground tests.
The physics of space stations limited the weapon, though. Although cosmonauts could fire using an optical sight in their cockpit, they had to turn the entire 20-ton station to point the cannon toward its target.
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