Vitaly V. Kuzmin
The Eastern Military District’s artillery units have been armed with over a dozen ‘Tulipan’ (Tulip) mortars, designed to destroy heavily fortified field constructions. This is an effective and terrifying weapon that, over the past 10 years, has been practically absent from military units. These self-propelled units have now been reactivated.
The self-propelled 2S4 ‘Tulipan’ mortars, of a caliber surpassing Western counterparts, had been practically removed from service, with around 430 of these weapons remaining in Russia, kept in storage at military bases. This is despite the fact that, in 43 years of service in the armed forces, the effectiveness of this weapon was never in doubt.
The range of ordinance that the ‘Tulipan’ can shoot includes high-explosive, incendiary, guided, cluster, neutron and nuclear warheads, some of which are capable of hitting targets at a distance of about 20 kms.
The ‘Tulipan’, with its 240-mm caliber cannon, is the largest from a series of self-propelled units given “flowery” names; ‘Gvozdika’ (Carnation), ‘Akatsiya’ (Acacia), ‘Giatsint’ (Hyacinth), and ‘Pion’ (Peony).
The latest modern munitions are guided mines, which are part of the 1K113 ‘Smelchak’ (Daredevil) system. The structure of this system includes 240 mm command-detonated 3VF4 mines with high-explosive 3F5 shells and the 1D15 laser target designator and rangefinder, with 1F35K and 1A35I synchronization equipment. Powerful 134-kilogram mines of the Smelchak and Smelchak-M complexes, to increase their accuracy, have their targets “illuminated” by a laser beam in the later stages. The duration of this process is minimal, not allowing the opponent enough time to interfere with or prevent the destruction of the object
https://www.rbth.com/economics/defence/2016/01/02/most-powerful-nuclear-mortar-tulip-back-in-service_551055
