History, Development, and Use of the 2A3 'Kondensator 2P' Howitzer

  

Brief Operational History

The 2A3 Kondensator 2P has its origins during the early years of the Cold War when the United States shifted its tactical doctrine to counter the massive Soviet advantage in numbers.  This new doctrine was called the 'Pentomic Division' and emphasized heavy use of nuclear weapons at all levels, from nuclear weapons deployed on aircraft, super heavy artillery pieces, and even nuclear recoilless rifles. 

One of the American weapon systems was the M-65 an 85 ton mobile nuclear howitzer known as 'Atomic Annie'.  When it was introduced in 1952 and deployed in Germany in 1953 the Soviet Union decided to begin a program to match the Western weapon.

The highly secret program began in 1954 and called for the development of a 406mm self propelled howitzer capable of firing nuclear projectiles.  The artillery portion of the program was designated SM-54 and was undertaken by Grabin Design Bureau.  The automotive portion of the vehicle, known as 'Objekt 271', was to be developed by the Kotlin Design Bureau in Leningrad.

On 3 August 1955 the Grabin Design Bureau in Factory 221 completed the artillery system which was to face the rear of the vehicle.  One round and two powder cartridges were to be carried on the vehicle, but the gun would only be able to be reloaded in the horizontal position in a process that would take up to five minutes. 

The 'Objekt 271' chassis by Kotlin was completed soon thereafter.  It would be a new design with heavily reinforced suspension and eight road wheels which would help to absorb the massive recoil from the huge cannon.  The unified system received the military industrial designation 2A3 and was completed on 26 December 1956 at the Kirov Works in Leningrad.  Total production only amounted to four vehicles.

Western observers would get their first look at the massive new weapon during a 1957 parade in Red Square.  They were initially surprised and impressed by the seer size of the weapon, but found information about it very difficult to gain.  Throughout the Cold War intelligence sources in the West estimated the weapon's caliber to be 310mm and incorrectly designated the weapon as SU-310.

The Kondensator had an exceptionally short service life.  Following a period of extensive testing the weapons were assigned to the Artillery High Command reserve.  There they remained in service until the military reforms of Nikita Khrushchev were enacted.  These reforms favored more effective missile systems over super-heavy artillery and heavy tanks which characterized the Stalinist era. 

All four Kondenstator howitzers were retired in the mid-1960s.  One of the weapons was placed on static display at the Central Armed Forces Museum in Moscow, but the fate of the other three is unknown.

Tactical Use and Limitations

The 2A3 Kondensator 2p was a super-heavy artillery piece designed to counter the M-65 atomic cannon in use by the US Army during the 1950's.  It was to be deployed at the discretion of the Artillery High Command and used in a strategic role to bombard cities, troop concentrations, and communications centers.

While visually impressive, the weapon was cumbersome and had few advantages.  One of these was its rate of fire, which seemed slow at the rate of 1 shot every five minutes, it was still faster than the 30 minute reload time of the T-5a 'Filin' (known in the West as the FROG-1). 

As stated earlier the Kondensator suffered from many limitations.  The first of these was the extremely heavy recoil of the weapon which resulted in the chassis breaking several times.  Ammunition handling also proved to be difficult.  The Kondensator was also extremely heavy and difficult to transport.  Furthermore, the weapon suffered from having a much shorter range than emerging rocket systems such as the FROG series that were also less costly.  To make matters worse, the Western powers kept a very close watch on these atomic cannons and their survivability in the event of war was highly doubtful.  A final problem that plagued the Kondensator was the fact that they were produced in such extremely small numbers which made it much easier for Nikita Khrushchev to cancel the program and retire the weapons.

Deployment Chronology

The four 2A3 'Kondensator 2P' units saw very limited service before they were replaced by more reliable and longer ranged rocket systems.  Here you can see what vehicles the 2A3 'Kondensator 2P' replaced and what weapon systems eventually replaced it.  You can find out more about each weapon system if we have them on our site by clicking on the links below.