| This gun has a distinctive four-wheeled carriage, and an armored shield that slopes to the rear and extends over the wheels. The 49 caliber barrel of
the 2A36 is fitted with a multi-slotted muzzle brake weighing 141 kg. The recoil system consists of a buffer and a recuperator which are mounted
above the ordnance towards the rear. The horizontal sliding breech mechanism opens to the right automatically. The ordnance pivots on the cradle which
is of cast and welded steel construction. Elevation and traverse is manual with the former being from -2° 30' to +57° with traverse being
25° left and right. The direct and indirect sights are mounted on the left side of the carriage as are the elevation and traverse mechanisms.
The walking beam suspension has a total of four rubber-tired braked road wheels for high speed towing as well as for improved cross-country mobility
with the tires having a normal tire pressure of 4.8 kg/cm2. Each of the front road wheels has a hydraulic shock absorber and a manual handbrake.
When in firing position, the 2A36 is supported on a circular jack that is located under the forward part of the carriage and on each of the box type welded
trails which is provided with a spade. The standard spade is the winter spade but when firing from soft terrain much larger summer spades are used.
When coming out of action, the jack is raised clear of the ground and secured under the front, spades removed and stowed on the trails, trails brought
together and clamped with a tie mechanism. The hinged tow bar is fitted to the right trail and the weapon is then hitched up to the prime mover.
Mounted below and to the rear of the breech is the load assist system which is referred to as a quick firing loading system by the former Soviets. This
includes a hydraulic rammer operated from the hydro-pneumatic accumulator with controls being provided for ramming and return. A fused projectile is
placed on the loading tray which is mounted to the right of the breech. When the breech is opened this slides to the left until it lines up with the breech.
The projectile is then rammed into the ordnance, the loading tray then slides back to the right. The propelling charge, which weighs a maximum of 11 kg,
is placed in a conventional cartridge case is then loaded in a similar manner and when the breech is closed the rammer automatically returns to the side
and the weapon is then ready to fire. The gun has a rate of fire of six rounds per minute a battery can put almost one ton of ammunition onto a target in
one minute.
The range of separate loading ammunition includes high explosive fragmentation (HE-FRAG) and armor-piercing tracer (AP-T). Other types of projectile
that can probably be fired include chemical, smoke, concrete piercing, incendiary and tactical nuclear. The ammunition system used is of a new
streamlined design and is not inter-operable with that of earlier former Soviet artillery systems, such as the 152 mm 2S3.
The AP-T round is used in the direct fire mode against tanks and other armored fighting vehicles.
The standard HE-FRAG projectile has a maximum range of 27000 m although a rocket-assisted can also be fired. This has a maximum range of 40,000m.
Before loading the HE-FRAG projectile the fusing mode is selected either for fragmentation or high explosive action.
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