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Concept
7.62 ITKK 31 VKT
Summary
7,62 ITKK 31 VKT or 7,62 mm VKT anti-aircraft machine gun was the primary anti-aircraft machine gun of the Finnish Army during World War II. The weapon was designed by the Finnish gunsmith Aimo Lahti. 507 weapons were produced in two versions, 7,62 ItKk/31 VKT and an improved 7,62 ItKk/31-40 VKT, between 1933 and 1944.
In the 1920s Finland was a young state, having just attained independence from Russian Empire. As a result of being part of Russia the vast majority of the armaments of the Finnish army was composed of old Tsarist Russian army equipment, and air defence weapons were few and obsolete. As part of the attempt to improve anti-aircraft armament it was decided to develop purpose-built anti-aircraft machine guns for the army since infantry Maxim machine guns were not adequate for the task. A development plan for 1930-1934 called for 125 heavy 13.2 mm machine guns and 125 7.62 mm machine guns. The task for designing the weapons was given to the gunsmith Aimo Lahti.
The prototype of the 7,62 mm anti-aircraft machine gun was finished in 1931 and accepted for use as 7,62 mm kaksoisilmatorjuntakonekivääri m 31 or 7,62 ItKk 31 ("7.62 mm double anti-aircraft machine gun model 31"). 130 weapons were ordered from Valtion Kivääritehdas (VKT, the "State Rifle Factory") in 1933 and first batch of guns was distributed to units on 22 June 1934. A further small batch of 10 guns was produced in 1940, bringing the total to 140.
Technically 7,62 ItKk/31 VKT is a Maxim machine gun that has been modified for a higher rate of fire with an accelerator and the use of 250-round disintegrating metallic belts (instead of canvas belts). With these modifications the weapon has a rate of fire of 900 rounds per minute for each gun. The weapon is also air-cooled instead of water-cooled, and has a barrel jacket closely resembling the one in Lahti-Saloranta M/26 light machine gun. At barrel ends are conical flash suppressors. In the twin anti-aircraft machine gun configuration two guns are connected side by side with belt boxes on both sides of the pair and square boxes under both guns for empty shells and belt links.
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