Counter-Battery Combat: Ukrainian Gunners Destroy Two Russian Howitzers

The fighters of the 44th Artillery Brigade destroyed two Russian howitzers with artillery strikes, which had been firing at Ukrainian troops.

The press service of the 44th Artillery Brigade released the footage of the strike.

The brigade’s aerial reconnaissance detected the position of a Russian 122 mm D-30 howitzer, which was deployed in an open field without any camouflage (a rare sight today). The brigade’s towed artillery immediately targeted it, destroying the enemy gun.

Later, drones detected a Russian 152 mm Msta-B towed howitzer hidden in a gun emplacement, along with its crew. A loitering munition was deployed against it. After that, artillery carried out several precise strikes on the gun itself and the nearby ammunition stockpile.

The 44th Brigade does not disclose the specific means used for the strikes, but it is reliably known that its artillerymen used 155mm towed howitzers FH70 and M777, which are capable of firing up to 24 km with conventional shells or up to 30 km with guided artillery shells.

It was with these howitzers that, in October of last year, counter-battery fire destroyed two enemy howitzers in the Kursk region.

The Western-made howitzers were provided to the brigade early in the invasion as military aid from Italy and the United States, allowing the replacement of worn-out Giatsint-B and Msta-B guns.

In November last year, the 44th Artillery Brigade received a batch of Ukrainian-made Bohdana wheeled self-propelled howitzers, which significantly improved the brigade’s long-range fire capabilities, as it can launch a rocket-assisted projectile up to 40 kilometers.

Last month, Ukrainian artillerymen from the 47th artillery brigade received the first serial sample of the Ukrainian-made 155 mm Bohdana-B towed gun.

The first models will be mounted on the already ready carriage of Soviet-era Giatsint-B guns, which will speed up the delivery of the new weapon to the army. However, in the future, a new chassis of a different design will be made for the Bohdana towed howitzer.

A representative of the manufacturing company explained that towed systems have a number of significant advantages over self-propelled counterparts. Key among them are much higher survivability on the battlefield, simplicity of operation, and lower cost.

The development of the towed version is not a replacement for the existing Bohdana self-propelled howitzer, but rather a complement and an opportunity for quickly equipping artillery units with a high-quality and long-range system.