Among them is the Polish 155 mm Krab, which combines the chassis of South Korea's K9 Thunder with the turret of the British AS90 (the latter also in Ukrainian service).
The Krab howitzer is in service with the 26th Artillery Brigade named after General-Cornet Roman Dashkevych. Its gunners have had the opportunity to directly compare the Polish system with another Western platform, the German PzH 2000, as reported by ArmyTV.
Read more: The 40th Separate Artillery Brigade Demonstrates How Polish AHS Krab System Transforms Night into an Ally on the Battlefield (Photos)
"I have something to compare it with, as I previously worked on the PzH 2000. In terms of assigned tasks, the Krab performs excellently. Compared with the PzH in its most important characteristic — accuracy — I find the Krab to be more precise. That's my personal opinion," noted the gun commander, callsign Koluchyi.
At the same time, he pointed out that the high degree of automation in the German PzH 2000 self-propelled howitzer can be both a strength and a weakness:
"Everything is highly automated with a lot of modules, but in our firing conditions it simply could not always withstand the workload. Blocks overheated, and sometimes circuit boards even came loose from their soldering. Still, the PzH 2000 fulfilled its battlefield missions."
The Krab howitzer, for its part, features the ability to fire three rounds in MRSI mode (Multiple Rounds Simultaneous Impact) — firing shells at different trajectories so that they strike the target at the same time.
Despite the PzH 2000's vulnerabilities during sustained firing, the gunner recalled that he achieved a higher daily rate of fire with it — up to 240 rounds in one day, compared with 140 rounds from the Krab howitzer.
Since the gunner first operated the German howitzer and later the Polish one, these figures illustrate just how hard Ukraine's artillery systems were once pushed to their limits — regardless of technical or operational constraints.
Earlier, Defense Express reported that for the first time since 2021, new Krab howitzers are being delivered not to Ukraine, but to the Polish Army.
Read more: KNDS Was Not Ready For Wartime Repairs, Delayed PzH 2000, Gepard Fixes by a Year
