Tanks

115 mm U-5TS

Also known as
  • U-5TS
  • U-5TS Molot
  • 2A20
  • 2A20 Rapira
  • 115 mm 2A20
  • 115mm U-5TS
  • 115-mm tank gun U-5TS (2A20)
  • 115-мм танковая пушка У-5ТС

The 115 mm U-5TS, also designated 2A20, is the Soviet smoothbore tank gun built around the T-62 main battle tank. It shifted Soviet tank armament from the earlier 100 mm rifled gun line to a high-velocity 115 mm smoothbore weapon, with manual loading, a bore evacuator, no muzzle brake, and ammunition families that included APFSDS, HEAT, high-explosive fragmentation, and later gun-launched missile options.

115 mm U-5TS, 115 mm smoothbore tank gun, Tanks
Image source: Commons U-5TS Motovilikha image
Profile / Specs

Profile

Origin
Soviet Union
Type
115 mm smoothbore tank gun
Service note
Late-1950s Soviet design introduced with the T-62 in 1961 and retained on T-62-family vehicles
Designer
Artillery Plant No. 9 / OKB-9 design lineage, with T-62 integration by the Soviet tank-design program
Designed
Late 1950s; prototype gun and Object 166 testing in 1959-1960
Produced
1963-1973 production period cited in specialist reference coverage
Number built
About 20,000 guns cited in specialist reference coverage
Developed from
100 mm D-54TS / U-8TS tank gun lineage and the 100 mm T-12 smoothbore anti-tank gun requirement

Specifications

Caliber
115 mm
Gun type
Smoothbore tank gun
GRAU index
2A20
Barrel length
6,050 mm overall barrel length cited in reference coverage; Weaponsystems.net lists 5.7 m barrel length and 6.05 m including breech
Weight
2,350 kg for gun and breech in reference coverage
Loading
Manual loading with horizontal sliding breechblock
Recoil travel
350-415 mm listed by Weaponsystems.net
Practical rate of fire
4-5 rounds per minute in specialist reference tables; higher theoretical rates appear in some secondary references
Representative muzzle velocities
About 1,615 m/s for 3BM3 APFSDS, 950 m/s for 3BK4 HEAT, and 905 m/s for 3OF11 HE-fragmentation in ArmedConflicts reference data
Primary carrier
T-62 main battle tank
Fitted Tank

Open references identify the U-5TS/2A20 as the main gun associated with the T-62 rather than a stand-alone battlefield system in this catalog.

CarrierCarrier typeCarriage evidence
T-62, Main battle tank, TanksT-62main battle tank

The T-62 mounted the 115 mm U-5TS/2A20 as its main armament; this relationship is why the gun is retained here as a component record without inheriting the T-62's conflict rows.

Sources: Army Guide 2A20 gun, Tank Museum T-62, Tankograd T-62

Conflict-use scope

T-62 records can document tank employment in specific wars, but this component record leaves conflictUsage empty until a source directly identifies U-5TS or 2A20 use in an exact conflict.

Sources: Tank Museum T-62

Design And Ammunition Context

The U-5TS is best read as the T-62's armament change rather than as a separate vehicle. Sources describe a 115 mm smoothbore gun with no muzzle brake, a bore evacuator, manual loading, and a high-pressure barrel built to fire fin-stabilized rounds from a compact Soviet tank turret.

Designation

U-5TS was the service/factory designation; 2A20 is the GRAU production index used in technical references.

Supported by Army Guide, Tankograd, and ArmedConflicts reference records.

Tank integration

The gun was fitted to the T-62 with the Meteor stabilizer, a bore evacuator, and a manually loaded 115 mm ammunition supply.

ODIN and specialist T-62 references describe the T-62 armament fit.

Ammunition families

Reference lists include APFSDS, HEAT, high-explosive fragmentation, shrapnel, and 9M117-family gun-launched missile entries.

ArmedConflicts lists representative ammunition types and muzzle velocities.

Timeline

115 mm U-5TS Key Events

  1. Prototype period

    Specialist references place the prototype-built point in 1959 and describe the U-5TS as a 115 mm smoothbore derived from earlier 100 mm Soviet gun work.

    Sources: ArmedConflicts U-5TS, Tank Archives T-62 smoothbore

  2. Object 166 gun trials

    Tankograd describes static firing in 1959 followed by live testing of the U-5TS with Object 166 prototypes from April to September 1960.

    Sources: Tankograd T-62

  3. Introduced with the T-62

    U.S. Army and museum sources identify the T-62 armament as the 115 mm U-5TS / 2A20 smoothbore gun and place the T-62's Soviet service entry in 1961.

    Sources: ODIN T-62, Tank Museum T-62

  4. Production period begins in reference records

    ArmedConflicts lists the U-5TS / 2A20 production period as 1963-1973 and attributes production to Zavod No. 9, Zavod No. 172, and Barrikady.

