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Ukraine - Krab 155mm Self-Propelled Howitzer

The 155mm Krab self-propelled guns are produced by the Polish military company Huta Stalowa Wola. This howitzer is considered the main strike force of the Polish artillery. The howitzer takes 30 seconds to switch from traveling to combat and back. In May 2022, the Polish authorities announced their intention to deliver 18 howitzers of this type to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, of which ten 10 vehicles were sent to Ukraine by July. In addition, the Poles trained about 100 Ukrainian fighters how to shoot, operate and maintain this weapon.

As of 2022, Poland had 80 of these AHS Krabs in service. 18 of them were handed over to Ukraine by the Poles. These are 3 full-fledged batteries that can inflict heavy losses on the enemy. These systems proved themselves so well in combat that Ukraine ordered 60 more such installations for the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

These howitzers can hardly be called Polish, since they were assembled, among other things, from foreign spare parts and assemblies - a South Korean chassis, an English turret, Slovak ammunition. Poland combined the best developments of Europe and Asia, resulting in a modern artillery system with a balanced set of technical characteristics - AHS Krab. The Krab self-propelled guns use a turret from the British AS-90 howitzer, which is produced under license in Poland. The SPG chassis is a Polonized version of the South Korean K9 Thunder howitzer.

The German turbodiesel MT 881 Ka-50 with a capacity of 1,000 horsepower, which makes 2,700 revolutions per minute, was used as the power plant for the Krab self-propelled guns. However, experts note that it can not cope with all types of terrain, and also, if it is detected when changing positions, it is rather slow. The declared firing range of the howitzer is from 7 to 40 kilometers, however, in fact, the self-propelled guns hit somewhere at 25 km. In addition, some experts believe that in artillery duels Krab will not cope with the Russian self-propelled guns "Msta" and "Hyacinth".

The armed forces of the Russian Federation destroyed the Polish howitzer Krab ("Crab"), the American self-propelled guns M109 Paladin ("Paladin") and MLRS "Grad" in the Kharkiv region 17 January 2023. The official representative of the Russian Defense Ministry, Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov, announced the losses of the Ukrainian side. "In the course of the counter-battery fight, a Polish-made Crab howitzer near the village of Peschanoe in the Kharkiv region, a US-made M109 Paladin self-propelled howitzer and a Grad MLRS combat vehicle near the village of Lozovaya in the Kharkiv region were destroyed," — he said.