2S3 Akatsiya

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2S3 Akatsiya
Country Of origin	USSR/Russia
Designation	Self-propelled artillery
Configuration	Tracked
Manufacturer:
Crew:	6 (4+2)
Length	8.4 m
Width	3.25 m
Height	3.05 m
Weight, Combat	27,500 kg
Ground Clearance	0.45 m
Fording	1.0 m
Verical Obstacle	0.7 m
Trench	3.0 m
Maximum Road Speed	60 km/h
Maximum Road Range	500 km
Primary armament	D20 152-mm gun
Secondary armament	1×7.62 mm AA MG
Armour	15 mm (maximum turret), 20 mm (maximum hull)
Power plant	520 hp (388 kW) Diesel
NBC	Yes
Night	Yes (infrared for driver and commander)

The 2S3 is a 152 mm self-propelled artillery produced by the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

Contents 1 Development 1.1 Variants 1.2 Operators 2 References

[edit] Development

Designated M1973 by the US Army, the 2S3 is armed with a 152.4 mm gun based on the Soviet D-20 howitzer and is easily confused with the M109 self-propelled artillery. The correct Russian designation is SO-152, but it is known as the 'Akatsiya'. The 2S3 chassis is based on that of the SA-4 Ganef surface to air missile system; it includes six (rather than seven as in the SA-4) road wheels and 4 return rollers. The V-59 V-12 water cooled diesel engine sits at front with the driver. The 152.4 mm main gun can be elevated from -4° to +60° with a turret traverse of a full 360°. The crew consists of 6 people; a driver, a gunner, a loader, a commander, and two ammunition handlers, which are positioned to the rear of the vehicle feeding projectiles through two circular hatches in the hull rear when in firing position. The 2S3 can fire HE-Frag projectiles at a maximum range of 18.5 km or rocket-assisted projectiles to a maximum of 24 km. Other projectiles available to the 2S3 include HEAT-FS, AP-T, illuminating and smoke. Production has been completed.

[edit] Variants

Later production models (2S3M and 2S3M1) had some modernizations.

[edit] Operators

Algeria, Armenia, Belarus, Cuba, Georgia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Libya, Russia, Syria, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vietnam

[edit] References

• 2S3 from Army Recognition.com

• Federation of American Scientists page

• Russian Arms Catalogue

Soviet and post-Soviet armoured fighting vehicles after World War II
Tanks IS-3 · IS-4 · T-10 · T-54 · T-55 · PT-76 · T-62 · T-64 · T-72 · T-80 Russian: T-90 · Black Eagle · T-95 Ukrainian: T-72MP · T-80UD · T-84 Armoured personnel carriers Tracked BTR-50 · MT-LB · BMP-1 · BMD-1 · BMP-2 · BMP-3 · BTR-T · BMP-T · ASU-57 · ASU-85 Wheeled BTR-152 · BTR-40 · BRDM-1 · BRDM-2 · BTR-60 · BTR-70 · BTR-80 Russian: BTR-90 Ukrainian: BTR-4 · BTR-94 Self-propelled artillery 2S1 Gvozdika · 2S3 Akatsiya · 2S4 Tyulpan · 2S5 Giatsint-S · 2S7 Pion · 2S9 Nona · 2S19 Msta · 2S23 Nona-SVK Multiple rocket launchers BM-14 · BM-21 Grad · BM-24 · BM-25 · BM-27 Uragan Russian: BM-30 Smerch Surface-to-surface missiles FROG-7 · 9K79 Tochka (SS-21 Scarab) · R-400 Oka (SS-23 Spider Russian: Iskander(SS-26 Stone) Air defense vehicles Gun ZSU-57-2 · ZSU-23-4 · Tunguska-M1 Missile 2K11 Krug (SA-4 Ganef) · 9K33 Osa (SA-8 Gecko) · 9K31 Strela-1 (SA-9 Gaskin) · 9K37 Buk (SA-11 Gadfly) · 9K35 Strela-10 (SA-13 Gopher) · 2K12 Kub (SA-6 Gainful) · 9K330 Tor (SA-15 Gauntlet) · S-300 (SA-10 Grumble) Russian: Pantsyr-S1 · 9K38 Buk-M1-2 (SA-17 Grizzly)
List of armoured fighting vehicles by country