Ukraina test-arena for nye våpen - Stars & Stripes

 

US contractor sent experimental Howitzer to Ukraine for combat testing

By 

PHILLIP WALTER WELLMAN

STARS AND STRIPES • June 26, 2024

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In a screenshot from a video, artillery soldiers of the Illinois Army National Guard fire the Hawkeye 105 mm Mobile Weapon System at Camp Grayling, Mich., in 2019. The mobile Howitzer, which is still undergoing Army testing, was secretly supplied to Ukraine in April, according to a representative of AM General, the company that makes it. (Defense Visual Information Distribution Service)

An experimental Howitzer system was secretly delivered to Ukraine’s army to be used against invading Russian forces, according to an American defense contractor whose disclosure in May recently began circulating on social media.

The 2-CT Hawkeye consists of a 105 mm Howitzer mounted on a Humvee and is described by its producer, Indiana-based AM General, as the lightest, most maneuverable self-propelled Howitzer in the world.

Mike Evans, who oversees the company’s artillery programs, announced at the U.S. Field Artillery Association’s Fires Symposium last month that Ukraine had received a Hawkeye system that was shipped April 26.

However, his comments gained wider attention only in recent days after a video from the symposium started being reposted online.

“We trained it for two weeks,” Evans said. “They immediately went into testing, and that system’s destined to be one of the first soft recoil systems in combat. It’s going right into combat to test on live targets.”

Soft recoil technology, or SRT, enables heavy artillery to be put on light, maneuverable ground vehicles such as Humvees. It does so by significantly reducing the recoil shock of the weapon, which lessens the chances of recoil-induced rollovers.

 

The Hawkeye 105 mm Mobile Weapon System, seen here during testing in 2019 in Michigan, was secretly supplied to Ukrainian army in April, according to AM General, the company that makes it. (Maj. Wayne Clyne)

The Hawkeye system includes external stabilizers that are lowered hydraulically when the Howitzer is fired and retract for stowage when the Humvee is moving.

Firing heavy weapons from more maneuverable vehicles allows users to quickly move to another location after firing, ideally before enemy detection.

The Hawkeye can shoot two rounds and move away in three minutes, according to AM General. Each system consists of two Humvees, one that fires the weapon and a second support vehicle.

AM General, which partnered with the engineering firm Mandus Group to develop the Hawkeye, announced it had signed a contract with the Army in May 2021.

Soldiers had previously worked with the system at the Army’s annual Northern Strike exercises in Michigan. Ukraine would mark the Hawkeye’s combat debut. 

AM General and the Security Assistance Group-Ukraine were not immediately available for comment Wednesday. SAG-U was set up in Wiesbaden, Germany, in November 2022 to help coordinate the training of Ukrainian soldiers and equipment delivery to Ukraine from the United States.

The U.S. alone has provided more than $50 billion in military assistance to Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022.

Deteriorating battlefield conditions recently led the U.S. to permit Ukraine to use U.S.-supplied artillery and rocket systems for limited strikes inside Russia.

However, the White House has not eased restrictions that prohibit Kyiv from using the U.S.-provided, long-range Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACMS, inside Russia, The Associated Press reported Saturday.