[1] The conditions in Russia itself, with few roads and a terrain that turns to mud at least once a year, explain how important tracked movement is.

It allows the 7-men crew to manhandle the 3,000 kg gun over short distances without the use of a towing vehicle.

[2] An equilibrator serves to keep the gun in balance, even while the barrel weight on both sides of the trunnion differs.

Standing behind the gun, the barrel has a single tube above it in the same position on each side, running almost from the shield to the breech block.

It is a heavy and bulky thing compared to the much smaller pneumatic equilibrator of the T-12, but is also more reliable and user-friendly.

[3] In close combat only the small vertical panel that forms a loophole for direct fire observation is opened.

[1] Closing the other panels allows the crew to move behind the shield without risk of getting hit by small arms fire from enemy infantry or tanks.

[5] Against tanks, the MT-12 can fire armour-piercing fin-stabilized discarding sabot (APFSDS) and high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) rounds.

The APFSDS round relies on a (high) terminal velocity at impact and after that on its length.

The laser guidance unit for the Kastet system is mounted on a separate tripod.

[1] These are an absolute necessity for an anti tank gun to defend itself against enemy infantry.

[6] The MT-12K, or 2A29K has a laser device for guiding the 9M117 missile shot fired by the 9K116 Kastet system, see above.

[6] It is not clear whether simply adding the separate tripod mounted guiding device turns an MT-12 into an MT-12K.

[10] In 2017, the Algerian military displayed a locally developed variant mounting an MT-12 on a Mercedes-Benz Zetros truck.

[3] During the Cold War the Soviet Union thought of the MT-12 as a defensive and expendable weapon.

It could be entrenched, and due to its low height, it could easily be concealed to strike from a short distance.

[3] At the time that the MT-12 and its predecessor the T-12 entered service the capability to fire HE-shells was common to most anti-tank guns.

[4] The use of the MT-12 and other towed anti-tank guns has been studied in some detail for the War in Donbas (2014–2022) up to 2017.

However, before the front lines stabilized after the Ukrainian defeat in the August-September 2014 Battle of Ilovaisk, the MT-12 was rarely seen, because maneuverable warfare prevented its wide employment.

[6] The final 2017 conclusion about the towed anti-tank gun was that: 'Moreover, its ability to be used in indirect fire makes the weapon ideally suited for the prolonged positional warfare that dominates the last two years of the Ukrainian conflict.

On the Ukrainian side, the Territorial Defense brigades, composed of local volunteers, have been issued MT-12 guns.

[6] A video of the national guard firing the gun in actual combat indeed shows it being used at near maximum elevation.

[10] On the Russian side, a train load of MT-12s was pulled from storage and sent to the front in March 2023.