Russian howitzer reinforcements: A boost or a sign of struggle?
Russians are sending significant reinforcements to the front in Ukraine. In the Kirov region, a rail transport of 2S19 Msta-S self-propelled howitzers was spotted. Due to the limited production of these machines, each unit is of significant importance to the Russians.
As reported by Defence 24, deliveries of 2S19 Msta-S howitzers are much less frequent in the Russian army than tank deliveries. The Russian industry produced very few new howitzers due to the limited availability of artillery barrels and tracked chassis.
For this reason, the Russians attempt to recover, repair, and restore howitzers destroyed during battles in Ukraine. However, the scale of this process is small – out of 268 destroyed 2S19 Msta-S howitzers, 249 losses are considered irreparable.
Current production, repairs, or limited manufacturing of the latest 2S35 Koalitsiya-SV artillery systems do not meet the demand. The key is to restore to operational status the increasingly fewer vehicles stored for years.
Therefore, the transport observed in Russia constitutes significant support – the howitzers will substantially boost the capabilities of the Russian unit fighting in Ukraine, to which they will be delivered.
Russian 2S19 Msta self-propelled howitzer
The 2S19 Msta-S is a Russian self-propelled howitzer developed in the 1980s as a successor to the older turretless 2S5 Giatsint system. Its chassis uses elements from the T-72 and T-80 tanks, and it is armed with a 152-mm 2A64 gun with a barrel length of 40 calibres, mounted in a rotating turret.
The system's range is 25 to 37 kilometres, the latter value applying to shells with additional rocket propulsion.
The latest variant, the 2S19M2 Msta-S, of which a few units are reaching the front in Ukraine, is equipped with a digital fire control system and a new 2A79 gun with a barrel length of 60 calibres.
The new gun allows firing at distances comparable to modern Western systems with a calibre of 155 mm, like the AHS Krab or PzH2000. The new Russian howitzer variant also has an increased rate of fire, reaching 10 rounds per minute.
