SAU "Hyacinth". Self-propelled artillery system 2S5 "Hyacinth": technical specifications and photos

Many people who are interested in the armament of the army made up for themselves a largely erroneous opinion that barrel artillery under existing conditions has become almost unclaimed. And in fact: it would seem, what is it for when the rocket weapon reigns on the battlefield? Take your time, it's not so simple.

The fact is that barrel artillery is much cheaper in production and operation. In addition, with the use of projectiles with optico-laser guidance (Kitolov-2), it is capable (at an ordinary distance, of course) to show no less impressive results than the rockets on the battlefield. Do not forget about the possibility of using atomic small-size charges. In the conditions of a serious war, this can be extremely useful.

That is why today we will discuss the SAU "Hyacinth" - one of the most impressive systems of this class.

Prehistory

During the Second World War, self-propelled artillery guns proved to be a powerful and dangerous weapon, the presence of which could often decide the outcome of a battle in favor of one or another side of the conflict. Their price was much lower than that of tanks, but under certain conditions cheap and not very well armored cars could effectively destroy heavy enemy armored vehicles. For our country, this was especially important at the initial stage of the war, when military equipment was sorely lacking, and its production was to be simplified and cheaper as much as possible.

Practically all motorized rifle divisions of the USSR in the post-war period were equipped with tanks and automatic control systems on a mixed basis. Each motorized rifle regiment had high-quality artillery armament, which was represented by a full SU-76 battery. The share of other artillery armaments that was created during the war years has significantly increased.

All the automatic control systems, adopted for service in that period, were intended solely to support the attacking infantry in combat. However, in the postwar period, the military doctrine increasingly prescribed the use of self-propelled installations together or in place of tanks.

In the 50-60-ies the role of the automatic control system constantly fell. Often the question arose about the complete cessation of their production and the replacement of this type of weapons with tanks. So, by the mid-sixties very few new models of self-propelled guns were developed. Almost all of them were based on the old tank chassis of the Second World, equipped with new armored hulls.

Decline of the industry

At the end of the 50s of the last century Nikita Khrushchev, a passionate fan of rocket weapons, sanctioned an almost complete halt in the development of barreled weapons in the USSR. Because of this, we lagged behind our probable opponents not for one decade. History repeatedly punished the USSR for this miscalculation: it was already in the sixties that the value of the trunk artillery remained at the same level. This was especially vividly confirmed by the episode in China, after which the Secretary General revised his views on this problem.

Then the Kuomintangers placed a whole battery of long-range American howitzers and began to calmly shell the territory of mainland China. The Chinese and our military advisers were in an extremely uncomfortable position. They had M-46 cannons with a caliber of 130 mm, but their projectiles did not reach the enemy's batteries, even if the wind was favorable. One of the Soviet advisers suggested an original way out: in order to achieve the goal, it was necessary just to properly warm up the shells!

Both sides of the conflict were very surprised, but the reception was successful. It was this case that served as the impetus for the development of the SAU "Hyacinth" in 1968. Its creation was commissioned by Perm specialists.

Directions of work

Since the work had to be completed as quickly as possible, the development went immediately in two directions. Specialists worked both in the field of creating self-propelled and towed guns (indices "C" and "B", respectively). The General Directorate of Artillery immediately assigned these machines the designations 2A36 and 2A37. Their important feature was not only unique ballistics, but also special ammunition, which were made specially for the SAU "Hyacinth". 152 mm is a fairly common caliber, but few know that in the Soviet Army there were no other ammunition of a similar caliber that could be used by these self-propelled units.

General information

In Perm, the artillery unit was directly created, in Yekaterinburg a chassis was designed, and at the Institute, the best specialists thought of creating the most suitable ammunition for such a system. Already in 1969, for consideration of the commission, two variants of the new automatic control system were proposed: in the manual and tower versions. The second option was approved. In 1970, the government initiated full-scale work on the SAU "Hyacinth". Already at the beginning of 1971, the first 152-mm cannons were presented to the "court of the public", but because of the unavailability of the shells, the firing was postponed.

The crew of "Hyacinth S" consists of five people. On the highway the car can travel at speeds up to 60 km / h, the power reserve is about 500 kilometers. The body is made of armor plates (aluminum alloys) 30 mm thick by welding. Such armor does not provide any adequate protection for the crew even from large-caliber machine guns, and therefore, when performing combat missions, it is necessary to especially think over the location of the machine on the ground.

In addition, the lack of installation of "Hyacinth C" is its relatively low rate of fire - no more than five rounds per minute. It should be noted that the delivery of shells is carried out manually, and therefore with intensive combat, the calculation can simply become tired, which will further reduce the efficiency of such loading. And yet - given the characteristics of domestic winters, do not be surprised at the cool attitude of the military to an open gun, not covered by a tower. Even in the conditions of the Chechen "cold" period there were cases of frostbite in the calculations of the "Hyacinths".

The justification for developers can be perhaps the fact that initially this automatic control system was planned at the time of the "cold" war. Simply put, it was developed specifically to conduct combat operations in Western Europe, where temperatures are rarely below 7-8 degrees Celsius in winter. It is worth recalling at least that the BMP-1, designed for the same conditions, is far from being the best in Afghanistan (although for other reasons).

Power plant and chassis

The engine-transmission compartment is located in the front of the hull. The power plant is represented by V-shaped engine V-59, V-shaped with a capacity of 520 hp. The peculiarity is that it is integrated into a single unit with a dual-flow transmission. The compartment for the commander of the gun is to the right of the engine. Right before the commander's turret is located the workplace of the driver-mechanic. Directly the combat compartment is located in the central part of the hull. The shells are in vertical stacks.

