Ukraine, FH70 howitzers sent from Italy on the front line. Rai video

10 March 20231 year ago babelfish

On the Zaporizhzhia front, the Ukrainian military is operating with FH70 cannons received from Italy. All the details that emerge from a video published by the Rai correspondent, Ilario Piagnerelli

The Italian Fh70 guns on the front line in Ukraine.

"We followed a brigade that on the Zaporizhzhia front fired with FH70 howitzers, heavy artillery" is the story from the front by Ilario Piagnarelli, foreign correspondent of Rai News on Twitter. “It is not known how many of these and other armaments Rome delivered to Kyiv. The list is covered by state secrets,” added the journalist.

Already last May, the General Staff of the Armed Forces in Kiev had declared that they were operating with the new FH70 howitzers in the Donbass to resist the Russian advance.

The 155mm FH70 howitzers, weighing 7.8t, are capable of firing three rounds per minute at a range of up to 25km. But "Ukraine would lack about half of the ammunition needed to win this war" underlines Piagnarelli in his report. ( Here Startmag 's insight into how the EU will finance the new ammunition for Ukraine ).

For the Ukrainian army there is a great advantage in operating with Italian cannons: "The F70s are compatible with a dozen different projectiles, while the Soviet ones (which we are used to) only accept three types" explains one of the soldiers to Rainews microphones.

All the details.

THE RAINEWS SERVICE

Italian weapons in action in Ukraine. We followed a brigade on the Zaporizhzhia front firing FH70 howitzers, heavy artillery. It is not known how many of these and other armaments Rome delivered to Kyiv. The list is covered by state secrets.
– PART 1 pic.twitter.com/UYOw6VQWmS

— Ilario Piagnerelli (@ilario82) March 9, 2023

THE FEATURES OF THE FH70 HOWITCH

The FH70 is a towed howitzer developed by the UK and Germany in the 1970s. Subsequently, Italy joined the programme. The project was intended to replace the American M114 155mm howitzer. In 1976, the howitzer was adopted into service.

According to Repubblica , "the FH70 is not a latest generation cannon, it has a concept from the seventies but it is still very valid and is of a higher level than the even older Soviet-type ones supplied to Ukrainian troops".

IN SERVICE WITH THE ITALIAN ARMY

As stated on the Italian Army website , “the 155/39 FH-70 mechanical towed artillery howitzer is suitable for providing direct fire support to large elementary units. Supplied to the mountain artillery regiments of the Alpine Brigades (1st and 3rd rgt.), to the "a CAVALLO" regiment as well as to the 21st "TRIESTE" regiment and to the 24th "PELORITANI" regiment, replacing the self-propelled M109L, in 18 pieces per unit. The howitzer is equipped with a Volkswagen engine, called Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) used for the autonomous movement of the piece (change of deployment, logistic movements), being replaced with a new-concept diesel one”.

WHY THE UKRAINIAN MILITARY LIKES IT

Finally, the Ukrainian army was immediately enthusiastic about the Italian howitzers. Thanks to the semi-automatic loader, the trained crew can fire up to six rounds per minute, almost one every ten seconds. The shells contain ten kilos of explosives.

This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/ucraina-in-prima-linea-gli-obici-fh70-inviati-dallitalia-il-video-della-rai/ on Fri, 10 Mar 2023 06:47:32 +0000.