Weaker on paper, but unbeatably cheap: Ukraine’s Bohdana howitzer beats the Caesars and Archers. A winner against Putin.
Kiev – “It is completely unacceptable that so many countries in the world are still thinking about how to counter terrorism, when all it takes is a few political decisions,” says Volodymyr Zelensky. The German Bundeswehr Association has taken up what has been haunting the media in one form or another for months: Ukraine’s frustration at being dependent on the West in the fight against Vladimir Putin. But the attack on the Kursk region was a clear indication of the emancipation of the Ukrainian army – in tactics and equipment. Now it is also building up its own artillery – while Russia is starting to depend on its partners. A turning point.
With the help of the German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall, Ukraine has started producing 152-millimeter artillery shells. This is a first for the former Soviet satellite country, which was forced to rely mainly on the 122- and 152-millimeter caliber. In this respect, Ukraine is moving closer to NATO. The F-16 fighter jets will also probably equip the Ukrainian air force in the long term. Now Ukraine is relying on self-sufficiency, especially in its artillery, as the magazine Forbes reported.
No Caesar, no Archer: Ukraine relies on howitzers of its own production
Since the beginning of the war, Ukraine has focused on expanding its own production capacity for 155 mm artillery shells and wants to move away from models such as the Caesar and the Archer. As Oleksandr Kamyshin recently stated, Ukraine has now started serial production of 155 mm shells – the defenders are now supplying themselves with the NATO standard caliber – and want to increase production rapidly, the presidential advisor told Forbes The German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall announced some time ago that it would move a production site to Ukraine in order to shorten the logistics chain. Ukraine plans to be able to cover the demand from its own resources in the future.
“I had already fought on the front lines. I already had the weapons. I already knew how effective and safe they were and that everything could be better and more convenient. I came up with the idea of putting the weapons on the truck. We brought them, refurbished them and installed them.”
But Ukraine also wants to regain autonomy in howitzers and break away from the patronage of the Western powers – no matter how powerful the Caesars, Archers or Howitzers 2000 of the NATO partners may be. The self-propelled wheeled howitzer 2S22 Bohdana in caliber 155 mm is a Ukrainian development that has attracted attention in recent months, as the magazine Defense Network reported. According to this, President Volodymyr Zelenskyj had spoken of wanting to produce up to ten systems per month. The first prototype of the 2S22 Bohdana was presented in Kyiv in 2018. Ukraine started series production in early 2023.
According to media reports, the basis is the chassis of the domestically produced all-wheel-drive 6×6 military truck KrAZ-6322. This design decision is said to have promised autonomy compared to foreign parts and shortened the production readiness time compared to a tracked chassis that is complex to design – Rheinmetall is also relying on the wheel-driven system of the Boxer for the successor to the Panzerhaubitze 2000. However, there are pictures of the artillery system being able to be loaded onto various other carriers – for example on an 8×8 Tatra T815-7 chassis.
Mass – without any perceived loss of class: Better the Bohdana than Germany’s Haubitze 2000
It seems surprising – or understandable – that Ukraine can apparently live with the “weaknesses” of this system, as Defense Network writes. What is striking is the “lower degree of automation” – in contrast to the Swedish Archer system, the Ukrainian artillerymen have to leave their cabin to fire. This results in a slower change of position and thus a higher vulnerability. Possibly a reflection of the Eastern military doctrine, according to which the protection of one’s own individual forces is given less importance than in the West.
The rate of fire and loading capacity are also said to be lower than those of their Western counterparts: Defense Network compares it, for example, with the German RCH 155 – which is supposed to be able to fire faster, carry ten more shots and drive faster – although it is supposed to be heavier. In return, the Ukraine puts five to ten Bodhana on wheels for an RCH 155. Or two compared to the Swedish Archer or the French Caesar. So mass – without any apparent loss of class.
