2A46 125 mm gun

2A46 125 mm gun
2A46M1 in Motovilikha Plants museum
Type	Smoothbore tank gun
Place of origin	USSR
Specifications
Caliber	125 mm

The 2A46 (also called D-81T) is a 125mm/L48 smoothbore cannon of Soviet origin used in several main battle tanks.

Description

It was developed by the Spetstekhnika Design Bureau in Ekaterinburg in the 1960s originally for the T-64A tank. They were then manufactured at Artillery Plant No.9 in Ekaterinburg and Motovilikha in Perm. Versions 2A46, 2A46M, 2A46M-1 2A46M-2 2A46M-4 2A46M-5 and the KBA-3(Ukrainian).

The 2A46 can fire armour-piercing fin-stabilised discarding sabot (APFSDS), high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) and high-explosive fragmentation (HEF) projectiles. The ammunition for the 2A46 gun is 2-piece, in that the projectile is loaded first, followed by a separate propellant charge.

The early version of the 2A46 suffered from a short barrel life, but this was subsequently rectified on the 2A46M version.

The Ukrainian KBA guns are derived from the 2A46 gun.

Tanks using the 2A46

See also: T-72 operators and variants

Map with 2A46 operators in blue with former operators in red

The 2A46 has been used in numerous tanks, though these are almost exclusively Soviet/Russian designs or foreign derivatives thereof.

• Croatia
  • M-95 Degman
  • M-84D
• Iran
  • Zulfiqar
• Iraq
  • Asad Babil tank
• North Korea
  • Chonma-ho V (Ma)
  • Pokpung-Ho II & III
• Poland
  • PT-91 Twardy
• Socialist Republic of Romania
  • TR-125
• Russia
  • T-90
  • T-80
  • T-72
  • T-67 (125mm gun-armed T-62)
  • T-64
  • T-55M6
  • Obyekt 640/Black Eagle
• Serbia
  • M-84AS
• Ukraine
  • T-84
• Yugoslavia
  • M-84

See also

• 125 mm smoothbore ammunition
• 2A45 Sprut - A Soviet towed 125 mm anti-tank gun

Weapons of comparable role, performance and era

• L30 : British 120-mm rifled equivalent
• GIAT CN120-26/52 : French 120-mm equivalent
• Rheinmetall 120 mm gun : German 120-mm equivalent
• IMI 120 mm gun : Israeli 120-mm equivalent

Sources

• http://fofanov.armor.kiev.ua/