Modern tube artillery retains the leading role in the armament system of military advanced countries. However, despite apparent improvements, the main fire missions accomplished by artillery require considerable amount of artillery pieces, ammunition and time. Reduction of ammunition expenditure and time of mission accomplishment can be obtained only in case of high-accuracy firing. One of the main trends of enhancing accuracy of fire (with simultaneous increase of combat capabilities) is application of artillery guided weapon systems (AGWS).

In Russia, guided artillery projectiles (GAPs) were first devised by KBP where the 152mm Krasnopol guided projectile with laser semi-active homing was developed. Taking into consideration the wide use of 155mm artillery systems by armed forces of many countries, KBP has developed the 155mm Kpasnopol GAP intended for use by such artillery systems as M109A1-6 (the USA), G5/G6 (South Africa), FH77 (Sweden), TRF1 (France), and others.

Advanced opportunities offered by guided projectiles with laser semi-active homing and their high combat capabilities gave a task of creating such projectiles for the 120mm and 122mm artillery systems of the regiment and battalion levels.

This task was successfully carried out by creation of guided artillery and mortar projectiles — the Kitolov-2 for 120mm pieces, the Kitolov-2M for 122mm pieces, the Gran guided mortar projectile for smoothbore and rifled mortars.

When accomplishing combat missions artillery guided weapon systems allow to reduce:

• number of guns involved — by 2-3 times;
• projectile expenditure — by not less than 50 times;
• cost of combat mission accomplishment by — 5-10 times.

Equipping artillery systems with guided projectiles does not require any changes in the structure of artillery units.