In Russia, the project of a 152-mm self-propelled howitzer is being revived “Pat-S”, work on the car is “Kurganmashplant”. According to the press service of the company, self-propelled guns are created on a modified BMP-3 chassis.
“Kurganmashplant” began work on the modernization of self-propelled howitzer 2S18 “Pat-S”, developed in the 1980s, but never went into series. The ACS was developed by the Special Design Bureau of Kurganmashzavod (SKBM) based on BMP-3 chassis, anticipated, that the self-propelled gun will go into service with the artillery regiments of the USSR Ministry of Defense. But the self-propelled guns were not adopted, only one prototype was built, which with 2017 located in the courtyard of the Military History Museum of Artillery, engineering troops and signal troops in St. Petersburg.
Modernization of self-propelled artillery installations based on the modified BMP-3 chassis is underway. These machines, equipped with a 120 mm gun (developmental work “Vein”) and 152 mm gun, can significantly increase the effectiveness of motorized rifle units- leads RIA Novosti the message of the press service “Kurganmashzavod”.
As bmpd writes, this self-propelled gun was not adopted by the Soviet army due to the obvious insufficiency of the ballistics of the gun, which provided the maximum firing range from 13,7 to 15,2 km. Such a range of destruction is clearly not relevant at the moment., especially against the backdrop of Western artillery systems, supplied to Ukraine. Whether the 2А63 gun will be replaced with a more powerful one is not known. No additional information yet.
According to the press service “Kurganmashzavod”, 2C18 “Pat-S” is the only large-caliber self-propelled howitzer, able to independently overcome water obstacles. used photos:ru-artillery.livejournal.com