The best self-propelled howitzers. Artillery gun: types and firing range. Review of artillery guns from ancient to modern The best multiple launch rocket systems

During the Second World War, Fried.Krupp AG, in collaboration with many dozens or even hundreds of other German companies, manufactured two 800-mm railway artillery mounts, known as Dora and Schwerer Gus-tav 2. They are the largest artillery pieces throughout the history of mankind and are unlikely to ever lose this title.

The creation of these monsters was largely provoked by pre-war French propaganda, which colorfully described the power and inaccessibility of the Maginot Line defenses, built on the border between France and Germany. Since German Chancellor A. Hitler planned to cross this border sooner or later, he needed appropriate artillery systems to destroy the border fortifications.
In 1936, during one of his visits to Fried.Krupp AG, he inquired about what kind of weapon should be capable of destroying the control bunker on the Maginot line, the existence of which he had learned shortly before from reports in the French press.
Calculations soon presented to him showed that in order to pierce a reinforced concrete floor seven meters thick and a meter steel slab, an armor-piercing projectile weighing about seven tons was needed, which presupposed the presence of a barrel with a caliber of about 800 mm.
Since firing had to be carried out from a distance of 35,000-45,000 m, in order to avoid being hit by enemy artillery, the projectile had to have a very high initial velocity, which is impossible without a long barrel. An 800 mm caliber gun with a long barrel, according to the calculations of German engineers, could not weigh less than 1000 tons.
Knowing A. Hitler’s craving for gigantic projects, the management of Fried.Krupp AG were not surprised when, “at the urgent request of the Fuhrer,” the Wehrmacht Armament Directorate asked them to develop and manufacture two guns with the characteristics presented in the calculations, and to ensure the necessary mobility it was proposed place it on a railway conveyor.

	800 mm gun 80 cm K. (E) on a railway transporter

Work to realize the Fuhrer's wishes began in 1937 and was carried out very intensively. But due to the difficulties that arose in creating the gun barrel in the first place, the first shots from it were fired at an artillery range only in September 1941, when German troops dealt with both France and its “impregnable” Maginot line.
Nevertheless, work on creating a heavy-duty artillery mount continued, and in November 1941, the gun was no longer fired from a temporary carriage mounted at the training ground, but from a standard railway transporter. In January 1942, the creation of the 800-mm railway artillery mount was completed - it entered service with the specially formed 672nd artillery division.
The name Dora was given to the installation by the artillerymen of this division. It is believed that it came from the abbreviation of the expression douner und doria - “damn it!”, which was involuntarily exclaimed by everyone who saw this monster for the first time.
Like all railway artillery installations, Dora consisted of the gun itself and a railway transporter. The length of the gun barrel was 40.6 calibers (32.48 m!), the length of the rifled part of the barrel was about 36.2 calibers. The barrel bore was locked using a hydraulically driven wedge gate with a crank.
The survivability of the barrel was estimated at 100 shots, but in practice, after the first 15 shots, signs of wear began to appear. The mass of the gun was 400,000 kg.
In accordance with its intended purpose, an armor-piercing projectile weighing 7100 kg was developed for the gun.
It contained “only” 250.0 kg of explosives, but the thickness of its walls was 18 cm, and the massive head part was hardened.

This projectile was guaranteed to penetrate an eight-meter ceiling and a meter-long steel plate, after which the bottom fuse detonated the explosive charge, thus completing the destruction of the enemy bunker.
The initial velocity of the projectile was 720 m/s; thanks to the presence of a ballistic tip made of aluminum alloy, the firing range was 38,000 m.
High-explosive shells weighing 4800 kg were also fired at the cannon. Each such projectile contained 700 kg of explosives and was equipped with both a head and a bottom fuse, which made it possible to use it as an armor-piercing high-explosive projectile. When fired with a full charge, the projectile developed an initial speed of 820 m/s and could hit a target at a distance of 48,000 m.
The propellant charge consisted of a charge in a sleeve weighing 920 kg and two cartridge charges weighing 465 kg each. The gun's rate of fire was 3 shots per hour.
Due to the large size and mass of the gun, the designers had to design a unique railway transporter that occupied two parallel railway tracks at once.
On each track there was one of the parts of the conveyor, the design of which resembled the conveyor of a conventional railway artillery installation: a welded box-shaped main beam on two balancers and four five-axle railway bogies.

