170 mm super-range ACN M1989 Koksan
If we use the terms of Darwinism, humanity initially, from the first day of its existence, began to undergo a natural selection. In each tribe there was the best hunter, among the people - the leader, in the village - a plowman, and in the city - the best potter. This was no exception in the era of modernity, just the interests became corporate, the most evil gangster is defended in court by the best lawyer, the most "fried" news about the celebrity - the best journalist, and the most idiotic socio-economic structure - the most odious politician. The spirit of competitiveness, or, if you will, competitiveness, is inherent in man, as if he were in his genotype. By and large, a person does not care that his neighbor's repair is made worse, but still nice, damn it! I believe that the military industry also belongs to this category, just here world domination can be put at stake. The more interesting are the consequences of the theory of “grotesque gigantism”, the followers of which, I am sure, are in every nation.
The Tsar Cannon, the Dora German siege gun, the Soviet B-4 howitzer, the American XMUMX self-propelled gun ... These products of the human mind evoke strange associations. They were created at a time when representatives of one or another people were thinking about world domination. 107 - mm M170 Koksan ultra-long guns of North Korean production also belong to this series of super giants. This modernized artillery gun had a prototype, which was given the code name M1989.
History M1978 appearance
In the history of the appearance of the 1978 M, everything happened quite arbitrarily, starting with the discovery of the first evidence of its existence. Western "hacks", looking at the chronicle of the revolutionary parade in Pyongyang in 1978, noticed a strange structure with an unnaturally long barrel.
True, American journalists did not yet know that at the beginning of the same year, American military air reconnaissance spotted the movement of these fire systems in the area of the city of Koksan and gave them a conventional symbol for the place and year of the serif, МХNUMX "Koksan", because possessed. Much later, a year later, through their technical and undercover sources, US RUMO collected some data on this system.
Product M1978 "Koksan"
The information obtained in relation to this artillery gun was very scarce, and was supplemented somewhere by assumptions, by analogy with other fire weapons of super-power caliber.
The base of the North Korean version was used for the chassis of this gun. tank Type-59 production of China, which was "copied" from the Soviet medium tank T-54. Another assumption is that an obsolete Chinese armored car was taken as a platform for the gun. In any case, this is a 170 mm self-propelled howitzer self-propelled guns mounted in an open turret on a tank chassis.
In the modification of this monster of the model 1989 of the year (the name М1989 "Koksan"), a portable ammunition in the number of 12 shots was already provided. The base of the prototype and the modification was equipped with a diesel engine, which reached the speed of 40 km / h along the highway with a reserve of the year for fuel 300 km. The gun had a range of conventional projectiles to 40 km, with active-reactive type of ammunition - to 60 km. Rate of Fire: 1 — 2 Shot / 5 Min.
Combat use of M1978 and M1989
As we remember, the result of the civil won in Korea was the division of the country into the southern part (South Korea with its capital in Seoul) and the north (North Korea with its capital in Pyongyang). A demilitarized zone was formed between them, beyond which the deployment of military formations was allowed. So, the products M1978 and M1989 were brought into battle order by the command of the DPRK by the battalion of 36 ACS, and mostly along the demilitarized zone. Systems, as a rule, were strengthened in engineering and disguised in concrete pillboxes. True, fortunately, until today, not a single shot was fired from them, although their presence in the area makes the population of South Korea horrified.
Operational and design flaws of ACS
At the turn of the 90-s of the XX century, this artillery system was morally obsolete, and a tendency towards normalization of relations between the Korean North and the South began to emerge. Meanwhile, problems have arisen with the maintenance of the old chassis, which was initially low, heavy and uncomfortable. In addition, the military was not satisfied with some points on the artillery part - the lack of portable ammunition, frequent failure of the recoil parts of the gun due to the monstrous force of recoil, etc. All this made it possible to obtain a conclusion on the removal of this weapon from the DPRK army timetables.
Iran-Iraq conflict
The "fratricidal" Iran-Iraq war between Sunnis and Shiites in the Middle East, meanwhile, did not stop, and both sides lacked equipment and weapons. Written off North Korean technology found itself in the Middle East theater, both from Iran and Iraq. Perhaps it was the only case of truly combat use of "Koksana" in hostilities. Towards the end of the war, Iraqis fired from these guns. Iran’s oil development from the Al-Faw Peninsula, and four years later, it was Kuwait’s turn.
The presence of "Koksanov" the enemy has become a cold shower for Iraqis. Their artillery divisions, previously dominant in the theater of operations, began to suffer losses in personnel and equipment. The fighting in the Middle East revealed the real shortcomings of this howitzer in combat use: this is a low rate of fire and a small resource of the artillery part of the barrel.
Conclusion
The time of supersystems has passed, the time has come for a different resolution of international conflicts, but instruments such as the Koksan will remain a vivid reminder of individual episodes of military history.
170-mm self-propelled gun M1989 production of the DPRK. Pyongyang, 15.04.2012 (c) TankNet
Information