MOSCOW, July 3. /TASS/. The operational characteristics of the combat module of the Koalitsiya-SV self-propelled artillery gun allow arming both Russian ground forces and naval ships with this system, Head of the Research and Design Center at the Burevestnik Central Research Institute (the howitzer’s developer) Pavel Kovalev told TASS on Friday.

"Burevestnik specialists highly evaluate the potential of the Koalitsiya gun: the 152mm artillery standardized module that has been made can eventually be used not only as the basis for developing combat vehicles on various chassis for the needs of the land troops and coastal defense forces, but also for mounting it on naval ships," he said.

The R&D work carried out back in the early 2000s substantiated the expediency of developing artillery guns as systems for multiservice forces when a full-function artillery module becomes a standardized platform for developing a whole series of combat vehicles, he explained.

"Probably, this explains the name of Koalitsiya (Coalition), which the Russian Defense Ministry’s Main Missile and Artillery Department has given to this advanced system," Kovalev noted.

The 2S35 Koalitsiya-SV self-propelled howitzer is designated to destroy a potential enemy’s command posts, communications centers, artillery and mortar batteries, the armor, including tanks, anti-tank weapons, air and ballistic missile defense systems and manpower.

The Koalitsiya-SV is armed with a 152mm gun with a rate of fire of over 10 rounds per minute, which is higher than the speed of other artillery systems. This rate of fire is ensured by the special design of the gun-loading mechanism. The howitzer’s weapon suite also includes a remotely-controlled station with a Kord machine-gun.

As the press office of the Uralvagonzavod defense manufacturer earlier told TASS, the trials of the latest Koalitsiya-SV self-propelled artillery system will be completed in 2022.