Thus, each of these parts of the conveyor could move along the railway tracks independently, and their connection with transverse box beams was carried out only at the firing position.
After assembling the conveyor, which was essentially the lower machine of the gun, an upper machine with a cradle with a recoil system, which included two hydraulic recoil brakes and two knurling wheels, was installed on it.
Following this, the gun barrel was mounted and the loading platform was assembled. At the rear of the platform, two electrically driven lifts were installed to supply shells and charges from the railway track to the platform.
Placed on the machine lifting mechanism had an electric drive. It provided guidance of the gun in the vertical plane in the angle range from 0° to +65°.
There were no mechanisms for horizontal aiming: railway tracks were built in the direction of fire, onto which the entire installation was then rolled. At the same time, shooting could only be carried out strictly parallel to these paths - any deviation threatened to overturn the installation under the influence of a huge recoil force.
Taking into account the unit for generating electricity for all electric drives of the installation, its mass was 135,000 kg.
For the transportation and maintenance of the Dora installation, a complex of technical means was developed, which included an energy train, a maintenance train, an ammunition train, lifting and transport equipment and several technical flights - in total up to 100 locomotives and carriages with a staff of several hundred people. The total mass of the complex was 4925100 kg.
Formed for the combat use of the installation, the 672nd artillery division, numbering 500 people, consisted of several units, the main ones being the headquarters and fire batteries. The headquarters battery included computer groups that carried out all the calculations necessary for aiming at the target, as well as a platoon of artillery observers, in which, in addition to conventional means(theodolites, stereo tubes), and infrared technology, new for that time, was used.

In February 1942, the Dora railway artillery mount was placed at the disposal of the commander of the 11th Army, which was tasked with capturing Sevastopol.
A group of staff officers flew to Crimea in advance and chose a firing position for a cannon in the area of ​​​​the village of Duvankoy. For engineering preparation of the position, 1,000 sappers and 1,500 workers were allocated, forcibly mobilized from among local residents.

	Projectile and charge in a case of an 800-mm gun K. (E)

The position was guarded by a guard company of 300 soldiers, as well as a large group of military police and a special team with guard dogs.
In addition, there was a reinforced military chemical unit of 500 people, designed to provide a smoke screen for air camouflage purposes, and a reinforced air defense artillery battalion of 400 people. The total number of personnel involved in servicing the installation was more than 4,000 people.
Preparation of the firing position, located at a distance of about 20 km from the defensive structures of Sevastopol, ended in the first half of 1942. At the same time, a special access road with a length of 16 km had to be built from the main railway line. After the completion of the preparatory work, the main parts of the installation were delivered to the position and its assembly began, which lasted a week. During assembly, two cranes with 1000 hp diesel engines were used.
The combat use of the installation did not give the results that the Wehrmacht command had hoped for: only one successful hit was recorded, which caused the explosion of an ammunition depot located at a depth of 27 m. In other cases, the cannon shell, penetrating the ground, pierced a round barrel with a diameter of about 1 m and up to 12 m deep. At the base of the barrel, as a result of the explosion of a warhead, the soil was compacted and a drop-shaped cavity with a diameter of about 3 m was formed. Thus, defensive structures could be seriously damaged only if the projectile directly hit vital nodes, which was easier to do when firing from several smaller caliber guns.
After the capture of Sevastopol by German troops, the Dora installation was transported near Leningrad to the Taitsy station area. A similar Schwerer Gustav 2 installation was also delivered here, the production of which was completed in early 1943.

After the start Soviet troops Operations to break the blockade of Leningrad, both installations were evacuated to Bavaria, where in April 1945 they were blown up as American troops approached.
Thus, the most ambitious project in the history of German and world artillery was completed. However, if we consider that only 48 shots were fired at the enemy from both manufactured 800-mm railway artillery mounts, this project can also be considered the most monumental mistake in artillery development planning.

Do you know which branch of the military is respectfully called the “god of war”? Of course, artillery! Despite developments over the past fifty years, the role of high-precision modern barrel systems is still extremely large.

