The situation of the Italian armed forces: the self-propelled artillery

(To Tiziano Ciocchetti)
22/06/19

Generally the power of the artillery is underestimated, in favor of air support. In reality, the artillery retains all its destructive power and has seen, over the past few decades, greatly improve its capabilities.

An example of this was, in recent times, the last two Gulf Wars. The Iraqis had modern artillery pieces, both former Soviet and Western (such as the French F-1 GCT and South African G-5), yet it was outclassed by the allied one. The self-propelled M-109 from 155 / 39 mm and the MLRS 227 mm field rocket launchers fired and soon after they changed position to escape the counterbattery fire.

In the Yugoslav conflict of the 90 years of the last century, the Serbs had many pieces but used them in the traditional way. In fact, when the Anglo-French Reaction Force artillery intervened in Sarajevo (self-propelled F-1 GCT, MO-120 RT striped mortars from 120 mm and LIGHT GUN from 105 mm) the tactical situation changed radically.

Today the Italian Army has the best self-propelled artillery on the market: the PzH-2000 armed with a piece of 155 / 52 mm.

Framed in two regiments (the 132 ° of the brigade Ram and the 8 ° of the Garibaldi), the German vehicle has a mass of 55 tons and the propulsion is ensured by an MTU V8 diesel engine from 736 Kw, with automatic transmission, capable of pushing the PzH-2000 to 60 km / h on the road.

The hull was made specifically and is not derived from a tank, as has often happened in the past. The armament, the vehicle's raison d'être, includes a piece from 155 / 52 mm, with a positive elevation of 65 °. A high elevation, with appropriate charges, makes it possible to effectively hit targets placed behind large vertical obstacles.

The standard 155 mm NATO projectiles have a maximum range of 30.000 meters; those with basic flow (propergoli that burn on the back that create a cone of rear overpressure, which improves aerodynamics) reach the 36.500 meters; those with rocket-propelled propulsion exceed 40.000 meters.

Compared to the M-109L the PzH-2000 has a higher firing rate, in fact a burst of three shots starts within 10 seconds. You can keep a rhythm of 10 strokes per minute for a minute; 20 hits in less than two minutes and 10 seconds; the rhythm of 3 strokes per minute can be kept until the ammunition present on board is exhausted (the stock is of 60 shots and 288 modular charges, to be assembled according to need). The PzH-2000 is able to open 30 fire seconds after stopping, shoot 10 shots in a minute and get back on the 30 seconds after firing the last shot, allowing it to get out of the fire.

Since it came into service the PzH-2000 has never been deployed abroad, as the Afghan operational theater is ill-suited to the mass of the medium, although the real motivation could be that the use of such a system artillery could have caused massive collateral damage, with all the political repercussions of the case.

Photo: Italian Army / Bundeswehr