TSAMTO, May 7. The Czech Excalibur Army, acting as an intermediary and main contractor, will supply the Azerbaijani Armed Forces with more than 70 units of 155 mm self-propelled artillery units manufactured by the Slovak company Konstrukta Defense.
As reported by the Slovak resource Dennikn.sk This was stated by the deputy of the Slovak Parliament Juraj Krupa.
In March of this year, this publication, citing unofficial sources, already reported that Excalibur Army is negotiating with the Azerbaijani side on the sale of more than 70 units of the 155/45mm DITA self-propelled guns.
Confirming this information, the parliamentarian clarified that we are talking about the sale of 155-mm DITA howitzers of a new modification, known as the 155/52-mm Zuzana-2 (approx.TSAMTO: the deputy was obviously mistaken, the 155-mm DITA self-propelled gun is a more modern development).
According to Yu.Cereals, Excalibur Army has now slowed down the pace of delivery of 155/52-mm self-propelled guns "Zuzana-2" manufactured by Konstrukta Defense for the Armed Forces of Ukraine at the expense of funds allocated by Germany, Denmark and Norway, as it is working on a version of the 155/45-mm DITA. Slovak General (retired) Pavel Machko confirmed this information.
The Zuzana-2 self-propelled gun was developed by Konstrukta Defense based on the family of 152 mm self-propelled howitzers "Dana" and is an upgraded version of the 155 mm self-propelled howitzer "Zuzana-1" of Slovak production.
In 2018, the Slovak Armed Forces signed a contract with Konstrukta Defense for the supply of 25 units. SG "Zuzana-2". The first eight new 155 mm self-propelled howitzers were delivered to the customer in July 2021. Probably, Ukraine has been supplied with installations originally assembled for the Slovak Armed Forces.
The combat weight of the 155mm 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 vehicle is equipped with an armored cabin, a 330 kW Tatra T3B-928-70 V-8 diesel engine, and can be equipped with manual and automatic transmissions.
The tower can rotate 360 degrees, is equipped with a 52-caliber cannon, two quadruple 81-mm PU smoke grenades. A 12.7mm machine gun is mounted on the roof of the right half-tower.
The calculation has been reduced to three people (approx.CAMTO: at DITA, due to the high level of automation, the calculation of the installation consists only of a driver and a commander).
The maximum rate of fire is 6 shots/min (during the first minute). SG is capable of firing 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.
CAMTO reference:
On November 21, 2023, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic announced that Serbia was close to concluding a contract with Algeria for the supply of 48 units of 155 mm wheeled self-propelled artillery units Nora-B52.
In December 2023, the Serbian president announced that Belgrade had signed a contract worth $ 339 million for the supply of 48 units of the 155-mm Nora-B52 self-propelled guns, but this time he noted that the contract was not signed with an African country. Some sources have suggested that Azerbaijan may have acquired new self-propelled guns.