Volkov Yartsev VYa-23
Type	aircraft autocannon
Place of origin	Soviet Union
Service history
In service	1941–?
Used by	Soviet Union
Wars	World War II
Production history
Designer	A.A. Volkov and S.A.Yartsev
Designed	1940–41
Number built	64,655
Specifications
Weight	66 m (217 ft)
Length	2.15 metres (7 ft 1 in)
Barrel length	1.66 metres (5 ft 5 in)
Caliber	23 mm (1 in)
Rate of fire	550–650 rounds/min
Muzzle velocity	905 m/s (2,969 ft/s)

Volkov-Yartsev VYa-23 (Волков-Ярцев ВЯ-23) is a 23 mm (0.91 in) autocannon used on Soviet aircraft during World War II.

Contents 1 Development 2 Description 3 References 4 Related content

[edit] Development

In 1940, A.A. Volkov and S.A.Yartsev created an autocannon called TKB-201 for the new 23 mm round. It was intended to be the primary weapon of the Ilyushin Il-2 ground attack aircraft. Due to unavailability of Il-2, the first airborne testing was performed using a German Messerschmitt Bf 110 heavy fighter. After testing on Il-2 in 1941, TKB-201 was accepted into service as VYa-23. A total of 64,655 VYa-23 were built.

[edit] Description

The VYa-23 is a gas-operated belt-fed autocannon with a high rate of fire for the caliber. Its main disadvantages are powerful recoil and very abrupt functioning of the firing and reloading mechanisms which decreased service life and often caused jamming that could not be fixed in mid-air. The 23 mm (0.9 in) ammunition consisted of fragmentation-incendiary, fragmentation-incendiary-tracer, and armor piercing-incendiary rounds. The rounds weighed 200 g (7 oz) and fragmentation rounds contained 10 g (0.35 oz) of explosive material, both characteristics about twice greater than in 20 mm ammunition used by the ShVAK and Berezin B-20 cannons. The armor-piercing round could penetrate 25 mm (1 in) of armor at 400 m (1,300 ft). In spite of the large round and heavy recoil, VYa-23 proved to be a disappointment in its intended anti-tank role. Light German tanks could be defeated from the side or rear only, with front armor of all tanks impervious. Medium tanks could be defeated if hit into the top of the turret or the engine compartment from under 400 m (1,300 ft) in a greater than 40-degree dive -- a very difficult maneuvre in Il-2 even under the most ideal conditions compounded by the difficulty of aiming at a small target.

[edit] References

• Широкоград А.Б. (2001) История авиационного вооружения Харвест (Shirokograd A.B. (2001) Istorya aviatsionnogo vooruzhenia Harvest. ISBN 985-433-695-6) (History of aircraft armament)
• Koll, Christian (2009). Soviet Cannon - A Comprehensive Study of Soviet Arms and Ammunition in Calibres 12.7mm to 57mm. Austria: Koll. p. 181. ISBN 978-3-200-01445-9. http://www.russianammo.org. 

[edit] Related content

Related developments:

Similar weapons:

• ShVAK cannon
• MG FF cannon
• MG 151 cannon
• Hispano HS.404 cannon
• Berezin B-20 cannon
• Nudelman N-37 cannon
• Nudelman-Suranov NS-37 cannon