History of development

The German Schwartz is considered to be the “father” of guns, but many historians agree that his merits in this matter are rather doubtful. Thus, the first mention of the use of cannon artillery on the battlefield dates back to 1354, but there are many papers in the archives that mention the year 1324.

There is no reason to believe that some of them were not used before. By the way, most references to such weapons can be found in ancient English manuscripts, and not at all in German primary sources. So, especially noteworthy in this regard is the fairly famous treatise “On the Duties of Kings,” which was written in honor of Edward III.

The author was the king's teacher, and the book itself was written in 1326 (the time of Edward's assassination). There are no detailed explanations of the engravings in the text, and therefore one has to rely only on the subtext. So, one of the illustrations shows, without a doubt, a real cannon, reminiscent of a large vase. It is shown how a large arrow, shrouded in clouds of smoke, flies out of the neck of this “jug”, and at a distance stands a knight who has just ignited gunpowder with a hot rod.

First appearance

As for China, where gunpowder was most likely invented (and medieval alchemists discovered it no less than three times), there is every reason to assume that the first artillery pieces could have been tested even before the beginning of our era. Simply put, artillery, like all firearms, is probably much older than is commonly believed.

During the era, these weapons were already used en masse on walls whose walls by that time were no longer so effective means protection for the besieged.

Chronic stagnation

So why didn’t the ancient peoples conquer the whole world with the help of the “god of war”? It's simple - guns from the early 14th century. and 18th century differ little from each other. They were clumsy, overly heavy, and provided very poor accuracy. It was not for nothing that the first guns were used to destroy walls (it’s difficult to miss!), as well as to fire at large concentrations of the enemy. In an era when enemy armies marched at each other in colorful columns, this also did not require the high accuracy of cannons.

Let’s not forget about the disgusting quality of gunpowder, as well as its unpredictable properties: during the war with Sweden, Russian gunners sometimes had to triple the weight rate so that the cannonballs would cause at least some damage to enemy fortresses. Of course, this fact had a frankly bad effect on the reliability of the guns. There were many cases when nothing was left of an artillery crew as a result of a cannon explosion.

Other reasons

Finally, metallurgy. As with steam locomotives, only the invention of rolling mills and deep research in metallurgy provided the necessary knowledge to produce truly reliable barrels. The creation of artillery shells for a long time provided the troops with “monarchical” privileges on the battlefield.

Don’t forget about the calibers of artillery guns: in those years they were calculated both based on the diameter of the cannonballs used and taking into account the parameters of the barrel. Incredible confusion reigned, and therefore the armies simply could not adopt something truly unified. All this greatly hampered the development of the industry.

Main types of ancient artillery systems

Now let's look at the main types of artillery pieces, which in many cases actually helped change history, refracting the course of the war in favor of one state. As of 1620, it was customary to distinguish the following types of tools:

• Guns ranging in caliber from 7 to 12 inches.
• Feathers.
• Falconets and minions (“falcons”).
• Portable guns with breech loading.
• Robinets.
• Mortars and bombards.

This list reflects only “true” guns in a more or less modern sense. But at that time the army had relatively many ancient cast-iron guns. Their most typical representatives include culverins and semi-culverins. By that time, it had already become completely clear that the giant cannons, which were to a large extent widespread in earlier periods, were no good: their accuracy was disgusting, the risk of the barrel exploding was extremely high, and it took a lot of time to reload.

If we turn again to the times of Peter, historians of those years note that for each battery of “unicorns” (a type of culverin) hundreds of liters of vinegar were required. It was used diluted with water to cool barrels that were overheated from shots.

It was rare to find an antique artillery piece with a caliber greater than 12 inches. The most commonly used were culverins, the core of which weighed approximately 16 pounds (about 7.3 kg). In the field, falconets were very common, the core of which weighed only 2.5 pounds (about a kilogram). Now let's look at the types of artillery pieces that were common in the past.

If you looked carefully at this table and saw a musket there, do not be surprised. this was the name not only for those clumsy and heavy guns that we remember from films about musketeers, but also for a full-fledged artillery piece with a long barrel of small caliber. After all, imagining a “bullet” weighing 400 grams is very problematic!

