The conflict between Russia and Ukraine (called "Special Military Operation" in Russia) has lasted for more than 100 days, and Ukraine's technical equipment has been exhausted.
As a result, Western countries may have opened their arsenals one after another in order to allow Ukraine to resist Russia on the front, or to clean up their own inventories, or they may have been kidnapped by the so-called "political correctness", and after searching, they finally Some technical equipment was scraped together and "gifted" to Ukraine. On these military aid lists, in addition to the anti-tank missile and the portable air defense missile , the 155mm howitzer has become the focus of assistance. The American M777, Italian FH70, French "Caesar", Norwegian M109A3 have come to the Ukrainian battlefield, and Polish "Crab" type is about to join the battle group, German PzH-2000 self-propelled howitzer and Slovakia 's "Nora" may also become the equipment of Ukrainian Army . It can be said that almost all countries that NATO can develop artillery have contributed artillery to Ukraine. However, among these countries, one country seems to be missing, and this country is the United Kingdom, which once dominated the world for three years.
Once upon a time, the artillery developed by the British was famous all over the world. Both the Armstrong artillery and the Vickers artillery once led the trend of an era. However, after World War II, Britain seemed to have fallen instantly in terms of artillery development. In addition to the quite satisfactory L118 105mm howitzer, the all-powerful L7 105mm tank gun, and the M777 developed by BEA for the Americans, the British's artillery development, whether it is artillery or artillery systems, is comparable to other NATO countries. There is nothing worthy of praise. Therefore, when NATO countries provide assistance to Ukraine, what the UK can provide is the US-made M270 multiple rocket launcher system. In fact, Britain was also preparing to provide the pinnacle of its artillery in the 1990s, the AS90 155mm self-propelled howitzer, to Ukraine, but at the last moment, for unknown reasons, it gave up this plan.
AS90 155mm self-propelled howitzer is a British self-propelled howitzer that replaces the British FV433 Abbott 105mm artillery and the American M109 self-propelled howitzer. This plan first started in the 1960s, but at that time many countries had similar plans to update new artillery. Therefore, by 1970, the development of new artillery had changed from a British one to the "SP70 self-propelled howitzer project" jointly developed by the United Kingdom, West Germany and Italy. However, due to the fact that the components designed separately by the three countries "could not fit together" and the development costs continued to rise, the project came to an end in 1989. As a result, the task of developing new artillery once again fell to Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering Co., Ltd. Finally, AS90 began to be equipped with British Army in 1992. Originally, the UK planned to equip 241 (door) AS90s, but in 1995, only 179 (doors) were produced.
The main weapon of this type of artillery is an L39 155mm howitzer developed from the FH70 towed howitzer. It uses an improved GBT155 turret. The shooting system consists of an inertial dynamic reference device, a turret control computer, a data transmission device, etc. , can complete automatic geodesic calibration, automatic aiming and other tasks. The AS90 can launch various NATO standard 155mm artillery shells. The maximum range when launching the general grenade is 24.7 kilometers, and the maximum range when launching the rocket extended-range projectile is 30 kilometers. The sustained rate is 2 rounds/minute, the maximum sustained rate of fire for 3 minutes is 6 rounds/minute, and the short burst rate is 3 rounds/10 seconds. This kind of strike capability and firepower output capability was absolutely "excellent" at the time.
In addition to its firepower, the AS90's protective capabilities could also be said to be excellent at the time. The AS90 is 9.07 meters long, 3 meters high, and 3.3 meters wide. Its total combat weight is 46.3 tons. The turret and body are made of welded steel structure, and the armor is homogeneous steel armor. The fully welded turret is curved and the armor thickness is 17 mm.The front armor of the turret and car body can withstand 14.5mm armor-piercing projectiles fired at 100 meters, and the probability of protecting against 152mm anti-personnel projectile shrapnel exploded at 10 meters is 95%. At the same time, the entire vehicle can protect against 7.62mm armor-piercing projectiles in all directions. In addition, the AS90 self-propelled gun is equipped with nuclear, biological and chemical protection (NBC) systems.
At the same time, the AS90 uses a Cummins VTA903-T turbocharged diesel engine with a power of 492 kilowatts; the transmission device is the LSG2000 automatic transmission of the German ZF Company. These can guarantee the AS90's highway maneuvering speed of 56 kilometers/hour, off-road speed of 40 kilometers/hour, 25-30 kilometers/hour in swamps and other road conditions, and 15-20 kilometers/hour in wet and muddy road conditions. kilometers per hour; when the fuel capacity in the car is 740 liters, the maximum range is 370 kilometers; the climbing gradient is 50%, the side climbing is 27%, the vertical wall height is 0.88 meters, and the trench width is 2.8 meters. The wading depth is 1.5 meters.
It can be said that the AS90 was definitely advanced when it first entered service. However, in the 1990s, artillery was in a stage of revolutionary development. The chassis of the self-propelled artillery is developing from tracked to truck. The 39-caliber barrel artillery is facing the impact of 45- and 52-fold caliber barrel artillery. Therefore, as the German PzH-2000 self-propelled howitzer, Japanese 99 self-propelled howitzer , and French "Caesar" self-propelled artillery entered service in the late 1990s, the AS90 was immediately classified as "backward". Although the AS90 left enough room for the future modification of 52-caliber artillery at the beginning of its development, the gap between the British in artillery development gradually emerged at this time, and in terms of protection capabilities and mobility, it also gradually became more and more popular. At a disadvantage. Therefore, the British had to abandon the AS90 improvement and upgrade plan.
Therefore, the AS90 self-propelled howitzer has lagged behind since its birth, and the British really have no confidence in providing assistance to Ukraine. However, the Polish "Crab" self-propelled artillery using the GBT155 turret will be sold to Ukraine at a high price, which can be regarded as the "resurrection" of the AS90.
