The production of the latest Floks self-propelled mortar system and Magnolia self-propelled artillery gun may begin in late 2022 and early 2023, the press office of the Uralvagonzavod defense manufacturer (part of the state tech corporation Rostec) told TASS at the Army-2021 International Military-Technical Forum on Friday, Trend reports.
"The mass production of these models [the Floks and Magnolia guns] will begin after the completion of the state trials in late 2022 - early 2023, provided that the state customer makes the corresponding decision," the press office said.
Currently, the prototypes of the 120mm Floks self-propelled wheeled artillery system and the 120mm Magnolia self-propelled artillery gun based on the DT-30PM two-section tracked armored chassis are at the final stage of preliminary trials.
The latest 120mm Floks self-propelled artillery gun is mounted on the Ural-4320 6x6 wheeled armored vehicle. The gun has been developed as part of the ‘Nabrosok’ R&D work. As its main feature, the new self-propelled artillery system carries a combined semi-automatic rifled gun that can fire all types of mortar shells and projectiles with ready-made rifling. The weapon can be used as a howitzer and a mortar and can be employed for direct fire.
The Magnolia self-propelled artillery system mounted on the DT-30PM armored two-section tracked transporter has been developed by the Burevestnik Central Research Institute under the Nabrosok R&D work. In addition to Magnolia, the family of next-generation artillery guns includes the 82mm Drok self-propelled mortar and the 120mm self-propelled artillery system mounted on the Floks automobile chassis.
Russian Army Commander-in-Chief Army General Oleg Salyukov said in an interview with the Defense Ministry’s Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper in November 2019 that Russia was completing work under the Nabrosok experimental design work to develop a family of highly mobile artillery and mortar armaments mounted on different types of the chassis, including the systems for their operation in the Arctic region that would boost the battalion-level artillery’s mobility and firing capabilities.