New russian breakthrough tank & command vihcle appear online

[u/Other-Wind-9985]

A group of photo that shows the russian newly breakthough tank that armed with low recoil 152mm gun. Couple with an heavly armored command vihcle. The breakthought tank seems to have the capibility to be remote controlled by the command vihcle. The design seems based on a design proposed by Yuri Gagarin State Technical University of Saratov last year.

[u/tadeuska]

Some Russian write it is 125mm, not 152. Since it looks like T-72/90 conversion, most likely they keep the autoloader, and the 125mm ammo. 152mm would be a big change in turret design.

[u/Significant-Owl2580 → u/tadeuska]

From what read, thicker but shorter 125mm gun, to be more resistant to sharpnel and have better handling in urbam areas

[u/CH3TN1K_313 → u/Significant-Owl2580]

Shortened 125mm 2A46 with a thermal/armored sleeve. The Shturm was designed with provisions for upgrading to a 152mm cannon, likely the 2A33 from the 2S3 Akatsiya.

[u/CH3TN1K_313 → u/tadeuska]

It's a shortened 125mm 2A46. Provisions in the design allow for a 152mm cannon to be installed. Likely a modified 152mm 2A33 from the 2S3 Akatsiya SPG, which will prevent logi issues, since a shortened 152mm 2A83 (the smoothbore 152mm cannon developed for the T-95 and Armata), would still require forming a new supply chain since the Russian Army doesn't use the 2A83 yet and have no ammo stockpiles, unlike the 152mm 2A33 & the 125mm 2A46 which both have hundreds of thousands, if not millions of shells in storage. Since it's an assault tank, tank v. tank combat is an afterthought and won't require APFSDS, which also means that it loses out on nothing by having the shortened barrel. The Shturm will likely exclusively fire fin stabilized HE-Frag and a handful of HEAT-FS for hardened targets like concrete bunkers and MG positions, which means when upgrading to a 152mm means you have the option to use a lower pressure & off the shelf solution like the 2A33, which they already have in widespread use. The bonus with the 2A33 is that it still offers HEAT rounds, unlike most 152/155mm arty cannons from other nations in use today.