Magnolia new Russian 120mm artillery system based on articulated tracked vehicle

According to pictures released on Twitter, the Russian Company Uralvagonzavod has developed a new 120mm mobile artillery vehicle named Magnolia, based on the DT-30PM amphibious all-terrain tracked carrier vehicle. A news was released by TASS, the Russia Press agency in October 2018, that self-propelled mortar system Flox and Magnolia guns and Drok mortar are successfully undergoing preliminary trials.

The Magnolia is a new Russian-made 120mm self-propelled artillery system based on a tracked articulated amphibious all-terrain vehicle. (Picture source Uralvagonzavod)

In November 2017, TASS has announced that a self-propelled artillery system nicknamed Magnolia based on an articulated armored tracked chassis is being developed for Russian army units deployed in Arctic areas. Since a few years, the Russian Defense Ministry has launched a state arms program to create a whole range of highly mobile artillery guns for battalion level.

The DT-30PM is a two-section articulated carrier with a tracked tractor vehicle at the front and a tracked transport vehicle at the rear linked by a steering mechanism. For the Magnolia artillery system, the first vehicle is used to tow a modified cargo vehicle fitted with a turret armed with a 120 mm mortar. A bank of six 81 mm electrically operated 81 mm smoke grenade dischargers are mounted to each side at the front of the turret.

According to our first analysis, the Magnolia seems to be fitted with the same turret as the for the Russian-made 2S31 Vena, a 120 mm tracked self-propelled artillery system. The 2S31 Vena is equipped with a three-man turret armed with 2A80 120-mm rifled gun. The turret has a traverse of 360° with an elevation from -4º to up to +80º.

The Magnolia has a maximum firing range of 10 km with a rate of fire of 10 rounds per minute. The vehicle carries a total of 80 rounds.