On December 7, the German government officially updated its list of military equipment delivered or in the process of being delivered to Ukraine, Air & Cosmos reports. The most important addition concerns the delivery of 18 RCH 155 self-propelled howitzers manufactured by KMW.
18 RCH 155 self-propelled howitzers should soon be delivered to Ukraine that will therefore soon become the first operational user of this recent artillery system, Air & Cosmos comments.
Citing information from Die Welt’s website, Ukraine wanted to order 18 RCH-155 155mm wheeled self-propelled howitzers for an amount of €216 million. On September 16, 2022, the Ukrainian ambassador in Germany, Andriy Melnyk, said that Germany approved the export of these howitzers.
The RCH-155 is a new generation of mobile self-propelled howitzer designed and manufactured by the German company KMW (Krauss-Maffei Wegman). The howitzer is based on the wheeled chassis of the Boxer 8×8 multirole armored vehicle. The rear of the RCH-155 is fitted with a remotely operated turret armed with a 155mm 52-caliber gun which is also used on the tracked armored self-propelled howitzer PZH 2000. The vehicle can carry a total of 30 pieces of ammunition and is able to fire all standard 155mm NATO rounds.
It can fire up to 8 rounds per minute to a range of up to 40 km with standard ammunition that is achievable with BOXER RCH 155. An increased range of up to 56 km is possible with Very Long-range Artillery Projectiles (VLAP).