In search of the perfect weapon for fighter aircraft. The second half of the 1920s – the first half of the 1930s

the purpose of the article is to review the activities of the Soviet military, managers and designers of the second half of the 1920s - the first half of the 1930s, to determine the most optimal groups of firepower intended for arming fighter aircraft, the development and production of specific types of weapons. The objectives are to describe and characterize the development of weapons of Soviet fighter aircraft against the background of both the development of weapons systems and aircraft technology, as well as familiarization with foreign experience and views on the potential range of targets that fighter aircraft should hit. In the USSR, great attention was paid to the creation of domestic machine-gun weapons, including high-rate of fire, to defeat enemy fighters, light and medium bombers. Against the background of information from abroad about the development of heavy bombers in the USSR, a special type of recoilless guns was being developed to combat them. However, problems with recoilless guns in aviation, and trends in the development of large-caliber machine guns and small-caliber aircraft guns led to a gradual abandonment of the development of recoilless guns in favor of more effective and versatile weapons. The results of the study can be used to study domestic and foreign aviation and aviation weapons in the interwar period.

fighter aircraft, heavy bomber, aviation machine gun, recoilless cannon, soviet designers, Interbellum, defense industry