In addition, do not be surprised by the presence of a stone thrower on the list. The fact is that, for example, the Turks, even in the time of Peter, made full use of barrel artillery, firing cannonballs carved from stone. They were much less likely to penetrate enemy ships, but more often they caused serious damage to the latter from the very first salvo.

Finally, all the data given in our table is approximate. Many types of artillery guns will remain forever forgotten, and ancient historians often did not have much understanding of the characteristics and names of those guns that were massively used during the siege of cities and fortresses.

Innovators-inventors

As we have already said, barrel artillery for many centuries was a weapon that seemed to be forever frozen in its development. However, everything quickly changed. As with many innovations in military affairs, the idea belonged to naval officers.

The main problem with cannon artillery on ships was the serious limitation of space and the difficulty of performing any maneuvers. Seeing all this, Mr. Melville and Mr. Gascoigne, who was in charge of the production he owned, managed to create an amazing cannon, which today historians know as the “caronade.” There were no trunnions (mounts for the carriage) on its barrel at all. But it had a small eyelet into which a steel rod could be easily and quickly inserted. He clung firmly to the compact artillery piece.

The gun turned out to be light and short, easy to handle. The approximate effective firing range from it was about 50 meters. In addition, due to some of its design features it became possible to fire incendiary shells. “Caronade” became so popular that Gascoigne soon moved to Russia, where talented craftsmen of foreign origin were always welcome, and received the rank of general and the position of one of Catherine’s advisers. It was in those years that Russian artillery pieces began to be developed and produced on a previously unseen scale.

Modern artillery systems

As we already noted at the very beginning of our article, in modern world the artillery had to make room somewhat under the influence of rocket weapons. But this does not mean at all that there is no place left for barrel and rocket systems on the battlefield. Not at all! The invention of high-precision projectiles with GPS/GLONASS guidance allows us to confidently assert that “immigrants” from the distant 12-13 centuries will continue to keep the enemy at bay.

Barrel and rocket artillery: who is better?

Unlike traditional barrel systems, multiple rocket launchers provide virtually no noticeable recoil. This is what distinguishes them from any self-propelled or towed gun, which, in the process of being brought into combat position, must be secured as firmly as possible and dug into the ground, since otherwise it may even overturn. Of course, there is no question of any quick change of position here in principle, even if a self-propelled artillery gun is used.

Reactive systems are fast and mobile and can change their combat position in a few minutes. In principle, such vehicles can fire even while moving, but this has a bad effect on the accuracy of the shot. The disadvantage of such installations is their low accuracy. The same “Hurricane” can literally plow up several square kilometers, destroying almost all living things, but this will require a whole battery of installations with rather expensive shells. These artillery pieces, photos of which you will find in the article, are especially loved by domestic developers (“Katyusha”).

A salvo of one howitzer with a “smart” projectile can destroy anyone in one attempt, while a battery of rocket launchers may require more than one salvo. In addition, “Smerch”, “Hurricane”, “Grad” or “Tornado” at the moment of launch will not be able to be detected except by a blind soldier, since a significant cloud of smoke will form in that place. But such installations can contain up to several hundred kilograms of explosive in one projectile.

Barrel artillery, due to its accuracy, can be used to fire at the enemy when he is close to his own positions. In addition, the barreled self-propelled artillery gun is capable of conducting counter-battery fire, doing this for many hours. Multiple launch rocket systems wear out their barrels quite quickly, which is not conducive to their long-term use.

By the way, in the first Chechen campaign, “Grads” were used, which managed to fight in Afghanistan. Their barrels were so worn out that the shells sometimes scattered in unpredictable directions. This often led to the “covering up” of their own soldiers.

The best multiple launch rocket systems

Russian artillery pieces "Tornado" inevitably take the lead. They fire 122 mm caliber shells at a distance of up to 100 kilometers. In one salvo, up to 40 charges can be fired, covering an area of ​​up to 84 thousand square meters. The power reserve is no less than 650 kilometers. Coupled with the high reliability of the chassis and speed of up to 60 km/h, this allows you to transfer the Tornado battery to the right place and with minimal costs time.

