Ukrainian army uses new 120mm self-propelled mortar carrier vehicles to fight Russian troops
A picture was released on the Facebook account of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on December 28, 2022, showing a new hybrid 120mm self-propelled mortar carrier vehicle used by Ukrainian soldiers. According to our first analysis, the vehicle is based on the chassis of a BMP-1 IFV (Infantry Fighting Vehicle) equipped with the turret of a 2S9 NONA, a Soviet-made 120 mm self-propelled mortar carrier tracked armored vehicle.
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Ukrainian army operates new 120mm self-propelled mortar carrier based on BMP-1 IFV tracked chassis fitted with a 2S9 120mm mortar turret. (Picture source General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine)
A prototype of the BMP-1 tracked chassis with a 2S9 120mm mortar turret has been developed by the Ukrainian company Shepetivka Repair Plant. A picture was released in January 2021 by the Russian press agency Anna-News, showing the conversion of a Soviet-made BMP-1 IFV (Infantry Fighting Vehicle) to a 120mm self-propelled mortar carrier using the turret of the 2S9 Soviet-made self-propelled mortar carrier.
In the 1980s, Russia launched a project under the name of 2S17-2 to develop a new self-propelled mortar carrier based on the BRM-1K, a reconnaissance armored vehicle in the BMP-1 family fitted with a 120mm mortar turret.
According to open source information, at the beginning of the war in Ukraine, February 2022, the Ukrainian armed forces had 61 Soviet-made 2S9 Nona, which is based on the hull of the BTR-D, a Soviet-made airborne multi-purpose tracked armored personnel carrier. The BTR-D components were not produced in Ukraine and it caused support problems.
To resolve this issue, the Ukrainian company Shepetivka Repair Plant launched the project to integrate the 120mm mortar turret of the 2S9 on a BMP-1 IFV tracked chassis. There is no information on the number of vehicles of this type that has been produced by the Ukrainian company.
Soviet-made 2S9 120mm self-propelled mortar carrier armored vehicle. (Picture source Vitaly Kuzmin)
The two-man turret of the 2S9 Nona is of welded aluminum construction with 16 mm thick frontal armor. The turret roof has two hatches, one for the gunner and the other for the loader. She has a traverse limited to 35º on either side with mortar elevation from +80° to -4°.
The 2S9 turret is armed with a 120 mm breech-loaded gun 2A51 which can fire high-explosive, white phosphorus and smoke rounds. The standard HE mortar bomb has a maximum range of 8,800 m while the 120 mm rocket-assisted mortar bomb has a maximum range of 13,000 m. The 120 mm mortar has a rate of fire of 6 to 8 rds/min.