Self-propelled mortar 2С4 "Tulip"
The mortar is designed to destroy durable field structures, buildings adapted by the enemy to shelter manpower and equipment, command posts, artillery and rocket batteries and other military equipment inaccessible to flat fire. The self-propelled mortar 2C4 is the only mortar in the world of this caliber and has no analogues.
Unlike the M-240 mortar, where all operations were performed manually, a hydraulic system was introduced into the 2B8 artillery unit, which was used to: transfer the mortar from the traveling position to the combat position and back; vertical hover mortar; removing the barrel on the line of mine and opening the shutter; feeding mines from a mechanized ammunition to the rammer guides located on the top of the base chassis; loading mortars, closing the bolt and lowering the barrel into the breech.
The charging angle 2B8 is about + 63 °. The mines are sent to the rammer guides automatically from a mechanical warhead located in the chassis body (40 high-explosive or 20 active-reactive mines are located in two warheads). In addition, the loading can be done from the ground with the help of a crane.
Horizontal guidance remained manual. The B-2 diesel engine installed on the 4C59 allows up to 60 km / h on the highway, and up to 30 km / h on dirt roads. The mortar fires a steel F-864 high-explosive mine with a mass of 130,7 kg and a mass of explosive charge 32 kg. Fuse GVMZ-7 has a setting for instant and slow action.
Mina F-864 with a shot of the VF-864 has five charges that tell her the initial speed 158-362 m / s and, accordingly, the distance from 800 to 9 650 m. The igniter charge is in the mine stabilizer tube.
The rest are placed in the ring-shaped cases, attached to the tube itself with the help of silk cords. According to the Western press, active-reactive mines with nuclear charges were also created for M-240 and 2Б8. At the end of the 80-ies for Tulip was developed managed (adjustable) mine 1-113 Smelchak. It is fired in the same way as usual, only the opening time of the window of the optical homing head and the turn-on time of the laser pointer are set.
At a distance from 200 to 5 000 m from the target spotter with a laser pointer. They are highlighted by the target, and not all the time of the flight of the mine, but only when it approaches the target for a distance of 400-800 m. That is, the time of illumination and, accordingly, the correction of the flight of the mine lasts from one to three seconds, the enemy does not have time to physically put Brave hindrance.
In this case, the probability of hitting a circle with a diameter of 2-3 m is equal to 80-90%. During the fighting in Afghanistan, "brave souls" from the first shot fell into the entrances of caves occupied by dushmans. 240-mm mortar, firing both conventional and controlled mines, is indispensable when storming fortified positions, as well as in hostilities in populated areas. For example, you can put it at a distance 10-20 m from a multi-storey building, give a maximum angle of elevation, and when shooting small accelerating charges, the steepness of the falling mines becomes almost vertical, that is, you can hit the enemy behind the opposite wall of the house.
In the postwar period, no country in the world has adopted such powerful mortars. According to information published in the journal Military Balance for 1991 / 1992 years, the USSR at that time had 54, and Czechoslovakia had eight Tulip installations. Currently, the caliber of mortars of the USA, England, France and Germany does not exceed 120 mm.
Information