Russian site Avia posted a video showing that a Polish Krab self-propelled gun supplied to Ukraine was chased and destroyed by a Russian attack drone on the Ukrainian battlefield. Kyiv has not yet commented on this information.
Russian media has just posted a video recording the process of the Polish Krab self-propelled artillery supplied to Ukraine being destroyed on the battlefield in the conflict of ukraine russian.
According to Russian media, the pursuit lasted for kilometers, after which the Krab cannon chose to hide in the trees. However, this did not help the self-propelled gun survive the attack of the Russian UAV.
The cannon was hit by a bullet from a Russian attack drone and burst into flames. This is the latest loss related to this self-propelled artillery line on the Ukrainian battlefield. Poland provided Ukraine with 18 Krab self-propelled howitzers, which were used effectively against the Russians.
Then Ukraine signed a contract to buy 60 more self-propelled guns of this type, currently, 8 guns have been handed over. Thus, in the payroll of the Ukrainian army, there are about 26 self-propelled Krab cannons, but Russia has destroyed a few of these cannons.
Like the M109 and Caesar, the Krab is a standard NATO howitzer, with a maximum range of about 40km. Krab is designed with a crew of 5 gunners. The 155mm Krab self-propelled howitzer was designed and built by HSW with the first prototype introduced in 2001.
However, Krab is not entirely made by HSW but it is a hybrid of many different artillery systems from other countries. Accordingly, the turret system including Krab’s 155mm cannon is taken from the British AS-90M Braveheart self-propelled gun. Meanwhile, the chassis is from the Korean K-9 self-propelled howitzer, and only the electronics and fire control system “Topaz” is self-developed by Poland.
Meanwhile, the chassis is from the Korean K-9 self-propelled howitzer, and only the electronics and fire control system “Topaz” is self-developed by Poland. But overall, Krab is still considered a good self-propelled gun model, and the use of parts made by many different countries have only one purpose, to help it become more complete.
Krab’s cannon is capable of 360º rotation with an elevation angle from -3.5° to +70º. It is capable of firing most NATO 155mm shells, including intelligent guided rounds. This gun weighs more than 52 tons and is equipped with a MTU MT 881 Ka-500 diesel engine with a water-cooled system with an operating capacity of about 1,000 horsepower similar to the Korean K-9. The maximum speed of this gun model is 67km/h with a range of 650km.
Krab’s firing range is from 7-40km because it is equipped with an automatic reloading system, the fire rate of this cannon is quite fast, about 3 shots within 10 seconds and the lowest is also at 2 shots/minute. Krab ammunition can carry a maximum of 40 rounds with 48 doses.
In addition to the main armament, a large 12.7mm anti-aircraft machine gun and 2×4 81mm smoke grenade launchers were installed on the Krab turret.
Krab cannon is said to have remarkable combat performance when Ukraine launched to confront the Russian army.
