KUBINKA /Moscow Region/, June 28. /TASS/. Russian specialists are developing a new active-reactive glide shell with a 25km range capability for the Airborne Force’s Lotos advanced self-propelled artillery gun, Lotos Chief Designer Veniamin Schastlivtsev told TASS at the Army-2019 international military and technical forum on Friday.

"Our proposal consists in caring out work codenamed ‘Glissada’ on the active-reactive glide munition with a range capability of 25 km," the chief designer said.

The work on the Glissada shell should use the potential accumulated in the process of developing new munitions for the advanced 152mm self-propelled artillery system Koalitsiya, he said.

"We are proposing that this work should be carried out on the basis of the homing warhead of a 152mm long-range guided munition being developed for the Koalitsiya-BP," the chief designer noted.

The same solution was used some time ago for developing the previous-generation precision weapons, the chief designer said.

"The 152mm Krasnopol munition was developed by the Design Bureau of Instrument-Making and this homing warhead was used for creating the Kitolov-2 [guided shell], which we currently have," Schastlivtsev said.

Lotos self-propelled artillery system

Russia’s Central Research Institute of Precision Machine-Building (TsNIITochMash, part of the state hi-tech corporation Rostec is developing the 2S42 Lotos air-droppable floating self-propelled artillery gun to boost the firepower of the Airborne Force and replace operational 2S9 Nona 120mm self-propelled artillery-mortar systems.

The artillery gun is mounted on the chassis of the BMD-4 airborne infantry fighting vehicle. As the Rostec press office reported, the new artillery vehicle weighs 18 tonnes, can develop a maximum speed of 70 km/h, operates a 450hp engine and has a cruising range of no less than 500 km.

The artillery system has a crew of four, a rate of fire of six-eight rounds per minute and a firing range of 13 km. The operations to prepare for and deliver fire are maximally automated.

The Lotos is a follow-up and a replacement of the Zauralets project, which was aimed at developing a new self-propelled artillery gun for the Airborne Force to boost the paratroopers’ firepower and maneuverable capabilities.

The Army-2019 military and technical forum runs at the Patriot Congress and Exhibition Center outside Moscow on June 25-30. According to preliminary estimates, more than 1,500 enterprises and organizations are taking part in the form to feature over 27,000 products and technologies.