After producing domestic howitzer H155 mm M65 based on the US M114 155 mm howitzer, Yugoslav People's Army was not satisfied with the maximum range of that gun and current artillery weapons at disposal. Decisions were made to start domestic production of new large caliber guns. In same time construction documentation of 152 mm towed gun-howitzer M1955 with few D-20 guns was bought from the Soviet Union. Dissatisfied with a range of both US 155mm and Soviet 152mm gun and after analyzing both US 155mm and Soviet Union 152mm guns and considering the lack of desired features, a number of specifications were defined with characteristics that new domestic gun-howitzer should have: - range with unassisted projectile of 24 km - design new extended range ammunition - new weapon should be able to fire all types of old ammunition for 152mm gun D-20 - weapon should have wider elevation range - rate of fire should be minimum 4, achieved by development of new semi-automatic wedge-type breach mechanism. It was planned that during the whole development phase of new artillery weapons three versions of NORA should be made:
NORA-A gun — howitzer 152mm with 39 caliber barrel
NORA-B self — propelled 152mm gun with 45 caliber barrel based on FAP-2832 as carrier for more see Nora B-52
NORA-C Auxiliary power unit 152mm gun — howitzer 152mm with 45 caliber barrel — parts of this project was planned to be used with new 203mm gun code named KOLOS with max range of more than 50 km that was not realized due to lack of funds.
Work on NORA project began in 1975, and in May 1980 first prototype of NORA-A was sent to Technical Testing Center. In 1984 development was finished and NORA-A designated as M-84 NORA was accepted by Yugoslav People's Army. In 1989 M-84 powder chamber was redesigned and mass of gun was reduced with and new designation was adopted as M-84B1. The M-84B2 version is fitted with a pneumatic loader which is operational at all gun elevations, with the capacity of over 30 work cycles from one standard compressed air tank mounted on one of the trails. Development of NORA-C was abandoned in 1991 and NORA-B had almost similar fate. But after 2001 decision was made to continue NORA-B project and development was reactivated and after few years in 2006 and with many new improvements and modifications a new self-propelled gun was developed known as Nora B-52. Today latest version of Nora B-52 has little similarities with the original NORA-B project as new self-propelled artillery gun system is much more modern and automated. On basis of NORA M-84 development conversion was set for up-gunning Soviet 130 mm towed field gun M1954 to bigger caliber and new gun was developed for that purposes. In 1986 it was accepted by Yugoslav People's Army under designation M-46/86 in 152mm caliber and in same time it was developed one more version for export as M46/86 with 155mm gun caliber. Two more versions of Nora M-84 was developed after 2008 known as:
155 mm / 39 CAL. NORA-A1 LIGHT GUN-HOWITZER
M08 152mm / 45 cal. towed gun
Ammunition
With the introduction of new gun new munition was developed. In 1984 new ammunition with base-bleed was tested with a range of 34.5km on Nora M84 152mm. In 1986 serial production of ammunition started under the designation of M84/ГГ It has a maximum muzzle velocity of 895 meters per second and was most sophisticated 152mm an at time of introduction ahead of Soviet ammunition for 152 mm howitzer 2A65.
Variants
There are a few variants of Nora artillery systems now in use or offered for sales or export:
Nora M-84
Basic variant that was accepted in the armament of the YPA in 1984. Small quantities are in use.
Nora M-84B1
Variant with 18 liters redesigned powder chamber and reduced mass to 6.88 tones. Most used variant. Range 34.5km.
Nora M-84B2
Variant fitted with a pneumatic loader which is operational at all gun elevations, with the capacity to fire over 30 round.
M46/84
Converted M-46 130mm gun to Nora standard using 152mm or 155mm 45 caliber barrel and other parts developed through Nora program. In 155mm M46/84 variant range of 39 km is achieved with ERFB/BB ammunition's with 2078 square meters lethal zone compared to 27 kmstandard range and 630 square meters lethal area for the original M-46 130mm gun.
Nora A1
Lightweight variant with 155mm 39 caliber barrel and high rate of fire, new counter-recoil system and the possibility of use of semi-automatic loader.
M08
M08 represents a further development of M46/84 gun and it is 152mm gun with 45 caliber barrel having a range that is exceeding 40 km with new M05 155mm projectile.
Ammunition
152mm Nora is capable to fire M84/GG projectile with a range of 34.5 km and all other ammunition developed for D-20 gun and Nora gun. Nora guns in the caliber of 155mm are capable to fire all domestic and foreign counterpart ammunition developed for 155mm guns within pressure allowed in chamber and barrel. The illumination round for Nora gun 152mm is designated M88.
Transportation and use
Nora gun-howitzer is transported by FAP-2026 or Kamaz 43118 6x6 cross-country trucks. From traveling into combat position and vice versa it takes about 3–5 minutes. A crew of 9 is needed to operate it successfully in combat within designed parameters.
