With a maximum firing rate of up to 8 rounds per minute and a range of up to 38km, the M46 is currently the most powerful artillery piece in the Vietnamese Artillery Force.
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| The M46 130mm long-barreled howitzer (full designation “M1954 towed ground gun”) was a Cold War-era Soviet combat vehicle primarily used for supporting ground forces. |
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| The M46 was publicly unveiled to Western observers in 1954 (hence it is called the M1954) and entered service with the armies of countries friendly to the Soviet Union from the Middle East, Africa, South America to Asia and Eastern Europe. |
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| Vietnam received its first M46 rifles during the war against the US and continues to use them to this day. |
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| The M46's design is standard within its artillery class. The M46's long, tapered barrel is mounted on two large rubber wheels for mobility. To prevent displacement during firing, the M46 has two long "legs," which the gunner will drive into the ground. |
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| Next, there was a shield next to the gun barrel to provide minimal protection for the gunner from shrapnel and bullets. A large muzzle brake reduced the shock of firing, and its moderate size allowed the M46 to be transported to the battlefield by various means compared to earlier models of the same class and deployed anywhere within its size. |
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| The standard crew for the M46 130mm gun is 8. The M46's towed gun class and its weight of 8.45 tons mean that moving it across various terrains requires a heavy truck to tow it; for example, the Vietnamese Navy uses Kraz 255B trucks to tow M46s. |
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| The rate of fire of the artillery depends heavily on the skill of the gun crew, but with good skill, this 130mm artillery piece can achieve a rate of 6 rounds/minute under normal conditions, and about 5 rounds/minute during prolonged firing, while short bursts of intense firing can reach a rate of up to 8 rounds/minute. |
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| With a muzzle velocity of 930 m/s, the M46 cannon has a maximum range of 27 km, and with extended-range ammunition, the range can reach up to 38 km. |
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| Besides its primary function of indirect fire (rainbow flare), the M46 can also fire directly, even at night, with a specialized night vision scope. |
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| The types of ammunition used for the M46 long-barreled cannon include: 0F-43 and OF-44 fragmentation rounds with ranges of 27km and 22km respectively; high-range rounds with a range of 38km; armor-piercing anti-tank rounds with a range of only about 1,140m but fired directly through the barrel; and incendiary, smoke, and chemical rounds. (Compilation). |
According to Baodatviet