The second most effective is the domestic 9K51 Grad MLRS, notorious after the events in the South-East of Ukraine. Caliber - 122 mm, 40 barrels. It shoots at a distance of up to 21 kilometers, and can “process” an area of ​​up to 40 square kilometers in one pass. Power reserve at maximum speed 85 km/h is as much as 1.5 thousand kilometers!

The third place is occupied by the HIMARS artillery gun from an American manufacturer. The ammunition has an impressive 227mm caliber, but only six rails detract from the installation somewhat. The firing range is up to 85 kilometers, covering an area of ​​67 square kilometers at a time. Travel speed is up to 85 km/h, power reserve is 600 kilometers. It performed well in the ground campaign in Afghanistan.

In fourth position is the Chinese installation WS-1B. The Chinese did not waste time on trifles: the caliber of this terrifying weapon is 320 mm. By appearance this MLRS resembles the S-300 air defense system Russian made and has only four trunks. The range is about 100 kilometers, the affected area is up to 45 square kilometers. At maximum speed, these modern artillery pieces have a range of approximately 600 kilometers.

In last place is the Indian Pinaka MLRS. The design includes 12 guides for 122 mm caliber shells. Firing range - up to 40 km. At a maximum speed of 80 km/h, the car can travel up to 850 kilometers. The affected area is as much as 130 square kilometers. The system was developed with the direct participation of Russian specialists and has proven itself excellently during numerous Indian-Pakistani conflicts.

Cannons

These weapons are far removed from their long-standing predecessors, who ruled the fields of the Middle Ages. The caliber of guns used in modern conditions ranges from 100 (Rapier anti-tank artillery gun) to 155 mm (TR, NATO).

The range of projectiles they use is also unusually wide: from standard high-explosive fragmentation rounds to programmable projectiles that can hit a target at a distance of up to 45 kilometers with an accuracy of tens of centimeters. True, the cost of one such shot can be up to 55 thousand US dollars! In this regard, Soviet artillery pieces are much cheaper.

Mortars

Modern mortar systems trace their origins to ancient bombards and mortars, which could fire a bomb (up to hundreds of kilograms in weight) over a distance of 200-300 meters. Today, both their design and maximum range of use have changed significantly.

In most armed forces of the world, the combat doctrine for mortars considers them as an artillery weapon for mounted fire at a distance of about a kilometer. The effectiveness of the use of these weapons in urban environments and in suppressing scattered, mobile enemy groups is noted. In the Russian army, mortars are standard weapons; they are used in every more or less serious combat operation.

And during the Ukrainian events, both sides of the conflict demonstrated that even outdated 88 mm mortars are an excellent means both for and for countering it.

Modern mortars, like other cannon artillery, are now developing in the direction of increasing the accuracy of each shot. Thus, last summer, the well-known arms corporation BAE Systems for the first time demonstrated to the world community high-precision 81 mm mortar rounds, which were tested at one of the English test sites. It is reported that such ammunition can be used with all possible effectiveness in the temperature range from -46 to +71 ° C. In addition, there is information about the planned production of a wide range of such projectiles.

The military pins particular hopes on the development of high-precision 120 mm mines with increased power. New models developed for the American army (XM395, for example), with a firing range of up to 6.1 km, have a deviation of no more than 10 meters. It is reported that such shots were used by crews of Stryker armored vehicles in Iraq and Afghanistan, where the new ammunition showed its best performance.

But the most promising today are the developments of guided projectiles with active homing. Thus, domestic artillery guns “Nona” can use the “Kitolov-2” projectile, with which you can hit almost any modern tank at a distance of up to nine kilometers. Considering the low cost of the weapon itself, such developments are expected to be of interest to military personnel around the world.

Thus, the artillery gun is still a formidable argument on the battlefield. New models are constantly being developed, and more and more promising projectiles are being produced for existing barrel systems.

10

The Archer self-propelled gun uses a Volvo A30D chassis with a 6x6 wheel arrangement. Mounted on chassis diesel engine with a power of 340 horsepower, which allows you to reach speeds on the highway up to 65 km/h. It is worth noting that the wheeled chassis can move through snow up to one meter deep. If the wheels of the installation are damaged, the self-propelled gun can still move for some time.

