NATO and the collective West have sent billions of military hardware to Ukraine.
And thanks to those arms and Kyiv’s bravery, Putin’s forces have lost countless men and equipment on the battlefield.
As time passes, it seems clear that Russia’s losses will only grow. And new footage seems to prove that.
New Footage Shows NATO ‘Big Guns’ At work in Ukraine
In a series of videos shared on social media this week, the capabilities of the UK-supplied AS-90 155mm self-propelled howitzer (SPH) were on full display.
Though much has been made about the main battle tanks, including the UK’s Challenger 2 and German-made Leopard 2, it is actually platforms such as the AS-90 that continue to play a pivotal role in the conflict.
In the series of clips posted by OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical), the SPH could be seen firing on Russian positions – perhaps for the first time, the weapon has been seen at the frontlines.
The fighting in the Donbas region of Eastern Ukraine has been a duel of artillery for nearly the past year, and though Kyiv’s forces haven’t been able to maintain the rate of fire of the Russian Army, these weapons systems have greater range and accuracy.
As the artillery slug match will continue as Ukraine mounts its counteroffensive, it will be platforms such as the AS-90 that could prove vital. The British Army has claimed that the platform is able to deliver a total payload of 261 kg onto a single target in less than ten seconds, Newsweek reported earlier this year.
The UK’s Mobile Big Guns
Officially designated the Gun Equipment 155 mm L131, it is known as the AS-90 (“Artillery System for the 1990s”), and it first entered service in 1992 with the British Army’s 1st Regiment Royal Horse Artillery and the 19th Regiment Royal Artillery.
With standard charges, the AS-90’s 39-caliber long barrel has a range of up to nearly 25 km (15.5 miles), while the 52-caliber barrel increases the range to 30 km (19 miles). The maximum rate of fire is three rounds in a 10-second burst or six rounds per minute for three-minute intense strikes. It can also fire two rounds per minute for 60 minutes of sustained fire. The AS-90 is operated by a crew of five – including a driver plus a four-gun detachment.
The secondary armament consists of a 7.62mm L7 general-purpose machine gun (GPMG). As a self-propelled howitzer, it has a range of 370 km (231 miles) and a maximum road speed of 55 km/h (34.1 mph).
The platform first saw use in combat in the Iraq War, and a special AS-90D variant was even produced. It was equipped with thermal protection for the crew, as well as extra cooling or the Cummins VTA903T 660 bhp 90-degree V8 engine and other machinery. In addition, it was equipped with adapted tracks for reduced wear in sandy conditions.
From the UK to Ukraine
The UK had announced earlier this year that it would supply thirty AS-90s to Ukraine. To date, two dozen of the British Army’s 80 to 90 AS-90s in service have already been sent to aid Kyiv. The UK had been planning to replace the Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering-manufactured gun before the Ukraine war under the Mobile Fires Platform (MFP) program, The Defense Post first reported in February.
It was also announced in April that a second unit of Ukrainian troops had completed training on the AS-90 Braveheart variant – the model with the longer 52-caliber barrel. The training, which was overseen by instructors from the Royal School of Artillery (RSA), consisted of a three-week course that culminated in a live firing exercise held in the southern region of England.
It would appear from the videos that those troops are now putting their training to use on the front.
UK-supplied AS-90 155mm SPH in Ukrainian service pic.twitter.com/kmSjnor4AP
— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) June 16, 2023
Author Experience and Expertise
A Senior Editor for 19FortyFive, Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer. He has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers, and websites with over 3,200 published pieces over a twenty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu.