    Sources: ArmedConflicts U-5TS

Media

115 mm U-5TS Images

115 mm U-5TS, 115 mm smoothbore tank gun, Tanks - view 1
Source: Commons T-62 breech image
115 mm U-5TS, 115 mm smoothbore tank gun, Tanks - view 2
Source: Commons T-62 barrel image
Related Weapon Systems
T-62, Main battle tank, TanksTanksT-62Main battle tankThe T-62 is a Soviet main battle tank built around a 115 mm U-5TS/2A20 smoothbore gun, a four-person crew, and a conventional tracked armor layout inherited from the T-54/T-55 design line. Produced in large numbers by Uralvagonzavod, it moved from Cold War export and Soviet service into long-tail combat use: Egyptian and Iraqi T-62s appear in 1970s and 1991 conflict records, while upgraded or inherited T-62M/T-62MV stocks reappeared in Syria, Libya, Ukraine, Tigray, and Yemen.
100 mm D-10 tank gun, 100 mm rifled tank and anti-tank gun, ArtilleryArtillery100 mm D-10 tank gun100 mm rifled tank and anti-tank gunThe 100 mm D-10 is a Soviet rifled gun family developed for armored-vehicle use at the end of the Second World War. Its D-10S form armed the SU-100 tank destroyer, while D-10T, D-10TG, and D-10T2S tank-gun variants became the main armament of T-54/T-55-family tanks and related foreign designs. This record is relationship-only because the available sources support platform installation and service history, not independent conflict-use rows for the gun separate from its carrier vehicles.
D-25 122 mm tank gun, 122 mm tank and self-propelled gun family, ArtilleryArtilleryD-25 122 mm tank gun122 mm tank and self-propelled gun familyThe D-25 was a Soviet 122 mm gun family adapted from A-19-line ballistics for heavy tanks and self-propelled guns. D-25T armed the wartime IS-2 heavy tank and later IS-series vehicles, with directly sourced use on Soviet IS-2s in the Second World War, Egyptian IS-3M tanks in the 1967 Six-Day War, and captured Israeli IS-3 fixed bunkers in the 1969 War of Attrition. D-25S was the semi-automatic self-propelled-gun variant associated with ISU-122S, and the family used separate-loading A-19/D-25 ammunition including OF-471 high-explosive fragmentation and BR-471 armor-piercing projectiles.

Sources

Army Guide 2A20 gunPublisher: Army Guide | Note: Supports U-5TS / 2A20 identity as a 115 mm smoothbore gun installed in the T-62 and general specification context. | Accessed: 2026-07-06ODIN T-62Publisher: U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, OE Data Integration Network | Note: Supports T-62 armament context, identifying the 115 mm U-5TS Molot / 2A20 Rapira smoothbore gun with the Meteor stabilizer. | Accessed: 2026-07-06Tank Museum T-62Publisher: The Tank Museum | Note: Supports T-62 background, 115 mm main-gun context, production scale context, and the component relationship to the T-62. | Accessed: 2026-07-06Tank Archives T-62 smoothborePublisher: Tank Archives | Note: Supports design-lineage context for the 115 mm smoothbore gun developed from earlier Soviet 100 mm gun work and the T-12-driven requirement. | Accessed: 2026-07-06Tankograd T-62Publisher: Tankograd | Note: Supports U-5TS / 2A20 development, Object 166 testing context, T-62 integration details, breech and recoil-layout notes, and ammunition-handling context. | Accessed: 2026-07-06Weaponsystems.net 115mm U-5TSPublisher: Weaponsystems.net | Note: Supports U-5TS specifications including origin, type, barrel dimensions, breechblock, recoil travel, pressure, practical rate of fire, and No. 9 plant attribution. | Accessed: 2026-07-06ArmedConflicts U-5TSPublisher: ArmedConflicts.com | Note: Supports U-5TS / 2A20 producer list, production-period and number-built reference values, weight, caliber, barrel length, ammunition examples, and representative muzzle velocities. | Accessed: 2026-07-06Commons U-5TS Motovilikha imagePublisher: Wikimedia Commons | Note: Supports image provenance for the primary U-5TS / 2A20 photograph at the Motovilikha Plants museum; the file page lists own work by Smell U Later under CC BY-SA 3.0. | Accessed: 2026-07-06Commons T-62 breech imagePublisher: Wikimedia Commons | Note: Supports image provenance for the 115 mm T-62 gun breech photograph; the file page lists own work by Alf van Beem and public-domain release. | Accessed: 2026-07-06Commons T-62 barrel imagePublisher: Wikimedia Commons | Note: Supports image provenance for a T-62 gun-barrel photograph in the 115 mm gun 2A20 Commons category. | Accessed: 2026-07-06