Major General Dr. Christian Freuding of the Special Staff of Ukraine at the German Ministry of Defense announced that Germany plans to deliver the RCH 155 (Remote Controlled Howitzer 155) self-propelled howitzers to Ukraine at the end of this year.
As Freuding announced in a video published on August 15 on the Bundeswehr’s official YouTube channel, Ukraine will be the first international user of this system, which is unique given the fact that this system has not yet been used operationally in any country in the world.
Germany had previously stated that the country would deliver a total of 36 RCH 155 to Kyiv. It has now been confirmed that the delivery will take place this year.
A new generation of artillery
What is special about the RCH 155 is that this system belongs to a completely new generation of artillery systems. The system uses an automated turret module with a machine for loading rockets and the crew consists of only two people who remain in the hull of the transporter.
RCH 155 was developed on the chassis of the GTK Boxer wheeled armored transporter with an 8×8 wheel arrangement. It was developed by the German company Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW). The system has an AGM automated turret artillery module with a German PzH 2000 self-propelled howitzer artillery unit. The length of the gun barrel is 52 calibers.
Tests indicate that the system can hit targets at a distance of over 40 km. With special ammunition, such as M982 Excalibur or M2005 V-LAP missiles, this value can rise to over 50 km. The theoretical rate of fire is 9 rounds per minute.
The Multiple Rounds Simultaneous Impacts (MRSI) mode is possible. In this mode, the trajectory and timing of the projectiles are changed by barrel inclination and number of propellant charges so that several shots fired one after the other hit the target almost simultaneously in order to achieve the greatest possible effect before the enemy can perform an evasive maneuver.
The MTU V8 199 TE21 engine with 815 hp is used to power the boxer to 100 km/h. With a full tank, the car can travel around 700 km.
There is no doubt that the combat baptism of the German-made highly automated howitzers will be closely watched when they enter service with the Ukrainian armed forces, especially given that the RCH 155 system is also intended for purchase by other countries.
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