The 152 mm ML-20 is a Soviet heavy towed gun-howitzer designed at Plant No. 172 in Motovilikha under F. F. Petrov and adopted in 1937. It combined a 152.4 mm barrel, split-trail carriage, large muzzle brake, separate-loading ammunition, and a 17.2 km high-explosive range in a weapon built for corps and army artillery. Its modern catalog relevance comes from residual stock use: Ukrainian reporting in October 2025 documented Russian forces towing and losing an ML-20 in Donetsk region during the 2014 Russia-Ukraine War.
Defense Express reported that Ukrainian gunners from the 55th Separate Artillery Brigade destroyed a Russian ML-20 during counter-battery operations in Donetsk region in October 2025, documenting the 1937 gun-howitzer's reappearance in Russian wartime artillery use.
Role detailsThe ML-20 was a heavy howitzer-gun rather than a light divisional howitzer. Public reference data describes a 152 mm L/28 ordnance with separate-loading ammunition, a split-trail carriage, a shielded crew position, and a multi-slotted muzzle brake. That package gave Soviet corps and army artillery a heavier shell and longer reach than shorter 152 mm howitzers, but it also made the weapon too heavy for crew manhandling.
WeaponSystems.net lists a maximum range of 17.2 km with the 53-OF-540 high-explosive fragmentation round, with elevation from -2 degrees to +65 degrees.
The same reference gives a 7.27 t firing weight and notes that the gun required a towing vehicle because it was too heavy to be moved by hand.
The 2025 Donetsk-region report is residual-stock evidence: it shows Russian forces drawing on very old towed artillery rather than a current-production ML-20 line.
Sources: WeaponSystems.net 152mm ML-20; Defense Express ML-20 Donetsk.
The ML-20 designation covers the towed 1937 gun-howitzer and a smaller family of self-propelled, captured-service, and modernization designations.
| Variant | Configuration | Designation notes |
|---|---|---|
| Baseline towed gun-howitzer | Towed production gun-howitzer | The baseline weapon was the 152 mm howitzer-gun model 1937, built at Motovilikha and cataloged by WeaponSystems.net under GRAU index 52-G-544A. Sources: WeaponSystems.net 152mm ML-20 |
| ML-20S | Self-propelled-gun ordnance | WeaponSystems.net lists ML-20S guns for self-propelled installations and identifies the ISU-152 as armed with the ML-20S. Sources: WeaponSystems.net 152mm ML-20 |
| 152 H37 | Finnish service designation | WeaponSystems.net lists 152 H37 among the ML-20 designations used after captured or transferred examples entered Finnish service. Sources: WeaponSystems.net 152mm ML-20 |
| 15.2 cm KH.433/1(r) | German captured-weapon designation | WeaponSystems.net identifies 15.2 cm KH.433/1(r) as the German Beutewaffen designation for captured ML-20 guns. Sources: WeaponSystems.net 152mm ML-20 |
The ML-20 sits in a small Soviet heavy-artillery cluster: public reference data directly connects it to the A-19 shared carriage and the later D-1 alternative.
| Compatible item | Item type | Compatibility evidence |
|---|---|---|
 | Shared-carriage field gun | WeaponSystems.net states that the late M1931/37 A-19 used the same carriage as the ML-20, making the two weapons a practical Soviet corps-artillery duplex. Sources: WeaponSystems.net 152mm ML-20 |
 | Lighter 152 mm alternative | WeaponSystems.net describes the D-1 as a lighter and more mobile alternative to the ML-20, trading range for much lower weight. Sources: WeaponSystems.net 152mm ML-20 |
Ukraine's National Defence University museum page describes the Plant No. 172 design bureau in Motovilikha developing the ML-15 and ML-20 after earlier 152 mm modernization work no longer met Red Army needs.
The same museum page gives 22 September 1937 as the formal adoption date for the 152 mm howitzer-gun model 1937.
WeaponSystems.net lists ML-20 production from 1937 to 1946 and separates the towed production total from the ML-20S self-propelled-gun ordnance total.
Defense Express reported that Ukrainian gunners destroyed a Russian ML-20 in Donetsk region during counter-battery operations.
