TSAMTO, September 14. The Malaysian Defense Ministry is finalizing a contract with the Slovak company Konstrukta Defense for the supply of a division of 155 mm/52 EVA self-propelled howitzers on a wheeled chassis.
According to the Slovak analytical center Institute for Central Europe (ICE), at the moment the final parameters of the contract have not yet been approved, but it is assumed that 16-18 self-propelled artillery units will be purchased.
To date, the EVA SG has not been purchased by the Slovak Armed Forces and has not been exported. The main competitor of the Slovak SG in the international market is the 155-mm self–propelled howitzer "Caesar" (CAESAR - CAmion Equipe d'un Systeme d'Artillerie) of the French company NEXTER Systems, the purchase of which the Malaysian Armed Forces also considered.
155 mm/52 SG EVA on the Tatra 6x6 car chassis was first presented in May 2015 in Brno (Czech Republic) at the IDET-2015 exhibition. As it was reported at the time, the new SG was developed within nine months using developments and components used in the creation of the Zuzana-2 self-propelled howitzer. Financing of the development of the EVA SG was carried out mainly by the company itself with a little assistance from the Ministries of Defense and Economy of Slovakia. The chassis with the 8x8 wheel formula was then offered as an option.
According to the developers, the weight of the equipped SG on the Tatra 6x6 chassis is 20.2 tons (full combat weight is 22 tons), length is 11.2 m, height is 2.7 m, width is 2.55 m, which allows it to be transported by the BTA C–130 Hercules aircraft. The maximum speed on the highway is up to 90 km/h, on a dirt road – 55 km/ h, the fuel reserve is 600 km.
A new version of the SG on the Tatra 8x8 chassis, which is also known under the export designation TMG (Truck Mounted Gun), was shown during the 7th International Defense Exhibition IDEB-2018 (May 16-18, 2018, Bratislava, Slovakia).
The development of the new version of TMG was carried out by Konstrukta Defense together with Czech firms Czechoslovak Group (CSG) and Tatra Trucks, starting in 2017. The gun is placed on the Tatra T815-7 8x8.1R chassis with an 8x8 wheel formula, equipped with a Tatra T3C-928.90 diesel engine with a capacity of 300 kW and featuring improved cross-country capability. Installation length – 11.5 m, width – 2.7 m, height – 3.28 m. As noted, the 28-ton howitzer can be transferred by air on board A400M and IL-76 aircraft. The calculation of the installation is 3 people. The TMG howitzer differs from the version presented in 2015 with a longer chassis, a 30 kW Lombardini 11LD626-3 diesel auxiliary power unit (APU), as well as a new armored cabin.
The equipment of the APU allowed firing without starting the engine of the car. Half of the power generated by the installation is used to activate the guidance mechanisms, and the rest allows you to charge the car batteries.
The howitzer is equipped with a charging chamber with a volume of 23 liters. The range of azimuth guidance angles is +-60 degrees. from the axis of the car, at the angle of the seat – from -3.5 to + 75 degrees. The SG can fire most standard 155 mm NATO ammunition up to 1000 mm long. The maximum firing range of a long-range high-explosive projectile with a bottom gas generator (HE ER-BB) is 41.4 km. The initial velocity of the projectile can reach 935 m/s. Ammunition – 24 units of 155-mm shells and the corresponding number of propellant charges. At the same time, 12 shells and charges are in the automatic loader. The maximum rate of fire is 5 shots/min (during the first minute). SG is capable of firing 12 shots in three minutes. With manual loading, the rate of fire is 2 rounds/min.
Shooting from closed positions is carried out using an on-board fire control system (FCS), which allows calculation for simultaneous destruction of the target by several projectiles. The FCS is equipped with an inertial navigation system and provides a high level of automation of all processes, leaving the calculation commander only entering the coordinates of the target.
The SG can also be used for direct fire, for which it is equipped with a color daytime television camera with a wide (12x9 deg.) or narrow (2,4x1,8 deg.) field of view or a thermal imaging camera (12x9 deg. and 4x3 deg.). The aiming system also includes a laser rangefinder with a measuring range of 50-7500 m. This allows the installation to accurately hit targets with a size of 2,3x2,3 m at a distance of 1500 m at any time of the day. In addition, the optical sight is preserved for use in unforeseen situations. The artillery ballistic station is installed on the right side of the barrel.