Editing 2S25 Sprut-SD (section)

==History==
Class: Tank Destroyer</br>
Developed: 1984-2001</br>
Service: 2006+</br>
Vehicles Built: 36-40</br>
Operators: Russia

The Sprut-SD is a Russian airborne tank destroyer, developed in the 1980s for the Russian Airborne Forces (VDV). Its name means “Octopus” in Russian, although it is commonly (and more poetically) translated as “Kraken.” Much like the other modern vehicles intended for VDV, it had a long development history that was riddled with issues, resulting in multiple delays and ending with a small production run.

It started as a light, air-droppable anti-tank gun, intended to deal with targets the BMD-1 could not harm. In a reaction to the appearance of the Il-76 heavy transport plane, a unified chassis was proposed in 1982 with a number of vehicles, including a self-propelled anti-tank gun, capable of taking out even the heaviest enemy MBTs with its 125mm 2A75 smoothbore cannon. The gun was loaded automatically from a two-layer carousel below the turret (the ammunition is, like in other Soviet tanks, split) and allowed for a rate of fire of 7 rounds per minute.

The main development ran between 1984 and 1991 when the state trials took place. Overall, the project was received positively but there was a problem with its airborne delivery system, which was a major issue for a vehicle that was intended for airborne forces. With the subsequent fall of the Soviet Union, the Sprut-SD development ground to a halt. The project only reappeared in 2001 and after another round of state trials (nearly a decade after the original ones), the 2S25 Sprut-SD was finally accepted in Russian service on January 9, 2006. The vehicle was actually mass-produced between 2005 and 2010 with a relatively small number of these vehicles built (36-40 pieces are the most commonly stated number), but by 2010, the production stopped and a modernization program began, resulting in a prototype called Sprut-SDM with several improvements, the production of which is planned for the future.