The 2S7 Pion or Malka is a Sovietself-propelled 203mm heavy artillery. "2S7" is its GRAU designation. It was identified for the first time in 1975 in the Soviet Army and so was called M-1975 by NATO, whereas its official designation is SO-203. Its design is based on a T-80 chassis carrying an externally mounted 2A44 203 mm gun on the hull rear.
Description
It takes the crew of seven men 5–6 minutes to come into action and 3–5 minutes to come out of action. It carries four 203 mm projectiles for immediate use. It is capable of firing nuclear ammunition. The gun has a range of 37,500 m, but this can be extended to 55,500 m by using RAPs. The Pion has been the most powerful conventional artillery piece since entering service in 1983. One interesting feature of the Pion is the firing alarm. Because the blast of the weapon firing is so powerful—it can physically incapacitate an unprepared soldier or crew member near it from concussive force—the Pion is equipped with an audible firing alarm that emits a series of short warning tones for approximately five seconds prior to the charge being fired. The 2S7 carries a crew of fourteen; seven are carried by the Pion and seven are with an auxiliary vehicle. The system carries four rounds of ammunition; four more rounds are carried by the support vehicle. Due to the long range, the crew can fire one or two rounds and leave position before the first round hits the enemy position over 40 km away. This makes the 2S7 less susceptible to counter-battery fire, from an enemy with a counter-battery radar such as ARTHUR.
2S7s were brought back into service by the Ukrainian army during the War in Donbass in late 2014, and were used in combat just outside the 'buffer' zone stipulated by the Minsk Protocol, as they had long enough range to still provide artillery support.
The Russian armed forces are reinforcing their artillery forces, reactivating 2S7M Malka 203 mm self-propelled howitzers and 2S4 Tyulpan 240 mm self-propelled mortars. The upgraded 2S7M SPH is linked to the modernised 1V12M command vehicle, which uses a GLONASS navigation unit.
Variants
2S7 Pion
* 2S7M Malka – An improved variant, which entered service in 1983, that improved the gun's fire control systems, increased the rate of fire from 1.5 to 2.5 rounds per minute, and increased the ammunition load to eight projectiles.
BTM-4 Trench Digger
Operators
Although no figures have been released, it is estimated that well over 1,000 have been built.
– 8 guns. Military designation "Piwonia". Entered service in 1985 and withdrawn in 2006. Served first in the 5thArtillery Brigade in Głogów then with the 23rd Silesian Artillery Brigade in Bolesławiec.
