2A45 and 2A45M are the respective

GRAU The Main Missile and Artillery Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (), commonly referred to by its transliterated Russian acronym GRAU (), is a department of the Russian Ministry of Defense. It is subordinate to the ...

designations of the Sprut-A and Sprut-B (Russian for ''

octopus An octopus ( : octopuses or octopodes, see below for variants) is a soft-bodied, eight- limbed mollusc of the order Octopoda (, ). The order consists of some 300 species and is grouped within the class Cephalopoda with squids, cuttle ...

'' or ''

kraken The kraken () is a legendary sea monster of enormous size said to appear off the coasts of Norway. Kraken, the subject of sailors' superstitions and mythos, was first described in the modern age at the turn of the 18th century, in a travelogu ...

'') Soviet smoothbore 125 mm

anti-tank gun An anti-tank gun is a form of artillery designed to destroy tanks and other armored fighting vehicles, normally from a static defensive position. The development of specialized anti-tank munitions and anti-tank guns was prompted by the appearance ...

Development

The 2A45M was created in the late 1980s by the Petrov Design Bureau at Artillery Plant Number 9 (OKB-9), which was also responsible for the

122 mm howitzer 2A18 (D-30) The 122-mm howitzer D-30 ( GRAU index 2A18) is a Soviet howitzer that first entered service in 1960. It is a robust piece that focuses on the essential features of a towed field gun suitable for all conditions. The D-30 has a maximum range of 1 ...

Description (Sprut-B)

A feature of the Sprut-B is its integrated engine, which can propel the gun on relatively flat surfaces (up to 15 degrees of slope) and at 14 km/h on roads. This gives the gun a measure of mobility on the battlefield. It takes two minutes to go from firing position to travelling position and 90 seconds to go from travelling position to firing position. Such guns are known in Russian as "self-moving" (самодвижущиеся) as opposed to

self-propelled Self-propelled may refer to * Human-powered transport, humans moving themselves (and their cargo) via their own muscle energy * Machines that power their own movement: ** Automobile (from ''auto-'' + ''mobile'', "self-moving") ** Locomotive (from ...

(самоходные), and outside of battle it is

towed Towing is coupling two or more objects together so that they may be pulled by a designated power source or sources. The towing source may be a motorized land vehicle, vessel, animal, or human, and the load being anything that can be pulled. Th ...

by an MT-LB. The gun features a crew of seven. An OP4M-48A direct fire sight is used in daylight, while a 1PN53-1 night-vision sight is used at night. For indirect fire, 2Ts33 iron sights are used, along with a PG-1m panoramic sight. The gun can reliably engage targets two metres high at a distance of 2,000 metres. The barrel features a thermal sleeve to prevent temperature changes affecting the accuracy. The gun uses the same semi-fixed ammunition as the T-64, T-72, T-80 and T-90 tanks. With the addition of the 9S53 laser fire-control system, the gun can fire laser guided projectiles such as the 9M119 Svir or 9K120 Refleks.

Ammunition

The gun uses the same ammunition as the D-81 series of guns used on the T-64, T-72, T-80 and T-90 tanks.

Models

* 2A45 Sprut-A Stationary towed gun variant. * 2A45M Sprut-B Self-propelled towed gun variant that can move under its own power with the addition of wheels and a power unit.

Operators

Current operators

* * * : made under license, by KMDB, in the city of Kharkiv.

Former operators

* passed construction license to successor states *

References

* Hull, A.W., Markov, D.R., Zaloga, S.J. (1999). ''Soviet/Russian Armor and Artillery Design Practices 1945 to Present''. Darlington Productions. .
Military Parade

2A45M on manufacturer site
* Jane's Armour and Artillery 2002-2003

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sprut Anti-Tank Gun Anti-tank guns of the Soviet Union Anti-tank guns of Russia Cold War artillery of the Soviet Union 125 mm artillery Anti-tank guns of the Cold War Military equipment introduced in the 1980s