Rostec delivers Planshet-A artillery fire control system to Russian troops

Russia is working to upgrade and modernise the network connectivity of its armed forces. Recent Planshet-A deliveries are part of that plan, but it must replace the more experimental solutions.  

By Sam Cranny-Evans, editor of Calibre Defence, published on April14, 2026.  

Rostec has announced the delivery of Planshet-A artillery fire control systems to, “a customer.” It is described as a “modern computing system that automates artillery fire control for self-propelled and towed howitzers, multiple launch rocket systems, and mortar units.”  

Planshet-A enables a battery fire mission to be completed in 30 seconds. This increases to 50 seconds for battalion-level fires. These times are claimed to apply to both stationary and “pop-up ground targets.” 

It is supposedly capable of integrating sensor feeds from different reconnaissance assets. This includes drones, radars, lasers, and meteorological sensors. They can be connected wirelessly to the hardware of the system. 

Planshet-A is made up of the following components: 

• Command and control (C2) kit for battery commanders 
• C2 kit for platoons 
• A gun commander kit 
• Kit for artillery platoon commanders.  

It can be used to share information between stations, calculate firing data and control the artillery process. The gun commander kit also includes a tactical radar for target detection.  

Some components are carried in a tactical vest, but it has been integrated into the Athlete 4×4 protected mobility vehicle. It takes six minutes to set up a command post for a battery or battalion position. When operating from an unprepared position, it takes nine minutes to set up. This is thought to include two minutes for a basic survey with a CEP of 10 metres.  

The artillery survey is as old as artillery itself and involves siting the guns and establishing exactly where they are. Without an effective survey, they cannot direct accurate artillery fire. 

Calibre comment: Planshet-A and Russian reforms in Ukraine 

Russian units in Ukraine have developed a range of their own networking tools. For instance, it is common to see Russian command posts using Discord servers to stream drone footage. This tends to be used for anything requiring ISR; assaults, artillery fires, and so on, according to John Hardie, Deputy Director, Russia Program, at Foundation for Defence of Democracy. There are other programmes, like Glas-Groza, which is designed for the artillery kill chain and has state backing, Hardie explained. All of this means that if Planshet-A is to be widely accepted into service, it will have to replace the existing work arounds.  

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However, the future development of Planshet-A is expected to include integration of the 1B75E Penicillin artillery reconnaissance system. Pencillin uses acoustic and thermal detection to locate artillery firing positions. It does this without emitting any electromagnetic radiation unlike radars. This integration would improve Russia’s counter-battery capabilities. A further development that is worth monitoring in tandem is the delivery of Krasnopol-M2 laser guided rounds. Without those – and other – precision munitions, Russia’s main bottleneck remains the availability of artillery ammunition.  

The lead image shows a soldier in Russian uniform using a Planshet-A terminal. Credit: Rostec.