During the military special operation in Ukraine, self-propelled howitzers "Msta-S" actively perform firing tasks to destroy armored vehicles and fortified positions of the Ukrainian army.
Heavy artillery is now the main striking force of our troops in Ukraine. Howitzers destroy Ukrainian artillery batteries, break into well-fortified defensive structures, and suppress control points.
In addition, the gunners destroy the enemy's firepower, weapons and military equipment. For the Msta-S self-propelled guns, this is the first participation in a serious military conflict, and now these guns show everything they are capable of. The Russian Defense Ministry recently showed footage of the combat work of these 152-mm self-propelled guns. The fighters of the Msta-S artillery calculations told about their combat tasks.
According to the commander of the gun, the calculation performs the tasks of covering military columns, destroying armored vehicles, roadblocks.
He explained that "high-explosive shells are used to destroy fortifications, which allows maximum damage to fortifications, including buried concreted enemy fortifications."
The peculiarity of the self-propelled gun is that firing from a 152-mm howitzer can be carried out both from closed firing positions and direct fire without preliminary preparation of firing positions. The Msta-S calculations are firing at ranges up to 30 kilometers.
Work on the creation of a 152 mm self-propelled howitzer to replace the Acacia self-propelled gun in the troops began in the early 80s.
In 1989, the new self-propelled gun was adopted by artillery regiments of motorized rifle and tank divisions of the Soviet Army under the designation 2S19 "Msta-S". At that time, the self-propelled gun made a small revolution, as it surpassed all Western analogues in range and speed of fire.
Msta-S was created to destroy tactical nuclear weapons, artillery and mortar batteries, tanks and other armored vehicles, air defense and missile defense systems, as well as control points.
In addition, the self-propelled gun was supposed to destroy field fortifications and hinder the maneuvers of enemy reserves in the depth of defense.
It can fire at observed and unobserved targets from closed positions and direct fire, including work in the mountains.
When firing, both shots from the combat laying of the gun and projectiles fed from the ground are used. And all this is done without loss in rate of fire.
The armament of the Msta-S is a 152-mm 2A64 howitzer and a 12.7-mm NSVT anti-aircraft machine gun. The gun is fired with high-explosive fragmentation shells at a range of almost 25 km and active-rocket shells at a range of almost 30 km.
"Msta" can also fire guided projectiles with laser illumination "Krasnopol". The illumination of targets for Krasnopol is provided by advanced artillery observers.
By the way, during the demonstration firing of a self-propelled gun in Abu Dhabi, Krasnopol struck a moving tank from a distance of 12 kilometers.
The howitzer is in the process of constant modernization. The option of using digital electronic maps was integrated into its onboard systems, and a ballistic computer, topo-linking and GLONASS orientation equipment were integrated into the tower complexes.
Now its maximum rate of fire is ten rounds per minute. In addition, the gun can fire in the fire raid mode - with one gun simultaneously hitting targets with several shots.
Shots are fired at different trajectories and different charges. This reduces the time spent by a self-propelled artillery gun in a firing position.
Alexander Stepanov
