Russia's revived D‑74 cannon: Historic artillery resurfaces
Recently, a video has spread across social media showing how the Russians are using a 122 mm calibre D-74 cannon. However, the Ukrainian portal Defense Express points out that this weapon should not formally be in Russian warehouses at all.
The mentioned film showing the D-74 cannon is the first of its kind since the Russian Federation started its aggression towards Ukraine. It's a unique situation because the D-74s were produced in the 1950s, yet several decades later, there weren't any of these weapons — not a single piece — in Russian warehouses.
Weapons that shouldn't be in Russia - but are
Defense Express notes that the Military Balance 2023 report states that there were no D-74 cannons in the arsenal of the Russian Federation at that time. About 2,000 units of M-30 howitzers, which come from a similar period as the D-74, were identified, but there was no trace of the Russian video protagonist.
Moreover, the Russians stated that before the 1980s, they sold D-74 cannons to the countries of the people's democracies. However, there's a certain nuance noted. North Korea might have D-74 cannons available because they were produced by China under the name Type 59. Therefore, there are two possible solutions to the mystery of the appearance of this enigmatic weapon in Russia. The first is the possibility of one-time support for the Russian Federation by North Korea. The second is the likelihood that the Russians found "deep in the warehouses" single units of D-74— it is read.
D-74 Cannon
The D-74 122 mm field gun was first observed in 1955 when it entered service alongside the D-20 152 mm guns and the M-46 130 mm guns. This design differs from the older M1931 (A-19) mainly by its longer barrel, measuring 52 calibres compared to 45 calibres in the M1931. This allowed the D-74 to achieve higher projectile muzzle velocities and range.
The D-74 could fire standard 122 mm calibre shells to a distance of about 24 kilometres, which is an improvement compared to the previous limit of 19 kilometres. Despite this, it was later replaced by the M-46 gun, which could shoot regular shells to a distance of 27 kilometres.
Today, Russia largely relies on ammunition supplies from North Korea, where artillery systems of 122 mm and 130 mm calibre dominate. Although the D-74 is no longer widely used, it played a significant role in the development of field artillery.
