The 2S35 Koalitsiya-SV, Robotics and the Future of Russian Artillery Modernization

The Russian Armed Forces put a great deal more emphasis on artillery, or the “God of War,” than other armies do, as evidenced in the Ukraine conflict. While the West has been shifting efforts from artillery and other conventional aspects of war in favor of counterinsurgency, Russia has been consistently pursuing artillery modernization, as its economic resources allow. In this article, Dr. Les Grau and Dr. Charles Bartles outline the purported capabilities of the 2S35 Koalitsiya-SV self-propelled howitzer, the current structure of Russian artillery units, and how the Russian artillery community envisages future structural changes to these units to best employ the 2S35 and robotics. While it was written using sources from Russian defense journals prior to the Ukraine conflict, it is still relevant today.