Profile
- Type
- 130 mm towed field gun
- Conflict side
- Ukraine
- Origin
- Soviet Union; supplied to Ukraine from Croatian stocks
- Service note
- Early Cold War design; supplied to Ukraine during the 2022 full-scale Russian invasion
Artillery
M-46
The M-46 is a Soviet 130 mm towed field gun built for long-range counter-battery and field-artillery missions. Its high-velocity gun and roughly 27 km standard range made it unusually far-reaching for its generation, and Croatia-supplied M-46H1 guns gave Ukraine additional non-NATO-caliber tube artillery during the Russia-Ukraine War.
- Conflict side
- Ukraine
- Built by
- Motovilikha Plant
- Built in
- Soviet Union
Service History
- In service
- Entered Soviet service in the early 1950s; Croatian M-46H1 guns were supplied to Ukraine in 2022.
- Used by
- Ukrainian Armed Forces, Croatian Army, Soviet Army
- Wars
- Russia-Ukraine War
Production History
- Designer
- Factory No. 172 design bureau
- Designed
- Late 1940s
- Built by
- Motovilikha Plant
- Built in
- Soviet Union
- Unit cost
- Not publicly reported
- Produced
- 1951-1971 in Soviet production
- Number built
- Several thousand produced in the Soviet Union
- Variants
- M-46, M-46H1, Type 59
Specifications
- Crew
- 8 to 10
- Caliber
- 130 mm
- Armament
- One 130 mm L/58 gun
- Weight
- About 7.7 t in firing position; about 8.45 t with limber
- Maximum range
- About 27.2-27.5 km with standard rounds
- Rate of fire
- About 5-6 rounds per minute
- Muzzle velocity
- About 930 m/s with 53-OF-482M ammunition
- Mobility
- Towed by truck; up to about 50 km/h on road
Conflict Usage
- Russia-Ukraine War
- Side: Ukraine
Ukrainian forces received about 15 Croatian M-46H1 130 mm field guns in 2022, adding long-range Soviet-caliber towed artillery to Ukraine's mixed artillery inventory.
Related Weapon Systems
TRF1155 mm towed howitzerThe TRF1 is a French 155 mm towed howitzer developed as a truck-towed, NATO-caliber field gun with its own auxiliary power unit for short autonomous moves. Former French systems supplied to Ukraine gave Ukrainian artillery units additional 155 mm fire-support capacity, with standard ammunition reaching about 24 km and extended-range rounds reaching roughly 30 km or more depending on ammunition type.
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.
2A36 Giatsint-B152 mm towed field gunThe 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.
2S35 Koalitsiya-SV152 mm tracked self-propelled howitzerThe 2S35 Koalitsiya-SV is a Russian 152 mm tracked self-propelled howitzer developed as a highly automated successor to the 2S19 Msta-S, pairing a 2A88 gun, uncrewed turret, automated loading, digital fire-control features, and a T-90-derived chassis for long-range tube-artillery missions. Its appearance in the Russia-Ukraine War has been reported in limited numbers, with open-source conflict reporting emphasizing counter-battery use and uncertainty around official confirmation.
2S43 Malva152 mm wheeled self-propelled howitzerThe 2S43 Malva is a Russian 152 mm wheeled self-propelled howitzer that mounts a 2A64 gun on an 8x8 BAZ chassis, trading the turreted protection of tracked systems for road mobility, lower operating cost, and faster deployment. It is part of Russia's newer wheeled artillery family and has been documented with Russian forces during the Russia-Ukraine War.
AGM-88 HARMAir-to-surface anti-radiation missileThe AGM-88 HARM is a U.S. high-speed anti-radiation missile built to home on radar emissions from enemy air-defense systems. In the Russia-Ukraine War, U.S.-supplied HARMs gave Ukrainian aircraft a suppression-of-enemy-air-defenses weapon for forcing or striking Russian radar systems despite the missile's original integration with Western aircraft.Sources
130mm M-46Publisher: WeaponSystems.net | Note: Supports origin, development, manufacturer, production period, design role, and technical specifications. | Accessed: 2026-06-20Croatia donates M-46 field guns to UkrainePublisher: Shephard Media | Note: Directly supports Croatia's delivery of at least 15 M-46 130 mm towed field guns to Ukraine during the Russia-Ukraine War. | Accessed: 2026-06-20Arms From The Adriatic: Croatia's Military Support For UkrainePublisher: Oryx | Note: Lists approximately 15 Croatian 130 mm M-46H1 field guns supplied to Ukraine in August 2022. | Accessed: 2026-06-20130 mm towed field gun M1954 (M-46).jpgPublisher: Wikimedia Commons | Note: Public-domain image of an M1954/M-46 field gun, released by the author for unrestricted reuse. | Accessed: 2026-06-20