23mm Nudelman-Suranov NS-23
Overview
NS-23
23mm NS-23 autocannon.
Source: www.airpages.ru -
© Copyright lies with original owner
A.E. Nudelman & A. Suranov
22.479 pcs from 1944 to 1950
Soviet Union - No. 535 plant in Tula
6.000 pcs from 1951 to 1953
Description
Introduction
The NS-23 is a World War 2 era autocannon of Soviet origin. It was developed during World War 2 for aircraft use. It was to replace the earlier VYa-23, which was powerful but had a heavy recoil and low rate of fire. In turn the NS-23 was replaced by the more reliable and faster firing NR-23 in the late 1940's.
Design
The NS-23 is a single barrel belt-fed autocannon. The design is similar to the larger caliber NS-37 and uses the short recoil principle. The NS-23 fires the 23x115mm round, which was specifically developed for this weapon. Compared to the VYa-23 the faster firing NS-23 has a more controllable recoil and both gun and ammunition are about half the weight.
Firepower
The NS-23 fires the 23x115mm round at a cyclic rate of fire of about 550 rpm. Combined with more manageable recoil effectiveness against aircraft and ground targets is improved. Only against armored ground targets the lighter ammunition and lower velocity ammunition is less effective. Depending on the mount 75 to 150 rounds are carried per gun. Commonly used ammunition types are armor piercing incendiary (API) and high explosive incendiary (HEI) with impact fuse.
Platforms
The NS-23 was used in the later stages of World War 2 and some of the early jet aircraft. Piston engine fighters with NS-23 include La-9, La-11 and Il-10. Jet aircraft include Yak-15, Yak-17, MiG-9 and early model MiG-15. Some armed reconnaissance variants of the Mi-2 developed in Poland are armed with a NS-23.
Variants
Details
Related articles
23mm Volkov-Yartsev VYa-23
The NS-23 was developed as more suitable air-to-air armament than the Volkov-Yartsev VYa-23 that was intended for anti-armor use.
23mm Nudelman-Rikhter NR-23
The NS-23 was replaced in production by the more reliable and faster firing NR-23.