During a tactical military exercise held with the Eastern MD artillery formation located in the Amur River Region, Russia, Russian soldiers performed a real live firing with the improved self-propelled artillery gun 203mm caliber called 2S7M "Malka" which is based on the the 2S7 Pion.
Crews of self-propelled cannons 2S7M Malka and Giatsint-S have performed combat tasks engaging command centres, SAM sites and hardware concentrations of simulated enemy at distances of more than 25 km. All targets were destroyed.The firings from the 203mm artillery systems Malka were held for the first time after rearmament of the artillery formation. The exercise had started on March 29 and will last until the end of the week.
The 2S7M Malka is the latest upgrade of the standard 2S7 Pion which is equipped with new communications equipment and can carry a total of eight 203 mm projectiles and charges.
In addition, rate of fire is increased from 1.5 to 2.5 rds/min, durability of the system has been improved and firing data can be transmitted directly to the gun.
Externally the only difference between them is a slightly lower engine deck (basically eliminating what the kit dubs parts R135, R131 and R110) behind the armored cab. "Malka" uses one less crewman. |
