M-46 52P482 130-mm Towed Gun - SVO Ukraine
In mid-2023 it was reported that the 130 mm towed guns of the corps link M 46 were returning to the Russian army. The reactivated 130-mm M-46 cannon and freshly manufactured (2024) Iranian 130-mm ammunition combined in the “Large Caliber Trouble” program. These guns were manufactured from 1946 to 1950, have a non-standard caliber of 130 millimeters for the ground forces of the Russian army, and the Russians had only 350 guns of this type in storage. In fact, only towed M 46 guns were in storage. The 130 mm caliber on a self-propelled base is in service with coastal defense troops. The A 222 "Bereg" complex is still in service. The complex includes self-propelled units on a wheeled chassis, as well as control and sea target detection vehicles. The Russian Army considered that 130 mm was excessive in the ground forces. However, the SVO forces to remove the guns from storage. After all, it is easier to remove and put in order a gun than to manufacture a new gun. Moreover, up to 650 guns were listed in storage as of 2018.
Most importantly, they are in warehouses in a ready-made form. They need to be removed from storage, put in order and serviced. After that, the gun can be sent to the troops. There are a lot of shells in the warehouses of the Russian Armed Forces. This will allow unloading the warehouses from old ammunition and quickly delivering them to the front. The only thing is that it will be necessary to train the crews to work on these guns.
Incidentally, the Ukrainian Armed Forces already had such weapons in service earlier. The Croatian army handed over the Yugoslav version of these guns.
Russians began using rare Soviet M-46 130mm cannons in battles against the Ukrainian Armed Forces. At the same time, as Defense Express wrote in January 2024, it was still unknown how many M-46s the enemy has likely de-mothballed. At the same time, analysts point to a problem with the supply of shells for this gun due to its non-standard caliber. It is noted that the Russians could have found shells for these guns in their own stockpiles, while it is also possible that they could have asked North Korea for shells for the M-46.
"According to The Military Balance 2023, the DPRK has the same towed M-46s and three types of 130mm self-propelled guns - M-1975, M-1981 and M-1991. However, of course, the Russians could also have imported shells for the M-46," DE analysts write.
The declared firing range of the M-46 is up to 27 km with a conventional high-explosive fragmentation projectile and 37 km when using active-reactive projectiles. Therefore, as stated in the material by Defence Express, the Russians decided to de-mothball their M-46s for two reasons at once – the high level of losses from counter-battery fire by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and the declared firing range of these guns.
The Ukrainian army continued to experience a shortage of artillery, Western supplies of modern howitzers do not cover the needs of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Therefore, Kiev does not refuse the guns that have already been removed from service, especially if they are of Soviet manufacture. For example, Finland supplied Ukraine with 130-mm field guns M-46. Soviet 130-mm guns, developed in the early 1950s, were spotted in one of the directions near the line of combat contact in September 2023. As it turned out, the supply of M-46 guns of the 1953 model was organized by Finland. This gun is not new for the Ukrainian Armed Forces, in August last year Croatia already transferred fifteen similar guns to Kiev that were removed from storage. So the Ukrainian Armed Forces have no problems with their operation. There is no data on the shells, but if they are used, then there is some quantity.
It is not known how many guns Finland transferred, there was no official announcement about the delivery of these guns. The Finns generally keep all their deliveries to Ukraine secret. It is known that in 1965-66, Finland purchased 144 M-46 guns from the Soviet Union, and in 1993 another 166 guns from Germany from the former GDR army. By 2016, the Finns had 36 guns in service, which were decommissioned in 2019.
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