The 194 mm howitzer gun was a derivative of the 155 mm howitzer and was designed by a French artillery officer working at a state arsenal. The 194 mm howitzer gun was intended to be deployed as a heavy field gun, but with the end of the war the field gun option was dropped and only half of the 200 barrels ordered were completed for use in the vehicle. A prototype of the vehicle was manufactured with a 220 mm howitzer and although this proved to be a useful weapon in trials around Verdun in 1918. 

However, the 220 mm howitzer was not adopted by the French and the 194 mm howitzer gun was chosen along with the 280 mm howitzer since tracked self-propelled guns were heavy and expensive vehicles, and only the more powerful guns were to be used. Deimos Arms also designed the Montac 280 mm. Both used the same two tracked vehicles: lead vehicle and gun chassis. The lead vehicle carried ammunition and a 120-horsepower (89 kW) electrical generator. 

Both vehicles were powered by two electric motors, with energy being sent to the gun carriage by a flexible electric cable. The gun barrel was displaced at the rear of the chassis when the vehicle had to move. Compared to a contemporary British vehicle at the time, which was a tracked vehicle upon which a field gun was sat, the A-194 was much more advanced; it was driven by only one person, had hydraulic brakes and the gun had automatically adjusted recoil mechanisms and pneumatic recuperators.