"Russia develops a new 6x6 self-propelled..." Topic

… howitzer based on Volk armoured and 2B16 120mm gun.

"A picture releases Monday, January 20, 2014, on a Russian military blog shows that Russia develops a new light self-propelled artillery system based on the 6x6 light tactical vehicle Volk (Wolf in English) VPK-39273 with a 120mm gun 2B16 Nona-K mounted at the rear of the chassis"

From here.
link

Well, at least, best than the Vietnamese one!. (smile).

Amicalement
Armand

Looks like thy made it in shop class. Hey Mr. Novresky what is our project this semester?

Well, if they made it in shop class, they did an A-1 job.

Just look at that realistic camo paint, and dusty drybrushing on the wheels. Of course, the lights look quite nice too, in addition to the metallic finish on the gun barrel as well.

simple and low tech. I think they can build 25+ of these for the cost one M109 Paladin.

Except that the one M109 would be more than 25 times effective… IIRC, the Nona is suppose to replace/supplement the 120mm mortar at the regt level. It is NOT in the same league as the 155mm SP.

True, but at the lower level of Insurgency, lighter forces and things like Syria it could be useful.

The Brigade seems to be the heaviest formation these days, we certainly don't see entire Mechanised Divisions going head to head very often.

Could you imagine this kind of Weapon System in the hands of the Syrians, or the Free Syrian Army? Or what about African forces in Sudan or the Congo…This is very capable for what it is.

Okay a 155mm SP is much more effective, but the level of skill and co-ordination to employ 155mm effectively is not easily in reach for most third world militaries due to the cost of training, logisitics and the communications infrastructure need to employ a 155mm Battery to the Full.

This is a Budget Artillery piece, and I think we will see alot of these in the various third world battle grounds we (read Western nations) will be fighting across in the next 20 years+.

I'm no expert, but I'm going to guess this effort (and the Vietnamese one derided elsewhere) are a lot handier in close terrain and mountains than an M109.

And a shell is a shell. When on the receiving end, how fancy the chassis is doesn't count for much surely?

One problem with Western armies is the desire to have everything super high tech – great when high tech is needed , but expensive when not. Expensive, of course, leads to 'we don't have as much'. So the West can find itself in the situation of paying more for less kit than the opposition.

And a shell is a shell. When on the receiving end, how fancy the chassis is doesn't count for much surely?

Big difference between needing an entire battery to fire a Time on Target barrage and a single gun being able to fire one.

Means you might need fewer tubes overall, and definitely means that the artillery you do have can fire in more directions.

It's no longer a case of having all 6 guns in the Regimental Cannon Company firing at one target, now it's possible to have two guns dedicated to each battalion. That's effectively a (one gun) battery per company because it's rare that all three companies in the battalion are in combat at the same time. Normally, you'd have two companies up and on the offensive and one back in reserve, maybe all the way back at a base (or one up and two back).

I still mourn for the Crusader SPH and its MRSI capability.