Profile
- Type
- 152 mm towed field gun
- Conflict side
- Ukraine
- Origin
- Soviet Union; Finnish-supplied examples documented in Ukrainian service
- Service note
- Entered Soviet service in 1976; still used in the Russia-Ukraine War
Artillery
2A36 Giatsint-B
The 2A36 Giatsint-B is a Soviet 152 mm towed field gun built for long-range indirect fire and counter-battery work. Its 49-caliber barrel gives it greater reach than many older Soviet 152 mm systems, and Ukrainian forces have fielded the type during the Russia-Ukraine War, including likely Finnish 152 K 89 guns supplied from Finnish stocks.
- Conflict side
- Ukraine
- Built by
- Perm Machine-Building Plant
- Built in
- Soviet Union
Service History
- In service
- Entered Soviet service in 1976
- Used by
- Ukrainian Armed Forces
- Wars
- Russia-Ukraine War
Production History
- Designer
- Yurii Kalachnikov; Perm Machine-Building Plant design bureau
- Designed
- 1968-1972 development and trials
- Built by
- Perm Machine-Building Plant
- Built in
- Soviet Union
- Unit cost
- Not publicly standardized
- Produced
- 1976-1989
- Number built
- About 2,000 reported by WeaponSystems.net
- Variants
- 152 K 89 Finnish designation, 2A37 ordnance used on the 2S5 Giatsint-S
Specifications
- Crew
- 8
- Caliber
- 152.4 mm
- Barrel
- 152 mm L/49 rifled barrel; 8.197 m with muzzle brake
- Weight
- About 9,760-9,800 kg
- Range
- 27-28.5 km with standard ammunition; up to about 40 km with rocket-assisted projectiles
- Rate of fire
- 5-6 rounds per minute maximum; GlobalSecurity lists 1 round per minute sustained
- Carriage
- Four-wheel split-trail towed carriage with gun shield
- Mobility
- Towed by 6x6 trucks such as KrAZ-260 or Ural-4320; up to 80 km/h on roads
Conflict Usage
- Russia-Ukraine War
- Side: Ukraine
Ukrainian forces have operated 2A36 Giatsint-B 152 mm guns during the full-scale war, including likely Finnish 152 K 89 examples documented in April 2023; public reporting did not disclose the quantity transferred.
Related Weapon Systems
120-PM-38120 mm towed heavy mortarThe 120-PM-38, also known as the M1938, is a Soviet 120 mm smoothbore heavy mortar designed under B. I. Shavyrin and built for infantry fire support. Its large mortar bomb, wheeled transport arrangement, and roughly 5.7 km range made it a durable Soviet artillery design, with Ukrainian stocks still documented around the Russia-Ukraine War rather than acquired as a modern foreign transfer.
2S12 Sani120 mm heavy mortar systemThe 2S12 Sani is a Soviet/Russian 120 mm mortar system built around the 2B11 mortar, a wheeled carriage, and a transport vehicle. It gives battalion-level units a mobile indirect-fire weapon with a roughly 7 km range, and modernized 2S12A systems on Ural-based vehicles have continued to appear in Russian supply and combat reporting during the Russia-Ukraine War.
D-20152 mm towed gun-howitzerThe D-20 is a Soviet 152 mm towed gun-howitzer developed in the early Cold War for divisional and army-level fire support. Its split-trail carriage, semi-automatic breech, and standard 17.4 km range made it a long-lived Warsaw Pact artillery system, and Ukrainian forces have documented captured Russian D-20s being turned back against Russian units during the Russia-Ukraine War.
MO-120 RT120 mm rifled towed heavy mortarThe MO-120 RT is a French 120 mm rifled towed heavy mortar developed by Brandt and later associated with TDA/Thales production. Its rifled barrel, two-wheel carriage, and rocket-assisted ammunition option give it longer range than many smoothbore infantry mortars, while remaining towable by light or medium vehicles. In the Russia-Ukraine War, Ukrainian forces received Belgian MO-120 RT mortars and used the type for front-line indirect fire support.
PM-43120 mm towed heavy mortarThe PM-43 is a Soviet 120 mm smoothbore heavy mortar, a strengthened wartime development of the PM-38 that combined a large high-explosive bomb, a two-wheel carriage, and a six-person crew for infantry fire support. OSCE monitoring documented a probable PM-43 in a non-government-controlled area of Luhansk oblast during the Russia-Ukraine War, showing how legacy Soviet mortars remained present alongside newer 120 mm systems.
152 mm SpGH DANA152 mm wheeled self-propelled gun-howitzerThe 152 mm SpGH DANA is a Czechoslovak wheeled self-propelled gun-howitzer built around a Tatra 8x8 chassis, a semi-automatic loading system, and a 152 mm gun compatible with Soviet-pattern ammunition. In Ukrainian service, Czech-supplied DANA and DANA M2 systems add mobile tube artillery that can shoot and displace faster than towed 152 mm guns while still using ammunition types already present in Ukraine's artillery inventory.Sources
152-mm cannon 2A36 Giatsint-BPublisher: National Defence University of Ukraine | Note: Supports manufacturer, service-entry, design, role, and core specification details. | Accessed: 2026-06-202A36 Giatsint-B (M1976) 152-mm Towed GunPublisher: GlobalSecurity.org | Note: Supports range, rate-of-fire, traverse, towing speed, weight, and ammunition specification details. | Accessed: 2026-06-20152mm 2A36 Giatsint-BPublisher: WeaponSystems.net | Note: Supports system background, Finnish 152 K 89 designation, production period, and specification cross-checks. | Accessed: 2026-06-20The Finnish Giatsint-B Gun Was Spotted in the Hands of the Ukrainian ForcesPublisher: Defense Express | Note: Supports direct Russia-Ukraine War context for Ukrainian use and likely Finnish 152 K 89 supply, while noting the number sent was not disclosed. | Accessed: 2026-06-20Joining NATO, Joining The Cause: Finnish Aid To UkrainePublisher: Oryx | Note: Supports direct Russia-Ukraine War transfer and Ukrainian-service context by listing 152 mm 152 K89s, the Finnish designation for 2A36 Giatsint-B guns, among towed artillery delivered or documented for Ukraine. | Accessed: 2026-06-20KrAZ-6322 and 2A36 Giatsint-B, Kyiv 2021Publisher: Wikimedia Commons | Note: Image provenance and licensing source; the file depicts a Ukrainian-service 2A36 Giatsint-B and is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. | Accessed: 2026-06-20