# 2S1 Gvozdika (2С1 «Гвоздика»)
**2S1 Gvozdika** (2С1 «Гвоздика", "Carnation") is a Soviet 122-mm amphibious self-propelled howitzer, adopted by the [Soviet Army](https://www.edgepedia.org/soviet-army) on 14 September 1970 and produced from 1971 until the end of 1991, with more than 10,000 vehicles built in the USSR alone.[1](https://victorymuseum.ru/encyclopedia/technic/bronetankovaya-tekhnika/122-mm-samokhodnaya-gaubitsa-2s1-gvozdika-sssr/) • [2](https://www.kskdivniy.ru/museum/eksponaty/2c1-gvozdika/) It remains in service with Russia and, by one museum account, 28 other armies.[2](https://www.kskdivniy.ru/museum/eksponaty/2c1-gvozdika/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Type | Tracked, lightly armored, amphibious 122-mm self-propelled howitzer with 360-degree traverse[1](https://victorymuseum.ru/encyclopedia/technic/bronetankovaya-tekhnika/122-mm-samokhodnaya-gaubitsa-2s1-gvozdika-sssr/) |
| Adoption / production | Adopted 14 September 1970; produced 1971–1991; over 10,000 built in the USSR[1](https://victorymuseum.ru/encyclopedia/technic/bronetankovaya-tekhnika/122-mm-samokhodnaya-gaubitsa-2s1-gvozdika-sssr/) • [2](https://www.kskdivniy.ru/museum/eksponaty/2c1-gvozdika/) |
| Armament | 122-mm 2A31 (D-32) howitzer with D-30 ballistics; elevation −3° to +70°; 40 rounds carried[1](https://victorymuseum.ru/encyclopedia/technic/bronetankovaya-tekhnika/122-mm-samokhodnaya-gaubitsa-2s1-gvozdika-sssr/) • [3](https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2024/mdn-dnd/D12-11-20-2-eng.pdf) |
| Range | 15.2–15.3 km with standard HE projectile; about 21.9 km with rocket-assisted projectiles[3](https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2024/mdn-dnd/D12-11-20-2-eng.pdf) • [4](https://www.theworldwars.net/weapons/entry.php?b=land&m=2s1) |
| Mobility | 60 km/h on road, 4.5 km/h swimming, 500 km road range; propelled in water by its tracks[1](https://victorymuseum.ru/encyclopedia/technic/bronetankovaya-tekhnika/122-mm-samokhodnaya-gaubitsa-2s1-gvozdika-sssr/) |
| Mass and crew | Combat mass 15.7 t; crew of 4[2](https://www.kskdivniy.ru/museum/eksponaty/2c1-gvozdika/) |
| Rate of fire | 4–5 rounds per minute with the assisted ramming mechanism[3](https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2024/mdn-dnd/D12-11-20-2-eng.pdf) |
## Development
Sketch work on new self-propelled field artillery, including a 122-mm howitzer, began at VNII-100 in 1965. On 4 July 1967, under a [Council of Ministers](https://www.edgepedia.org/council-of-ministers) resolution, OKB-9 of the Uralmash plant in Sverdlovsk started the artillery portion under V. A. Golubev, in two variants designated D-11 and D-12; the gun designer was F. F. Petrov. The chosen D-12, refined as the D-32 (GRAU index 2A31), kept the internal barrel structure, ballistics, and ammunition of the towed D-30 howitzer. The chassis, factory index "izdeliye 10", was developed at the Kharkiv Tractor Plant (KhTZ) from the [MT-LB](https://www.edgepedia.org/mt-lb) multi-purpose tracked tractor, with chief designer A. F. Belousov.[1](https://victorymuseum.ru/encyclopedia/technic/bronetankovaya-tekhnika/122-mm-samokhodnaya-gaubitsa-2s1-gvozdika-sssr/)
Testing exposed two problems. The running gear was lengthened by a seventh road wheel because of instability and increased loads, and state trials revealed severe propellant-gas contamination of the fighting compartment, fixed with a stronger bore evacuator and cases with improved obturation. A pilot batch of four vehicles was tested in August 1969, and the howitzer entered service in September 1970.[1](https://victorymuseum.ru/encyclopedia/technic/bronetankovaya-tekhnika/122-mm-samokhodnaya-gaubitsa-2s1-gvozdika-sssr/)
