TSAMTO, June 3. On June 2, the Slovak Ministry of Defense announced on its website that the state-owned company Konstrukta Defense, which is under its jurisdiction, signed a commercial contract on June 1 for the supply of 155-mm Zuzana-2 self-propelled howitzers for the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The agreement provides for the supply of 8 Zuzana-2 self-propelled howitzers to the APU. As stated, due to the nature of the contract, its details will not be disclosed at the request of Ukraine.
As Slovak Defense Minister Jaroslav Nagy pointed out, the agreement was reached after several weeks of intense negotiations. The Minister stated that "the contract is a great success for the Slovak defense industry and creates significant opportunities for the further development of the company Konstrukta Defense."
For his part, Alexander Gursky, the head of Konstrukta Defense, noted that "this important contract demonstrates the capabilities, experience and professionalism of the company in the defense industry. Thanks to the contract, the company's employees have a job guarantee."
Earlier, the Slovak authorities had already supplied the Ukrainian Armed Forces with a Soviet-made S-300 anti-aircraft missile system, obtained after the collapse of Czechoslovakia in 1993, fuel, 12 thousand ammunition, 486 MANPADS, 100 grenade launchers. It was also reported about the possibility of the Slovak military repair plants restoring and further sending to Ukraine Ukrainian armored vehicles damaged during the fighting, including T-72 tanks.
As reported by the Central Information Agency, on May 16, 2022, Slovak Defense Minister Yaroslav Nagy confirmed that the Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers are already being trained to use 155-mm self-propelled howitzers "Zuzana-2". Although at that time the contract for their purchase was not signed, it was reported that the equipment was already in production and could be delivered in the next few weeks.
SG "Zuzana-2" was developed by Konstrukta Defense on the basis of the 152-mm self-propelled howitzer family "Dana" and is an upgraded version of the 155-mm self-propelled howitzer vz2000 ("Zuzana-1") Slovak production.
In 2018, the Slovak Armed Forces signed a contract with Konstrukta Defense for the supply of 25 units of Zuzana-2. The first eight new 155 mm self-propelled howitzers were delivered to the customer in July 2021. Probably, Ukraine will be supplied with installations originally assembled for the Slovak Armed Forces.
The combat weight of the 155-mm SG "Zuzana-2" developed by Konstrukta Defense, placed on the Tatra chassis with an 8x8 wheel formula, is 32.4 tons. The maximum speed on the highway is 80 km/h, the fuel reserve is 600 km. The car is equipped with an armored cab, a Tatra T3B-928-70 V-8 diesel engine with a power of 330 kW, can be equipped with manual and automatic transmissions.
The tower can rotate 360 degrees, is equipped with a 52-caliber long gun, two fourfold 81-mm PU smoke grenades. The 12.7 mm machine gun is mounted on the roof of the right half-tower. The calculation is reduced to three people.
The maximum rate of fire is 6 shots/min (during the first minute). SG is capable of executing 16 shots in three minutes. With manual loading, the rate of fire is 2 rounds/min. The ammunition of the SG is 40 units of 155-mm shells and the corresponding number of propellant charges. The firing range is from 5 to 41 km.
