Artillery for the Armed Forces of Ukraine: Italy will be handing over the 155-mm FH70 howitzers to Ukraine – media

155 mm FH70 towed self-propelled howitzers will be used by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The Italian newspaper La Repubblica reports about this.

The Italian government is preparing a new third military aid package for Ukraine. It is expected to be announced on May 19.

The full list is currently classified, but the media has learned that it will include the FH70 howitzers, mortars, Stinger MANPADS, machine guns, Lince armored SUVs, and various ammunition.

The FH70 is an older artillery system as compared to the M777 howitzers, that in the amount of one hundred units arrived in Ukraine from the United States, Canada, and Australia.

At the same time, the automated 155mm FH-70 towed howitzer could be quite effective on the battlefield.

The FH70 is a self-propelled howitzer produced by the United Kingdom and Germany since 1969. Later, Italy joined the project. The idea was to replace the American 155-mm M114 howitzer. In 1976, the howitzer was adopted into service.

The howitzer consists of several parts: the artillery part itself, a cradle with a recoil device, and a mechanism that charges the projectile.

The semi-automatic loading system operates at any angle of the gun barrel lift and consists of a loading tray that supplies the projectile to the gunner.

Due to having the semi-automatic projectile loader, a trained crew could make up to six shots per minute, one almost every ten seconds.

FH70 weighs 8-9 tons and has a maximum range of 24 to 30 km, depending on the type of artillery shells. Eight people are involved in servicing the howitzer.

The towed self-propelled howitzer is in service of the armies of Germany, Italy, Great Britain, Japan, Estonia, Norway, the Netherlands, and a number of other countries.