The chassis used in this car is in fact the same as the one used in the creation of ACA "Acacia". Since the self-propelled installation belongs to an open type, the implement is mounted openly. This feature of her allowed to make the car a little shorter. Since the artillery "Hyacinth" is relatively small (relative to analogues), it is convenient to transport it by air.

Initially, it was planned to equip the new machine with a PKT machine gun, but this option was not adopted. Later it was introduced into the project for a second time. By 1972, the projects of both types of "Hyacinth" with the gun of a separate-sleeve method of loading were finally ready. It should be taken into account that at the same time, a variant was developed with cap-shaped charges. However, this option has not progressed further than the sketches. In the series of SAU "Hyacinth" was already in 1976, and immediately saturation of troops with new equipment.

Combat "break-in" a new technology was received in Afghanistan, and the military immediately gave this self-propelled installation a lot of flattering characteristics. They were especially impressed by the powerful shell, which could be successfully used to destroy the powerful fortifications of the Taliban. Here and there the self-propelled 152-mm "Hyacinth" gun was nicknamed "Genocide", which hints at its fighting power.

Gun Characteristics

The design of the 2A37 gun is quite standard: a monoblock tube, breech and muzzle brake, without which with such an impressive caliber will not be manageable. By the way, it belongs to the slot type. Shutter semi-automatic, rock type with horizontal skew. The gun is equipped with a retarding brake of a hydraulic type, as well as a rifle (pneumatic), the feature of which is that its cylinders roll back along with the barrel. The smallest rollback is 730 mm, the largest is 950 mm.

The chain forwarder works in two steps: first sends a shell into the breech, and only after it comes the turn of the cartridge case. Sectoral lifting and turning mechanisms simplify the work of the crew. The gun is rotated on the simplest machine, the device of which excludes almost all major failures.

Other features

In the horizontal region, the gun can be guided within 30 °. The vertical guidance is from -2.5 ° to 58 °. The gun is closed with a strong shield, which protects the crew of the machine from bullets, splinters and a shock wave that occurs when a shot is fired. The shield is made by the simplest punching from a single sheet of armored steel. Let us recall once again that "Hyacinth" is ACS. The photos show well its low security. This feature of this technique is due to the fact that it is not intended for direct combat collisions with the enemy.

Sights are represented by a simple mechanical sight D726-45, assembled with the gun panorama PG-1M. For aiming at closer and clearly visible targets, the OP4M-91A optical sight is designed. The weight of the gun is 10,800 kg.

Information about the chassis and ammunition

In order to unify the chassis SAU 2S5 "Hyacinth" was built on the same basis as the ACS 2C3 "Acacia". As in the case of "Acacia," the entire ammunition is located inside the shell, but the delivery of shells to the gun is done manually. Outside, in the stern part of the machine, a massive stabilizer plate is mounted. It rests against the ground when firing, informing the installation of the necessary stability.

That is why the SAU "Hyacinth" in principle can not shoot on the go. However, the normative time for bringing the unit from a marching position to a combat position is only four minutes, so the practical effectiveness of this automatic control system is very high. This self-propelled gun has excellent maneuverability, which ensures rapid movement on the battlefield. Do not forget about the built-in equipment for digging. Using it, the crew can slam the car into the ground in just a few minutes.

It should be noted that initially a standard ammunition was the VOF39 projectile, which had a total mass of 80.8 kg. For the damaging effect in it corresponds to the charge OF-29 (46 kg), which uses almost five kilograms of strong explosive A-IX-2. The detonator is the simplest (shock) B-429. A little later, the developers created a shot of ZVOF86, which, when combined with the OP-59 projectile, can be used to defeat targets at a distance of up to 30 kilometers.

The usual ammunition includes three dozen rounds of separately-loaded loads, and among them there are new types of shots with improved aerodynamic shape, as well as shells with active laser homing.

"Nuclear Flower"

In general, in our press it is not too advertised. In the western same long time, reports have surfaced that the SAU "Hyacinth" can use nuclear charges up to 0.1-2 kT. It is known that to date in our country are being developed completely new projectiles caliber 152 mm for the "Hyacinth". One of the most interesting is the cluster projectile 3-0-13, and in the plans to create independently-guided fragmentation elements for it. Very promising are shells designed to produce active jamming, which seriously hinders or makes impossible the work of enemy electronics.

Tactical appointment

This weapon is designed to suppress the enemy's active artillery batteries, destroy the PTA and other field fortifications, destroy a variety of enemy command posts (including in the rear), as well as to combat the heavy armored vehicles of the enemy. As we have already mentioned, the aiming devices allow to fire both direct (optical) and from closed positions (mechanical sights). Like other artillery and small arms of domestic production, the automatic control system can be effectively used in any weather and climate conditions.

Unfortunately, to date, the 2C5 gun is morally obsolete. However, this automatic control system remains to this day one of the most long - range self - propelled units of domestic production, and in this respect, Hyacinth is second only to Pionu with its caliber of 203 mm.

Unlike similar installations of this class, the artillery "Hyacinth" was not transferred to any country of the Warsaw Pact. Only in 1991, immediately after the collapse of the USSR, Finland acquired 15 units. It should be noted that at present there is no information on the development of an adequate replacement of this automatic control system for our troops, whereas potential opponents of development in this area have never stopped. Thus, we do not know how long the "Hyacinth" will be. The self-propelled gun of this model will certainly remain in the arsenal of our army for a very long time.