Russia Embarks on Developing Floating 152-mm Howitzer

Based on its experience of artillery use during the special military operation, Russia has begun to develop a floating howitzer of 152-mm caliber, Roman Khromov, deputy executive director for GOZ and VTS of Kurganmashzavod (part of the High-Precision Systems holding of Rostec State Corporation), told Sputnik.

In the 1980s, the USSR created a prototype of a 152-millimeter caliber floating howitzer on the chassis of the BMP-3 known as Pat-S.

"The concept behind the Pat-S is a large caliber and light weight. If you look at how combat operations are being conducted in the special military operation zone today and how equipment is being moved within these combat operations, you see that there is a need for a light vehicle with a 152-millimeter caliber howitzer. But since this vehicle was developed in the USSR and under certain customer requirements, it now needs to be updated, especially as far as its fire control system goes," Khromov explained.

He said that "in fact, preparatory work on the Pat-S is now underway, [and] information is being collected and analyzed in order to prepare a draft of the terms of reference".

Khromov added that the peculiarity of the use of barrel artillery in the special operation zone today involves firing from closed positions at long range, followed by a quick change of position to avoid return fire.

"What the Ministry of Defense has now chalked out for us is that we must analyze as to what extent it can be implemented using the scientific and technical research on the topic of Pat-S and other development work and mass-produced machines that we manufacture," said Khromov.

The specialist pointed out that the Pat-S model did not go into production because the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty was signed.

"Then the work on a number of promising vehicles was curtailed, including this model," he noted.

The 2S18 Pat-S is an experimental 152-millimeter self-propelled artillery unit developed in the Soviet Union in the 1980s on the basis of the BMP-3 chassis.

According to open sources, the vehicle was not mass-produced, only one prototype was built. The Pat-S is the world's first large-caliber self-propelled howitzer capable of crossing water obstacles on its own.

The 2S1 Gvozdika self-propelled howitzer in service also floats, but it is of medium caliber - 122 millimeters.