| ASM-DT Underwater Assault Rifle | |
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| Type | Underwater Assault rifle |
| Place of origin |  Soviet Union and Russian Federation |
| Service history | |
| In service | 2000s |
| Used by | See above. Unconfirmed reports of marketing to Western special operations units. |
| Wars | unclear due to secrecy |
| Production history | |
| Designer | Prof. Yuri Danilov |
| Designed | 1990s |
The ASM-DT is a Russian folding-stock underwater firearm. It emerged in the 1990s.
Contents |
The introduction of the APS Underwater Assault Rifle solved the problem of how frogmen guarding a naval base could be armed, but there remained the problem of how to arm naval Spetsnaz combat frogmen when they were deployed on assault missions. These forces required a weapon able to provide them with a level of firepower that would be the same whether they were on the surface or underwater. The APS was of little use out of water, because under those conditions it was inaccurate, had an effective range of only 100 meters, and the gun's lifetime was greatly reduced (from 2000 shots underwater to 180 above).
For this reason, the naval Spetsnaz forces often fell back on using the SPP-1 pistol for underwater fighting, and the AK-74 rifle for combat out of water. The commandos thought that this arrangement was unsatisfactory, and there continued to be demand for a new weapon, an underwater automatic rifle that would be as effective as an APS underwater and an AK-74 out of water.
To meet this requirement, it had to be considered that a long smoothbore barrel was best for it to fire underwater. But, of course, the paradox was that a conventional type of projectile fired from a rifled barrel was best for firing out of water. To solve this, the rifle had to fire one kind of ammunition underwater and another kind out of water. This was achieved by having two different ammunition types and two feed slots with one behind the other, able to accept two different magazines at the same time. The design was done in 1991, at the Artillery Engineering Institute in Tula, Russia, where Professor Yuriy Danilov was the rifle's project engineer. Danilov designed the ASM-DT to fire both 5.45 x 39 mm 7N6 -- a version of the standard Soviet ammunition, adapted to the caliber of the ASM-DT -- and also 5.45 x 39 mm MGTS, underwater ammunition like that of the existing APS. The ASM-DT uses the same magazines as the APS while under water, and AK-74 magazines above water. The magazine release shifts forward when using AK-74 magazines, and the gas system automatically adjusts for firing out of water. To enable accurate shooting when outside of water, the barrel is rifled, however it has shallow grooves running along its length, which expel some gases ahead of the bullet and blow any water out of the barrel. This prevents the barrel from bursting if the rifle should need to be taken to the surface quickly, and fired outside of water without being drained first. In addition, the rifle can be equipped with a GP-25 grenade launcher, a bayonet, or a suppressor.
The Russian Federation accepted the ASM-DT into service in the year 2000.
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