For Ukraine, the weapon is the next hope alongside drones – instead of Western imports like the Howitzer 2000. According to the Kyiv Independent Ukraine wants to become Europe’s class leader in the production of howitzers. However, Ukraine has so far lacked the money to pay for domestic arms production. Denmark was one of the most generous NATO partners for the production of the Bodhana, and private companies from Ukraine are also investing via crowdfunding.
Offensive thanks to Soviet stocks: Russia’s tactics are no longer working
Despite the different resources of both warring parties, a turning point seems to be on the horizon. The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) is currently observing that Ukraine is relying on its own industrial forces for drone technology and artillery and is also developing its own alternative to the German Taurus cruise missile. In contrast, Russia “will likely face growing challenges in producing and procuring the material required for Russian operations in Ukraine, and the Kremlin will likely increasingly rely on foreign partners to meet its material needs,” as the ISW writes.
According to the report, Russia has relied primarily on Soviet stockpiles and their processing and modernization for its rapid offensive – however, Russia’s tactics of sheer mass are also causing these stockpiles to dwindle. “The Russian government will probably have to continue to mobilize the Russian economy and defense industry and invest in capacity building if the Russian military wants to maintain its current operational tempo in the medium to long term while Russia uses up its limited Soviet stockpiles,” the ISW concludes.
Russia dependent on North Korea: Putin’s howitzers ineffective without supplies from North Korea
The ISW quotes the Kremlin-affiliated media Izvestia from December 2023 that Russia will probably be short of almost five million skilled workers this year. The shortage is partly due to the war and will increase. But here too, the experts disagree. According to the news channel CNN NATO assumes that the Russian war machine is insurmountably ahead of NATO; according to a high-ranking NATO source, Russia operates its artillery factories “around the clock” in alternating twelve-hour shifts, as CNN writes. An estimated 3.5 million Russians are currently working in the armaments sector, while before the war there were at least one million fewer people.
Russia also imports ammunition: Iran delivered at least 300,000 artillery shells last year – “probably even more,” the military said, according to CNN – and North Korea delivered at least 6,700 ammunition containers with millions of rounds. The Russian regime is in fact making itself dependent on imports from friendly foreign countries – although it will be important to note what Iran will be able to continue to supply if the country allows itself to be drawn into a conflict with Israel.
According to calculations by the think tank Royal United Service Institutes (RUSI) Russia needs a permanent supply of 5.6 million artillery shells to maintain its current offensive momentum and force a rapid end to the Ukraine war: “To achieve its goal of making significant territorial gains in 2025, the Russian Defense Ministry has identified an industrial need to produce or acquire approximately four million 152mm and 1.6 million 122mm artillery shells in 2024,” write RUSI authors Jack Watling and Nick Reynolds.
No Ukraine war without do-it-yourself solutions: Ukraine’s arms industry still in its infancy
But the road to a smooth-running arms industry of its own is still a long one – especially one that meets NATO standards. Until then, Ukraine is still occasionally helping itself with do-it-yourself solutions. The older the war, the more cobbled together the weapons systems on both sides. One of Ukraine’s supporters, for example, is the domestic spirits and delicatessen distributor “Okwine”. As it describes in detail on its website, its charitable foundation implemented a special project last summer:
Within three months, “Okwine” had a four-axle Czech Tatra 815 with a normal flatbed converted into a highly mobile 100 mm anti-aircraft gun. “Okwine” sees itself as a patron of the artillery battery of the 241st Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and claims to have invested 30,000 euros in the purchase of the vehicle alone. The artillerymen of the 241st Brigade in particular seem to be forced to improvise – at least that is what Sergeant Evegeny Iitvin told the magazine Daily Beast – according to this, they are always dependent on weapons, even from the Soviet era.
Last March, according to Iitvin, they received four KS-19 anti-aircraft guns, weapons manufactured in the 1950s. According to Daily Beast Iitvin then got a truck from the Czech Republic and oversaw the conversions: “I had already fought at the front. I already had the weapons. I already knew how effective and safe they were and that everything could be better and more convenient. I came up with the idea of putting the weapons on the truck. We brought them, renovated them and installed them.”
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