Editor’s Note: Check out our latest coverage of the war in Ukraine here as well as NATO’s response here: Photographs shared online this week appear to show a Russian D-20 152mm howitzer torn apart and destroyed, but not from Ukrainian strikes. From the remains of the howitzer, weapons experts and analysts considered the possibility that the weapon exploded as a result of improper storage conditions.
Military and weapons reporter Neil Gibson commented on the photographs, suggesting that the explosion may have been caused by the over-pressuring of the gun.
“This would seem to be an in-bore premature of the HE projectile, which can be due to many reasons,” Gibson wrote.
“Over-pressuring of the gun due to problems with the propellant occurs far earlier in the ballistic cycle & primarily causes the breech [sic] and/or cartridge case (if present) to fail.”
In the photographs, the weapon appears to be effectively split in two. The weapon’s launch tube appears to have been snapped in two by an explosion that occurred inside of the weapon. It was not destroyed by any external forces, as the metals appear to bend outwards, creating a “flower” pattern.
This particular howitzer belonged to pro-Russian Luhansk People’s Republican (LNR) forces fighting in the Donbas.
How Long Were These Howitzers Stored?
Russia has been forced to bring many Soviet-era machines out of storage to assist with its ongoing invasion of Ukraine – and the photographs shared online this week suggest that some of the weapons leaving Russian warehouses may not be safe to use on the battlefield.
The D-20 howitzer is a towed weapons unit manufactured in the 1950s based on a design from the 1940s, making the weapon roughly 80 years old. However, the howitzer has remained in use ever since and was deployed in the Yugoslav wars, the Syrian Civil War, the Yemeni Civil War, and the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
#Ukraine: A D-20 152mm howitzer, belonging to Russian LNR forces, was ripped apart due to a malfunction. From what is seen, the most possible reason is a propellant charge explosion, which can happen due to long term storage in improper conditions. pic.twitter.com/MlejUx2v47
— ?? Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) June 8, 2022
For this reason, it’s hard to tell how old the destroyed howitzer really is and how long it was stored.
Russia has spent months pulling older weapons out of storage, including Soviet-era tanks. In May, a senior U.S. defense official said that Russia had lost as many as 1,000 tanks or more in Ukraine so far, pulling out T-62 tanks from storage to replace the lost vehicles.
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The United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence noted at the time that the older weaponry would be vulnerable to modern anti-tank weapons.
As Russia continues to pull old machinery, weapons, and vehicles out of storage, sufficient time will be required to ensure that the vehicles are properly repaired and prepared for use – or Russian troops could find themselves injured or killed by malfunctioning equipment.
Jack Buckby is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society.