## Design
The hull is a sealed, all-welded structure with anti-bullet armor up to 20 mm thick. The driver and engine-transmission compartment sit at the front, the fighting compartment in the middle and rear and in the turret. Three crew members occupy the turret: gunner front left, commander behind him, loader to the right of the gun; the driver sits forward left. The rotating turret has electric or manual traverse, a commander's cupola with periscopes, and a combined observation device. Fuel tanks totaling 550 liters are mounted in the hull sides.[1](https://victorymuseum.ru/encyclopedia/technic/bronetankovaya-tekhnika/122-mm-samokhodnaya-gaubitsa-2s1-gvozdika-sssr/)
The 2A31 gun has a monobloc tube, vertical sliding-wedge semi-automatic breech, two-chamber muzzle brake, and bore evacuator. An electromechanical rammer seats the projectile and cased charge separately, and fired cases are ejected automatically. For firing from ground-stowed ammunition, a conveyor tray through the large rear door feeds rounds into the fighting compartment. Sights include the PG-2 panoramic sight for indirect fire and the OP5-37 direct-fire optical sight.[1](https://victorymuseum.ru/encyclopedia/technic/bronetankovaya-tekhnika/122-mm-samokhodnaya-gaubitsa-2s1-gvozdika-sssr/)
**Mobility.** The YaMZ-238N diesel develops 300 hp, giving 60 km/h on road, 30 km/h off-road, and 4.5 km/h in water, where the tracks propel the vehicle with little preparation. The torsion-bar suspension has seven rubber-tired road wheels per side; hollow disks welded between each wheel's hub and rim add buoyancy. Water crossings are limited to currents up to 0.6 m/s, waves up to 150 mm, and no more than 30 rounds aboard. At 15.7 t the vehicle can be airlifted in An-12, Il-76, and An-124 transports, and its low ground pressure lets it cross swamps and deep snow.[1](https://victorymuseum.ru/encyclopedia/technic/bronetankovaya-tekhnika/122-mm-samokhodnaya-gaubitsa-2s1-gvozdika-sssr/) • [5](https://tank-afv.com/coldwar/ussr/2S1-Gvozdika.php) A collective NBC overpressure and filtration system allows operation in contaminated zones.[6](https://man.fas.org/dod-101/sys/land/row/2s1.htm)
## Armament and ammunition
The 2S1 fires all ammunition types of the towed D-30. The onboard load of 40 separate-loading rounds typically comprises 35 high-explosive fragmentation and 5 smoke or fin-stabilized hollow-charge rounds. The rotating BP-1 hollow-charge projectile uses a special 3.1 kg charge, at 740 m/s muzzle velocity and 2,000 m range. Standard HE projectiles reach 15.2 to 15.3 km, and rocket-assisted projectiles extend the reach to about 21.9 km.[1](https://victorymuseum.ru/encyclopedia/technic/bronetankovaya-tekhnika/122-mm-samokhodnaya-gaubitsa-2s1-gvozdika-sssr/) • [3](https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2024/mdn-dnd/D12-11-20-2-eng.pdf) • [4](https://www.theworldwars.net/weapons/entry.php?b=land&m=2s1)
## Service history
In Soviet service the 2S1 equipped the artillery battalions of tank and BMP-equipped motorized rifle regiments, 18 vehicles per battalion and up to 54 per first-echelon division, and also served with naval infantry. Its introduction coincided with the expansion of the motorized rifle regiment's artillery battery to a battalion. Western observers first saw it publicly in 1974 and gave it the provisional designation M-1974.[1](https://victorymuseum.ru/encyclopedia/technic/bronetankovaya-tekhnika/122-mm-samokhodnaya-gaubitsa-2s1-gvozdika-sssr/) • [6](https://man.fas.org/dod-101/sys/land/row/2s1.htm)
Production ran at KhTZ from 1971 to the end of 1991, with license production in Bulgaria from 1979 and at Huta Stalowa Wola in Poland from 1984 to 1994; the Polish version is known as Goździk, Polish for carnation.[2](https://www.kskdivniy.ru/museum/eksponaty/2c1-gvozdika/) • [7](https://muzeumgryf.pl/eksponaty/2s1m-gozdzik/) [Czechoslovakia](https://www.edgepedia.org/czechoslovakia) fielded 148 of them from 1976.[8](https://csla.cz/technika/delahoufnice/gvozdika.htm) The 2S1 was used widely by the 40th Army in the [Soviet–Afghan War](https://www.edgepedia.org/soviet-afghan-war), where batteries followed assault groups and fired in the direct-fire role against identified positions, and later in the Chechen wars and other post-Soviet regional conflicts.[1](https://victorymuseum.ru/encyclopedia/technic/bronetankovaya-tekhnika/122-mm-samokhodnaya-gaubitsa-2s1-gvozdika-sssr/)
