As soon as the military got their hands on nuclear technology, the main task was the possibility of the earliest possible "delivery" of the charge to the enemy's territory. In the fifties, the necessary missiles were not yet available, aircraft were too vulnerable, and military engineers were forced to invent exotic superguns. The Americans have succeeded in this matter, no doubt, but in 1957 the USSR found something to answer and surprise the world.
"Object 271" or "Condenser-2P".
Work on this secret project began in 1955, and two years later the first copy of the monster-like combat weapon was assembled, being developed as "Object 271" or "Condenser-2P". It was a colossal unit twenty meters long, six meters high and weighing under sixty tons. With all this, "Condenser-2P" was a self-propelled unit capable of firing nuclear shells for twenty-five kilometers!
"Condenser-2P" on Red Square.
The caliber of this monster was 406 mm, and the weight of the projectile was equal to five hundred and seventy kg. In total, four 2A3 self-propelled guns were assembled and tested, these colossus did not go into series. Nevertheless, in the 57th, all four installations participated in the November parade on Red Square, hitting everyone - both "ours" and "not ours" (and no one knew about the 420-mm mortar "Oka", on which work was carried out in parallel with the "Condenser").
"Condenser-2P" on Red Square.
The undercarriage was a modernized base of the T-10M tank. The chassis was equipped with descending sloths and special hydraulic shock absorbers, which were designed to partially dampen the recoil energy. From the same tank, ACS 2A3 also borrowed a power unit - the V-12-6B engine, with a capacity of seven hundred and fifty hp. The chassis "object 271" was made at the Kirov plant.
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The outstanding "artillery" of the SPG was developed by TsKB-34 under the leadership of II Ivanov. The artillery unit received the index SM-54. It, like the 406-mm experimental ballistic barrel SM-E124, was manufactured by plant # 221. The tests lasted from 1957 to 1959 at the Leningrad artillery range. During the tests, quite serious defects were identified, but were found to be successful.
Fortunately or unfortunately, time flew forward so quickly that by 1960, when the design of the "Condenser-2P" was finalized, work on the creation of rocket (rocket) artillery advanced so much that all the power of the terrible monster ACS 2A3 no longer seemed so serious …
The Central Museum of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation houses the only surviving sample of the self-propelled artillery unit 2A3 *, condenser-2P *.