2S22 Bohdana / Bogdan 155mm SPH

Before the military parade on 2018 Independence Day, the Ukrainian government began to talk more often about new weapons for the army. On August 10 - exactly two weeks before Independence Day - the National Security and Defense Council and the Ministry of Defense announced the testing of the first Ukrainian self-propelled gun. A single prototype of the first Ukrainian-made Bohdana self-propelled howitzer with a 155 mm NATO-standard artillery caliber was demonstrated in 2018. From then until the beginning of Russia�s full-scale invasion, the Bohdana was tested on training grounds, to be adopted by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, but time ran out for a full testing program.

With the beginning of a full-scale war, the only existing Ukrainian self-propelled howitzer was taken to the rear, prior to being handed over to the Armed Forcesof Ukraine. Bohdana�s initial use took place in June 2022, when it played a key role in the successful liberation of Zmiinyi (Snake) Island from Russian invasion forces.

Ukrainian artillery has a replenishment: a self-propelled artillery installation (SAU) Bogdan [given by the gods, or divine.] was presented in August 2018 wtih the NATO 155mm shell. This model of large-caliber self-propelled artillery is unusual for Ukrainians - the gun is not mounted on a caterpillar track, but on a wheeled chassis.

f the first prototype developed in Ukraine 155-mm self-propelled howitzer "Bogdan", made on the chassis of the car KrAZ with the formula 6x6 with an armored cabin. Western partners, including NATO member countries, are actively using wheeled chassis for self-propelled artillery. Bright photo "Bogdany" was shown on his page in Facebook by a freelance presidential adviser Yuri Biryukov.

He also revealed some of the tactical and technical characteristics of the new ACS. Thus, the control, guidance and use of the gun can be carried out both through the console and with the help of mechanical drives. In the comments Biryukov added that the "Bogdan" also implemented the ability to control the gun from the cockpit of KrAZ or remotely.

In addition, the gun has a six-shot loading machine, and the rate of fire is six rounds per minute - which is quite high for artillery of this type.

"And it's not just 6 rounds per minute: the range of the shot on the TK with a high-explosive charge is over 40 kilometers, while the active-reactive charge is over 50," Biryukov added.

Fundamental difference and breakthrough Biryukov called the fact that this automatic control system - the Ukrainian production from the chassis to the trunk. By the way, earlier the trunks for large-caliber artillery were not produced in Ukraine.

"The text is already familiar, about the technologies that did not exist, about the machines that did not exist, about the documentation that did not exist, and which they created in three years, and technologies, machines, personnel, experiments, failures, and victories , and ... And here it stands, the SAU of our production, with the trunk, our production, with the chassis, our production, "Biryukov noted.

According to the Secretary of the Council of National Security and Defense of Ukraine (NSDC), Alexander Turpchinov, SAU "Bogdana" is now being tested.

"Its important characteristics are high mobility, accuracy, range, as well as high speed of fire," Turchinov said, adding that with special ammunition the howitzer can hit a target at a distance of up to 60 kilometers.

The Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council also noted that the new self-propelled howitzer "has NATO's 155-mm caliber."

"Weapons of such caliber were absent in our APU, it was not in the Soviet army, it is not in the modern Russian army," Turchinov said. He added that the standards of NATO are also responsible for both the gun control system and the technology of its manufacture - at Ukrainian defense enterprises. "The weapon received a very good maiden name -" Bogdan ", and I advise the enemies of Ukraine to remember it well, " Turchinov summed up.

On the demonstrated sample there is no automatic loading device, without which this weapon generally loses its meaning. The 155-millimeter NATO-type shells are not produced in Ukraine. And abroad they cost a lot of money.

Another issue about which the military is silent - is the alleged Russian engine on the chassis. Military copies of such chassis in Ukraine are produced only at the Kremenchug automobile plant. Which was originally "imprisoned" for the Russian engines of the Yaroslavl Machine Building Plant. In 2015, the company widely advertised the installation of one of its machines engine Ford. However, nothing further is known about the further mass purchase of American engines.

As the Western and Japanese engines are not suitable for Ukrainian trucks, which were originally designed for engines from Yaroslavl. Therefore, in 2016, KraZ decided to return to Russian engines, which are purchased through third countries - for example, Belarus and the Baltic states. Now on the website of "AvtoKraza" there is a 6-wheel chassis, similar to that used on "Bogdan". The engine manufacturer is not listed.

Judging by the photographs, the barrel of this sample looks like the tube of the 152-mm towed howitzer 2A65 Msta-B, supplemented by a two-chamber muzzle brake from the old 152 mm D-20 howitzer. The length of the barrel is clearly less than 52 calibers - most likely, if the tube is borrowed from Msty-B, its length is 45-47 calibers. Biryukov's claimed firing range is over 40 kilometers fragmentation and explosive charge, reactive - over 50 "is clearly unattainable. Control panel ACS in the picture is a control panel from industrial equipment manufactured by Siemens.

The Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies most accurately and capacitively characterized: "In general, the demonstrated prototype of the SAU Bogdana looks like a roughly performed semi-improvised mock-up model in the spirit of third-world schemes for installing swinging parts of typical towed guns on commercial automobile chassis."