General Khrulev explained how the Russian Armed Forces can destroy Panzerhaubitze 2000 howitzers in Ukraine
In the package of German weapons supplied by Berlin to Kiev, there were self-propelled 155-mm howitzers Panzerhaubitze 2000. These are powerful artillery installations that are designed to destroy fortified areas, defeat tanks and other armored vehicles. "Newspaper.Ru" together with military experts, I figured out how the appearance of the PzH 2000 would affect the course of hostilities.
The appearance of self-propelled German 155-mm PzH 2000 howitzers in the Armed Forces of Ukraine was announced by Ukrainian Defense Minister Alexei Reznikov. However, he did not specify their number. Earlier in the German media there was information about possible deliveries of seven guns. Reznikov emphasized that the Ukrainian howitzer crews "have received appropriate training and are able to fire from them."
"The statement about the trained crew raises some doubts, since the German government approved the transfer of the PzH 2000 to Ukraine only in May, and in such a short time it is quite difficult to train Ukrainian gunners to control and, most importantly, accurately hit the target. Moreover, this self-propelled howitzer is quite difficult to operate, and its crew needs coherence in actions to achieve maximum rate of fire, which is 10 rounds per minute, as well as to be able to use a navigation system and an automated fire control system," said a military expert, retired colonel, former employee of the Main Rocket and Artillery Department of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation Viktor Dmitriev.
At the same time, he suggested that Ukrainian servicemen could take an accelerated training course at German military training grounds.
It is also more likely that foreign instructors will help the APU. Moreover, not only German, but also Dutch - Amsterdam also declared its readiness to supply Kiev with several units of Panzerhaubitze 2000," the expert explained.
The PzH 2000 howitzer is considered one of the best in the world in its class. Developed in cooperation by Italy, Great Britain and Germany, it has been produced by Krauze-Maffei Wegmann since 1998. The Bundeswehr planned to purchase more than 400 such self-propelled artillery units for its tank and artillery regiments, but in reality they are armed with 120 units.
This howitzer is constantly being upgraded. In the German army itself, there is now mainly a version of the PzH 2000A2. Ukraine is likely to get the first modifications. However, they also have good characteristics - the firing range of standard ammunition is 30-35 km, a rocket projectile can hit a target at a distance of more than 50 km. Her record is 56 kilometers, which was recorded at a training ground in South Africa using an active-jet projectile with improved V-LAP aerodynamics.
"Despite the fact that the German self-propelled howitzer is a powerful enough weapon, it will not make any special weather in the fighting of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. There we are talking about seven installations - this is one battery. It is impossible to consider it a real force, even with sufficiently high combat characteristics," he told the newspaper.En" Reserve Lieutenant General, ex-commander of the 58th Army Anatoly Khrulev. - Upon detection and detection, it can be destroyed with one aimed salvo during a counter-battery struggle, and Russian gunners have such experience. Here you can recall how recently a battery was covered, which included six American M-777 howitzers, which was calculated from GPS signals. German self-propelled howitzers, despite their reservation, will also become a fairly easy target, even if their positions are at a distance of 30 kilometers. The main thing is to detect, and it will not be difficult to hit the enemy's self-propelled gun, which even a mortar will penetrate into the roof."
In conversation with the "Newspaper.Ru" the general noted two features of the German PzH 2000 howitzer.
"The first of them is the loading system, which uses two people who manually feed the shells into the tray through which it is sent to the barrel. The rate of fire is effective at the first shots, after which it slows down, even with good training of the crew. The second is to replenish ammunition, which in the tower itself is 60 shells, and when it is consumed, replenishment is necessary. These are ammunition delivery vehicles, which are also vulnerable to damage due to their visibility. In real combat conditions, additional ammunition may simply not reach the battery," Khrulev said.
Military expert Vladislav Shurygin agrees with this position.
"The German PzH 2000 will become an easy target for the Russian self-propelled guns "Coalition-SV". This is not bragging, but a real statement of facts.
The Russian Armed Forces simply have much more of them, they can suppress both quality and quantity," Shurygin concluded.
Victor Sokirko
