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Russia’s ATS-59G Artillery Tractor With Maritime 2M-3M Gun Spotted

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The ATS-59G artillery tractor / Illustrative photo from open sources
The ATS-59G artillery tractor / Illustrative photo from open sources

Now russians started installing a ship's 25 mm anti-aircraft gun on a tracked tractor from the 60s

After the MT-LB with a 2M-3M anti-aircraft maritime anti-aircraft gun already en masse went to the front-line areas, russia keeps finding additional military vehicles to send fighting.

And in a recent photo, the ATS-59G artillery tractor with the 2M-3M was spotted:

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Russia’s ATS-59G Artillery Tractor With Maritime 2M-3M Gun Spotted, Defense Express, war in Ukraine, Russian-Ukrainian war

The blogger named Andrei-bt noticed and identified these vehicles. The low quality of the photo does not allow to see the entire looks of the vehicle, so below is the edited photo by Defense Express to see an approximate idea of what it looks like:

Russia’s ATS-59G Artillery Tractor With Maritime 2M-3M Gun Spotted, Defense Express, war in Ukraine, Russian-Ukrainian war

Defense Express notes that the ATS-59G was manufactured in 1959 as a vehicle for towing howitzers. And all the difference is only in the cabin: the previous version was two-seater, in 1969 formally had place for six people.

These tractors began to be decommissioned back in the 80s due to the gradual abandonment of towed artillery and the lack of armor. Officially, it was in service with russia until 1998 and was sold to the civilians. And among the inhabitants of the taiga and russia’s swamps, they even had a certain demand due to their high cross-country ability, as for any tracked equipment.

Russia’s ATS-59G Artillery Tractor With Maritime 2M-3M Gun Spotted, Defense Express, war in Ukraine, Russian-Ukrainian war

The fuel consumption of the 300-horsepower A-650G engine of the B-2 family (which was on the T-34) is 32.8-47.5 liters per hour with a load (depending on the weight and availability trailer), or 152-163 liters per 100 km, while 7.6-8.2 liters of lubricant must be added as well.

At the same time, the appearance of the ATS-59G with the 2M-3M clearly indicates that they are going to be used precisely as an anti-aircraft weapon, and not as a front-line combat vehicle. And finding vehicles decommissioned 25 years ago indicates the lack of more common MT-LB’s in the russian army.

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