A distinctive feature of the howitzer is that there is no need for additional crew numbers to load it. The cockpit is armored to protect the crew from small arms fire and ammunition fragments.

9

"Msta-S" is designed to destroy tactical nuclear weapons, artillery and mortar batteries, tanks and other armored vehicles, anti-tank weapons, manpower, air defense and missile defense systems, control posts, as well as to destroy field fortifications and impede the maneuvers of enemy reserves in the depth of his defense. It can fire at observed and unobserved targets from closed positions and direct fire, including work in mountainous conditions. When firing, both shots from the ammunition rack and those fired from the ground are used, without loss in rate of fire.

Crew members communicate using 1B116 internal telephone equipment for seven subscribers. External communication is carried out using the R-173 VHF radio station (range up to 20 km).

Additional equipment of the self-propelled gun includes: automatic 3-fold action PPO with control equipment 3ETs11-2; two filter ventilation units; self-entrenchment system mounted on the lower frontal sheet; TDA, powered by the main engine; system 902V “Tucha” for firing 81-mm smoke grenades; two tank degassing devices (TDP).

8 AS-90

Self-propelled artillery unit on a tracked chassis with a rotating turret. The hull and turret are made of 17 mm steel armor.

AS-90 was replaced in British Army all other types of artillery, both self-propelled and towed, with the exception of light towed howitzers L118 and MLRS, were used in combat during the Iraq War.

7 Krab (based on AS-90)

The SPH Krab is a 155 mm NATO compatible self-propelled howitzer manufactured in Poland by the Produkcji Wojskowej Huta Stalowa Wola center. The self-propelled gun is a complex symbiosis of the Polish RT-90 tank chassis (with an S-12U engine), an artillery unit from the AS-90M Braveheart with a 52-caliber barrel, and its own (Polish) Topaz fire control system. The 2011 version of the SPH Krab uses a new gun barrel from Rheinmetall.

The SPH Krab was immediately created with the ability to fire in modern modes, that is, for the MRSI mode (multiple projectiles of simultaneous impact), including. As a result, within 1 minute in MRSI mode, the SPH Krab fires 5 shells at the enemy (that is, at the target) within 30 seconds, after which it leaves the firing position. Thus, the enemy gets the complete impression that 5 self-propelled guns are firing at him, and not just one.

6 M109A7 "Paladin"

Self-propelled artillery unit on a tracked chassis with a rotating turret. The hull and turret are made of rolled aluminum armor, which provides protection from small arms fire and field artillery shell fragments.

In addition to the United States, it became the standard self-propelled gun of NATO countries, was also supplied in significant quantities to a number of other countries and was used in many regional conflicts.

5PLZ05

The self-propelled gun turret is welded from rolled armor plates. Two four-barreled smoke grenade launcher units are installed on the front of the turret to create smoke screens. In the rear part of the hull there is a hatch for the crew, which can be used to replenish ammunition while feeding ammunition from the ground into the loading system.

The PLZ-05 is equipped with an automatic gun loading system, developed on the basis of the Russian Msta-S self-propelled gun. The rate of fire is 8 rounds per minute. The howitzer gun has a caliber of 155 mm and a barrel length of 54 calibers. The gun's ammunition is located in the turret. It consists of 30 rounds of 155 mm caliber and 500 rounds of ammunition for a 12.7 mm machine gun.

4

The Type 99 155mm self-propelled howitzer is a Japanese self-propelled howitzer in service with the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force. It replaced the obsolete Type 75 self-propelled gun.

Despite the interests of the armies of several countries in the self-propelled gun, the sale of copies of this howitzer abroad was prohibited by Japanese law.

3

The K9 Thunder self-propelled gun was developed in the mid-90s of the last century by the Samsung Techwin corporation by order of the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Korea, in addition to the K55\K55A1 self-propelled guns in service with their subsequent replacement.

In 1998, the Korean government entered into a contract with the Samsung Techwin corporation for the supply of self-propelled guns, and in 1999 the first batch of K9 Thunder was delivered to the customer. In 2004, Türkiye bought a production license and also received a batch of K9 Thunder. A total of 350 units have been ordered. The first 8 self-propelled guns were built in Korea. From 2004 to 2009, 150 self-propelled guns were delivered to the Turkish army.