**The Russo-Ukrainian War.** The type remains a workhorse on both sides. The Military Balance 2024 counted 130 2S1 in active Russian service with about 1,800 in store, and the 2025 edition counted 400 in service.[9](https://securesustain.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/The-Military-Balance-2024_compressed.pdf) • [10](https://www1.ru/en/articles/2025/04/18/eksperty-the-military-balance-nascitali-5157-artilleriiskix-sistem-na-vooruzenii-vs-rossii.html) Ukraine, which inherited large stocks, uses the Gvozdika extensively; Bulgaria transferred an unspecified number from storage, and Denmark added 2S1 howitzers to its donation list in January 2025.[11](https://www.armedconflicts.com/-t280775)
## Variants and modernization
The Gvozdika hull served as the basis for command, reconnaissance, radiation and chemical reconnaissance, radar, mine-clearing, and staff vehicles, and the UR-77 mine-clearing system was derived from it.[1](https://victorymuseum.ru/encyclopedia/technic/bronetankovaya-tekhnika/122-mm-samokhodnaya-gaubitsa-2s1-gvozdika-sssr/) Russia developed the 2S34 Khosta, a 2S1 modernization with a 120-mm gun-mortar, designed in 2003 and entering army service from 2008.[2](https://www.kskdivniy.ru/museum/eksponaty/2c1-gvozdika/) Serbia's Military Technical Institute modernized its 2S1 fleet with a new fire control and navigation system, new extended-range projectiles giving a 38 percent range increase, and multiple-round simultaneous-impact firing, in which several shells from one gun strike the same target at once.[12](https://www.mod.gov.rs/eng/16026/ministar-vulin-modernizovana-gvozdika-ce-jos-dugo-sluziti-vojsci-srbije-16026)
## References
1. [122-мм самоходная гаубица 2С1 «Гвоздика». СССР, Victory Museum](https://victorymuseum.ru/encyclopedia/technic/bronetankovaya-tekhnika/122-mm-samokhodnaya-gaubitsa-2s1-gvozdika-sssr/)
2. [Советская 122-мм полковая самоходная гаубица 2С1 «Гвоздика», Музей отечественной военной истории](https://www.kskdivniy.ru/museum/eksponaty/2c1-gvozdika/)
3. [Canadian Army Journal 20.2 (Grau & Bartles), Government of Canada](https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2024/mdn-dnd/D12-11-20-2-eng.pdf)
4. [2S1 Gvozdika, The World Wars.net](https://www.theworldwars.net/weapons/entry.php?b=land&m=2s1)
5. [Soviet 2S1 Gvozdika SPG (1975), tank-afv.com](https://tank-afv.com/coldwar/ussr/2S1-Gvozdika.php)
6. [2S1 M-1974 122-mm Self-Propelled Howitzer, Federation of American Scientists](https://man.fas.org/dod-101/sys/land/row/2s1.htm)
7. [2S1M Goździk, Muzeum Techniki Wojskowej GRYF](https://muzeumgryf.pl/eksponaty/2s1m-gozdzik/)
8. [122 mm samohybná houfnice 2S1 (Gvozdika), Československá lidová armáda](https://csla.cz/technika/delahoufnice/gvozdika.htm)
9. [The Military Balance 2024, IISS](https://securesustain.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/The-Military-Balance-2024_compressed.pdf)
10. [The Military Balance experts counted 5157 artillery systems in service with the Russian Armed Forces](https://www1.ru/en/articles/2025/04/18/eksperty-the-military-balance-nascitali-5157-artilleriiskix-sistem-na-vooruzenii-vs-rossii.html)
11. [Russia-Ukraine conflict: September 2024, armedconflicts.com](https://www.armedconflicts.com/-t280775)
12. [Minister Vulin: The modernized "Gvozdika" will serve the Serbian Armed Forces for a long time, Ministry of Defence of Serbia](https://www.mod.gov.rs/eng/16026/ministar-vulin-modernizovana-gvozdika-ce-jos-dugo-sluziti-vojsci-srbije-16026)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Technology and the built world › Engineering and manufacturing › Tanks and armored fighting vehicles › Self-propelled guns and tank destroyers*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 18, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 15, 2026 · Edited: Sep 18, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 15, 2026 · Last review: Oct 15, 2026*
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