According to Polish media, Ukraine has signed a contract with Poland for the purchase of 54 (according to other sources, 60) 155-mm/52 Polish Krab self-propelled howitzers of new production, as well as an accompanying set of auxiliary vehicles to equip three artillery divisions. The total value of the contract is about 3 billion zlotys (about 700 million dollars), which makes it the largest export contract of the Polish defense industry in the post-socialist period.
155mm/52 Krab self-propelled howitzer of the Polish Armed Forces (c) Huta Stalowa Wola
A little earlier at the end of May, Polish media also reported that Poland had transferred 18 (according to other sources, 19) Krab self-propelled howitzers of national production from the presence of the Polish armed forces to Ukraine as military assistance and that 100 Ukrainian servicemen had already been trained for these self-propelled guns in one of the training centers of the Polish Army. This transfer was made by the Polish side on a gratuitous basis and has no relation to the specified contract on the order of Ukraine ACS of new production. On June 1, the Ukrainian media distributed a photo of one of the Krab self-propelled guns received from Poland, which was reportedly transferred to the 26th Artillery Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Recall that the Polish 155 mm/52 Krab self-propelled howitzer in its current serial appearance is produced by the Polish company Huta Stalowa Wola SA (HSW, part of the state association Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa SA, PGZ), representing a combination of licensed (apparently, in fact, mostly only assembled at HSW) tracked chassis of the South Korean self-propelled the K9 Thunder howitzers (of the South Korean Hanwha group), the licensed turret of the British AS90M self-propelled howitzer and the licensed 155 mm/52 swinging part developed by the German Rheinmetall group (the actual degree of localization of the swinging part is also unclear - according to some reports, only the barrel is produced in Poland, and the bolt and other elements of the gun are supplied from Germany). The MTU MT881Ka-500 diesel engine with a capacity of 1000 hp, produced under a German license by the South Korean company STX Engine, is installed on the chassis for the K9 ACS. and the South Korean transmission SNT Dynamics X1100-5A3.
To date, the Polish Ministry of National Defense has ordered 122 Krab self-propelled guns in serial form on the K9 chassis (five divisional sets of 24 self-propelled guns, plus two training ones), with delivery by the end of 2025, of which 80 units were delivered to the Polish Army from 2016 to the beginning of 2022. Now 18 or 19 of them have been transferred to Ukraine. At the beginning of 2022, it became known that the Polish Armaments Department was negotiating with HSW to order an additional 80 Krab self-propelled guns for the Polish army, the contract could be signed by the end of the year. In addition, it is now possible to order additional self-propelled guns to compensate for those transferred to Ukraine.
The divisional set of Krab self-propelled guns for the Polish Army includes 24 Krab howitzers (three eight-gun batteries), two command and staff vehicles of the WDsz division, 9 command and staff vehicles of battery management and fire platoons of WD (vehicles of both these types are made on the HSW armored tracked LPG chassis developed on the basis of the licensed chassis of the 2C1 self-propelled guns "Carnation"), six WA ammunition transport vehicles on the chassis of the Polish truck Jelcz 882.53 (8x8) and one workshop for the repair of weapons and electronics WRUiE on the chassis of the Polish truck Jelcz P662 (6x6). In the delivery for Ukraine, it is planned to use six-gun batteries in the complete set of the division.
It is unclear what are the sources of financing for the contract for the purchase by Ukraine of 54 or 60 Krab self-propelled guns of new production, but it is obvious that not the actual Ukrainian funds, but the funds allocated to Ukraine under military assistance programs from the United States or the EU.
Polish sources report that the HSW plant has the capacity to manufacture 20-30 Krab self-propelled guns per year, while for the Polish army, based on the allocated funding, it produces from 8 to 16 self-propelled guns per year. According to a number of reports, in order to accelerate the implementation of the Ukrainian contract, it is planned to use not licensed K9 ACS chassis manufactured by HSW, but original K9 chassis manufactured by Hanwha Defense purchased directly in South Korea, and discussion of this topic was one of the subjects of negotiations during the recent visit of Polish Minister of National Defense Mariusz Blaszczak to South Korea. At the same time, it is reported that due to the global crisis of recent years in the supply of electronic chips for the automotive and engine industry, the engines of the new production STX-MTU MT881Ka-500 will be available only in 2023.
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Allegedly, the first photo of the Polish 155 mm/52 Krab self-propelled howitzer in the Armed Forces of Ukraine as part of the 26th Artillery Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The picture was distributed on 01.06.2022 (c) Ukrainian social networks
