120 mm self-propelled gun Nona

During its peak period, Soviet airborne troops (in the last two decades of the USSR’s existence) constituted a powerful force. The Soviet military doctrine at the time called for the use of airborne troops as a means of preempting enemy actions during strategic offensive operations. Six airborne divisions, about 15 separate airborne and assault brigades and regiments, separate special purpose brigades and battalions had the ability to be deployed to any point on the globe. An example of this was the capture of Prague (Czechoslovakia) in 1968 by the 7th and 98th Guards Airborne Divisions during Operation “Danube”, and the even faster capture of Kabul by the 103rd Guards Airborne Division in 1979 during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

Full-scale combat operations of the “winged infantry” within enemy territory – that is how the airborne forces were planned to be used – required significant firepower.

Under the direction of Doctor of Technical Sciences Avenir Novozhilov, designers from the Central Scientific Research Institute of Precision Engineering in Klimovsk, together with experts from the well-known Motovilikhinskie Plants in Perm, created a fundamentally new 120-mm rifled gun 2A51 for direct support of land forces. This made it possible to develop and put into service in 1981 a universal artillery system for the airborne troops that combined the functions of a gun, howitzer, and mortar.

The self-propelled artillery unit for airborne troops was named the 2S9 “Nona-S.” According to one of the legends that always arise when new weapons are created, “NONA” is not a woman’s name, but an abbreviation for the russian name “Novoe oruzhie nazemnoy artillerii” (New Ground Artillery Weapon).

Even today, the 2S9 “Nona-S” remains a unique artillery system that combines the characteristics of various types of guns and is intended for direct fire support of airborne units.