2

Developed at the Nizhny Novgorod Central Research Institute "Burevestnik". The 2S35 self-propelled gun is designed to destroy tactical nuclear weapons, artillery and mortar batteries, tanks and other armored vehicles, anti-tank weapons, manpower, air defense and missile defense systems, command posts, as well as to destroy field fortifications and impede the maneuvers of enemy reserves in the depths of their defense . On May 9, 2015, the new self-propelled howitzer 2S35 “Coalition-SV” was officially presented for the first time at the Parade in honor of the 70th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War.

According to Ministry of Defense estimates Russian Federation In terms of the range of characteristics, the 2S35 self-propelled gun is 1.5-2 times superior to similar systems. Compared to the M777 towed howitzers and M109 self-propelled howitzers in service with the US Army, the Koalitsiya-SV self-propelled howitzer has more high degree automation, increased rate of fire and firing range, meeting modern requirements for conducting combined arms combat.

1

Self-propelled artillery unit on a tracked chassis with a rotating turret. The hull and turret are made of steel armor, providing protection against bullets of up to 14.5 mm caliber and fragments of 152 mm shells. It is possible to use dynamic protection.

The PzH 2000 is capable of firing three rounds in nine seconds or ten in 56 seconds at a range of up to 30 km. The howitzer holds a world record - at a training ground in South Africa, it fired a V-LAP projectile (active-propelled projectile with improved aerodynamics) at a distance of 56 km.

Based on all the indicators, the PzH 2000 is considered the most advanced serial self-propelled gun in the world. The self-propelled guns have earned extremely high ratings from independent experts; Thus, the Russian specialist O. Zheltonozhko defined it as a reference system for the present time, which all manufacturers of self-propelled artillery systems are guided by.

Everyone knows how great the importance of artillery is in modern combat. The guns are capable of hitting enemy personnel, tanks and aircraft, and destroying the enemy located in open space and in shelters.
At the same time, a number of ordinary people mistakenly attribute all these merits to the cannon, having little idea what a howitzer is and how they differ. How does a cannon differ from a howitzer?

A gun- one of the types of artillery guns with a long barrel and a high initial projectile speed and good range.
Howitzer is a type of artillery gun for mounted firing beyond the line of sight of the target from closed positions.

Comparison of gun and howitzer

What is the difference between a cannon and a howitzer? The gun has a long barrel and a high muzzle velocity, making it convenient to use to hit moving objects. In addition, the cannon has the longest range of all types of guns. The gun's barrel elevation angle is small, and therefore the projectile flies along a flat trajectory. Such features make the gun very effective in direct fire. When firing fragmentation shells, the cannon is good for disabling enemy personnel (being at an acute angle to the surface, exploding, the shell covers a large area with fragments).
The howitzer is primarily used for overhead shooting, while the servants often do not see the enemy. The howitzer's barrel length is shorter than that of a cannon, as is the gunpowder charge, as well as the initial velocity of the projectile. But the howitzer has a significant barrel elevation angle, thanks to which it can be used to shoot at targets located behind cover. Also, a howitzer is more profitable financially: the walls of its barrel are thinner, it requires less metal for production and gunpowder for firing than a cannon. The weight of a howitzer is much less than the weight of a gun with the same caliber.
The gun is more suitable for defensive actions. A howitzer, on the contrary, is for offensive purposes - it is capable of causing panic behind enemy lines, disrupting communications and control, and also creating a barrage of fire in front of its own attacking troops.

How is a gun different from a howitzer?

A cannon is an artillery weapon for flat firing with a high initial projectile velocity.
Howitzer is a type of weapon for mounted firing from closed positions.
The cannon's barrel is longer than that of the howitzer.
The initial speed of a cannon is higher than that of a howitzer.
It is most convenient to use a cannon to hit targets that are moving and located in open areas.
The howitzer is designed for mounted firing at hidden targets.
The cannon is the longest-range type of weapon.
A howitzer is lighter than a cannon with the same calibers, and the powder charge of its shells is less.
The gun is good in defense, the howitzer is good in attack.