15 September, 2023
Ukraine methodically collects data on the Western artillery and ammunition “zoo” to ensure the effectiveness of fire.
This was reported to DefenseOne by Lieutenant Colonel Yurii Patskan at the DSEI exhibition in London.
All Western artillery systems transferred to Ukraine have a caliber of 155 mm, while different countries produce shells with different amounts of propellant charges.
Accordingly, ballistic characteristics when using guns and projectiles from different manufacturers may be inaccurate.
In some cases, the projectile may not even fit into the breech of the gun or mortar.
There have been cases where a mortar crew has been forced to manually cut ribs from a French-made mortar round to fit into an Italian-made mortar barrel.
Ukrainian gunners fire with M777. Photo from open sources
To solve this problem, Ukraine has built a test site on which a team of ballistic specialists, IT specialists, and meteorologists works.
The team collects data from guns with various foreign-made ammunition, and then calculates what ballistic characteristics a projectile from one country has when it fires a gun from another country.
This data is sent to artillery calculations, which allows them to confidently use combinations of guns and ammunition.
Ukraine is also trying to simplify the logistics of weapons supplied from abroad, grouping them into nationally determined units.
For example, a certain artillery unit can only use American howitzers M777 or Polish Krab self-propelled artillery systems.
Ukrainian Krab ACS. Photo from open sources
According to the British and French officers, who, along with Patskan, participated in the discussion on the DSEI, Western gunners look at the Ukrainian experience and study.
“Britain must learn to “act in digital darkness,” said British Brigadier Neil Budd, referring to the ability of adversaries to monitor, locate, and jam troops with electronic warfare.
“To think that we’re just going to walk in and be able to do what we want, and exploit all our digital systems upfront, I think is naive,” Budd said.
In addition, Patskan emphasized the dangers of Russian Lancet kamikaze drones and Russian counter-battery warfare using drones and radars.
About the time that NATO was formed, it was agreed on what calibers would be used for artillery, mortars, and infantry weapons. The logic behind this measure was obvious; to simplify logistics. It makes sense when you have numerous armies fighting together.
And now this!
I never knew that there were differences in the size of some ammo and in the propellant charges. Needless to say, this is completely crazy. This is a half-assed solution. Not to mention that now, Ukraine must resolve this problem in the midst of a terrible war. It’s bad enough to have numerous types of towed and self-propelled howitzers with their specific maintenance regimes and spare parts.
I’ve lost much confidence in NATO as this war progresses. Many unpleasant details have cropped up.