2S12 Sani

The 2S12 "Sani" (GRAU index) is a 120 mm heavy mortar system used by the Russian Army and other former Soviet states. First fielded in 1981, the 2S12 is a continued development on the towed mortars first used in World War II.

Design
2S12 is in fact the designator for the combination of the 2B11 "Sani" heavy mortar with its transport vehicle 2F510, a GAZ-66-15 4x4 truck. The 2B11 weighs nearly 500 lb when fully assembled, and thus must be mounted to the 2x1 wheeled chassis 2L81 and towed to the emplacement site by the truck. The GAZ-66 prime mover also transports the ammo load: 24 70-lb crates of 120mm HE mortar bombs, 2 bombs per crate, for a total of 48 available rounds.

Once on site, it is unloaded from the transport chassis and manually emplaced by the crew of 5. It is the largest caliber indirect artillery employed at the battalion level.

There is also an improved model, the 2B11M, that can fire the laser-guided round "Gran" with a range of 7,500 m.

Variants
Some countries have developed self-propelled versions of the 2B11:


 * SMM 74 B1.10 "Tundzha-Sani" – Bulgarian version on MT-LB.
 * SM120 – Belorusian version on MT-LBu.
 * Aybat – Kazakh version on MT-LB.