At the very beginning of the eighties, the Design Bureau of the Ural plant of transport engineering, headed by L. I. Gorlitsky, received an order from the GRAU to create a self-propelled howitzer that could replace the "serving" in the troops "Akatsia" - 2S3. It was supposed to make a universal 152 mm howitzer, capable of functioning as self-propelled guns and towed artillery. At the same time, it was planned to create a new chassis that would be unified with the chassis of tanks.
The first self-propelled gun - 2A65 under the name "Msta-B" - was accepted into the artillery regiments of tank and motorized rifle divisions in 1989. The letter "B" means "towed". She really could only be used with a tug. However, soon there was also "Msta-S", that is, self-propelled.
And it was excellently suited to perform tasks that could be assigned to it - the destruction of artillery or mortar batteries, tanks, armored personnel carriers, manpower, anti-tank weapons, missile defense and air defense systems, as well as nuclear weapons, command posts and any fortifications. Fire was supposed to be fired at both observed and hidden targets, direct fire and from closed positions. During the shooting, they could use not only shots from the ammunition rack, but also those simply fed from the ground. At the same time, the rate of fire practically did not decrease!
The geometry and design of the SPG hull is similar to that of the T-72, with a few exceptions. For example, self-propelled gun armor is weaker than that of the T-72. In the frontal part, made of homogeneous armor steel, there is no combined booking.
For a long time, "Msta-S" was considered one of the best representatives of its class. However, time passes and there is a need to create other, more advanced self-propelled units. And it is being replaced by "Msta-M", that is, modernized.
The new self-propelled artillery unit of 152 mm caliber will go into service as early as 2012. As it became known, its barrel is significantly lengthened - from 47 calibers to 52. Thus, its firing range will significantly increase. If "Msta-S" could hit targets at a distance of 29 kilometers, the new ACS will be able to do it at a distance of 41 kilometers! True, for this it was necessary to master a lot of new technologies in the field of creating barrels. As one of the developers of the new weapon said, the longer the barrel, the more difficult it is to maintain its combat accuracy.
Also, the new "Msta" is equipped with a digital guidance system, which is able to independently calculate the ballistic trajectory of the projectile.
However, at the present time it has been decided to fire old shells from the new installation. But experts say that high-precision shooting at targets located at the maximum distance is simply impossible if the appropriate projectiles are not created. And their purchase is not planned to be carried out earlier than 2015. However, to date, the Russian ammunition concern "NPO Mashinostroitel" has developed eight different rounds of 152 mm caliber for the new gun. Among them there are shells with a variety of fuses: radar, programmable electronic and others. In addition, modular propelling charges were also created, which can be combined depending on what task is assigned to the ACS at the moment.
Representatives of the ministry explain the refusal to purchase new shells by the need to free warehouses from obsolete ammunition. Thus, the purchase of new shells is postponed until 2015 or even 2017. Well, when firing new projectiles, Msta-M will be able to hit targets not at a distance of 40 kilometers, but only 32 kilometers. At the same time, it cannot be said that they will have high accuracy - at the maximum distance, the spread can reach 50-100 meters.
At the same time, serious developments are underway in the US Army, the purpose of which will be to create shells that, when fired at a distance of 40 kilometers, will hit the target with a deviation of up to 10 meters. As is already known, Russian scientists can create such projectiles, but purchases, as mentioned above, are not funded. But most of the Russian artillery brigades use shells created in Soviet times for shooting ranges. The arsenals are filled with ammunition that has been stored there since the Great Patriotic War.
Since the old shells were created using primitive technologies, we can say for sure that when using them, it will be impossible to achieve the results that Msta-M could demonstrate when using modern shells.
