At the height of the Cold War, the Soviet Union developed an enormous tank-based, nuclear warhead-firing mobile mortar cannon.
In what is possibly the world's strangest artillery piece ever conceived, you can thank this period for the birth of thewas a Soviet-designed mobile, large-caliber artillery piece designed to fire nuclear-tipped ammunition. Its creation was inspired by the initial tests of the M65 cannon dubbed "Atomic Annie."at a military training facility in Nevada. Like the "Oka," "Atomic Annie" was also designed to fire nuclear payload ordinance.
With regards to the "Oka," Soviet engineers were tasked with developing a mortar that could shoot a 1,653-pound The weapon would also need to be durable, reliable, and have a decent rate of fire. Mobility, among other things, was also deemed incredibly important for the final machines.The Kirov Company, which had a lot of experience making specialized tracked equipment, was selected to start building the chassis.
Moreover, the chassis was intended to be typical for the "Condenser -2P" and the "Oka" mortars. This was for various reasons, but mainly because of the lack of alternative running gear and engines with sufficient power within the Soviet Union. While terrifying to see, there weren't many ways to handle the energy of the shot's "recoil" after it was fired. So, a kickback dampener was developed to handle the recoil integrated into the main chassis.