American Hawkeye howitzers are already in Ukraine

The Ukrainian military is already using the American 2-CT Hawkeye experimental artillery system.

A photo of the artillery system was published by the Tyschok news agency.

For the first time, the American Hawkeye 105 mm self-propelled howitzer, which was previously reported to had been delivered to the Ukrainian military, was seen in service with the Ukrainian military.

The artillery system was handed over by the American company AM General back in April of this year, but the actual confirmation of this has only now appeared.

Development manager Mike Evans noted that it had taken two weeks to train the crew of the artillery system.

“We recently delivered a 105mm system to Ukraine. We shipped it in April. This system is destined to become one of the first soft recoil systems in combat. It’s going into combat to test on live targets,” said Mike Evans.

Hawkeye air defense system

Hawkeye was developed by AM General and Mandus Group in 2019. It is a M20 lightweight 105 mm howitzer on the HMMWV M1152 chassis.

The system is equipped with the Soft Recoil system, which reduces the load and weight of stabilizing structures by 50% compared to conventional systems.

The lightweight vehicle has high mobility and can be transported by transport aircraft and helicopters, including transportation by slings and parachute landing.

Four hydraulic stabilizers ensure the stability of the platform. The gun can be aimed horizontally at 180˚ (360˚ if necessary) and vertically from -5 to +72 degrees.

The crew consists of four people, but if necessary, two people can also fire.

The range of the gun is 11.6 km with standard ammunition and 19.5 km with active-reactive ammunition. The maximum rate of fire of the gun is eight shots per minute for three minutes, the usual rate is three shots per minute. The entire range of 105mm ammunition of the US Army can be used for firing.

The weight of the self-propelled artillery unit does not exceed 4.4 tons. It is about 5 meters long, 2.4 meters wide, and 2.3 meters high in the stowed position. The maximum speed is up to 100 km/h, the highway range is 400 km.