Recently, the press service of the 47th separate artillery brigade published photos on its social networks, which show that the brigade is already armed with a towed version of the howitzer – the Bohdana-BG. Later, an interesting story in the German publication BILD also appeared, which was filmed at one of the Ukrainian training grounds. The story showed both the towed as well as self-propelled versions of the Bohdana howitzer. Some interesting details about Bohdana were also revealed.
Ukrainian military personnel who spoke about domestic howitzers note that the Bohdana has very high accuracy, even compared to Western artillery systems. This was reported by one of the Ukrainian artillerymen, who had experience operating various artillery systems, including Western-made ones. Separately, Ukrainian artillerymen note the slow wear of the barrel bore: "We can fire up to 7-8 thousand shots from this howitzer and have proper accuracy of fire."
Read more: How Much Time Passed Between the First Demonstration of the Towed Bohdana-B and Its Deployment in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and Why Was It Needed?
"The secret [of accuracy] lies in the rifling of the barrel, this is secret information, the angle and quantity, as well as the presence of a central support, which additionally stabilizes the gun," says a representative of the manufacturing plant.
Although the plot does not mention an important detail, the footage shows the presence of a ballistic velocity calculator on the 2S22 Bohdana self-propelled howitzer, probably this could be the 112L4 device.
The military uses the Bohdana self-propelled howitzer to fire both Ukrainian-made shells as well as those provided by partners as part of defense assistance. "We use all available ammunition, produced by any country," the Ukrainian artilleryman said. In general, the military noted that since last year, Ukrainian artillerymen have had enough ammunition to hit targets both deep in the enemy's ranks as well as on the front line directly.
As the Ukrainian military emphasizes, since the Bohdana is a Ukrainian howitzer, maintenance and repair of this artillery system are carried out in a fairly short time. Representatives of the manufacturer of the Bohdana self-propelled howitzer - the Kramatorsk Heavy Machine Tool Plant - also shared some details. In particular, it was said that the production sites for the production of artillery systems are located both in Ukraine and abroad in EU countries. Thanks to this, the manufacturing company has the opportunity to quickly increase the production of artillery systems - the production rate is currently more than 20 howitzers per month. To ensure production safety, the company has applied a system of duplication of component production - at least two production sites can produce the same types of components and spare parts.
In fact, for the first time, the manufacturer publicly announced the price of the 2S22 Bohdana self-propelled howitzer - about 2.8 million euros. Previously, the Belgians estimated the cost of one system at about 2.3 million euros and compared it with other Western self-propelled artillery installations. As the manufacturer emphasizes, this is a fairly low price compared to other samples of artillery systems.
The manufacturer emphasizes that the Bohdana self-propelled howitzer was intended to be as simple to operate as possible. It is claimed that each of the electrical or hydraulic systems of the self-propelled howitzer is duplicated by the corresponding mechanical systems. "The howitzer must be the most effective and completely repairable. Today, any spare part is available within 24 hours, any vehicle can be repaired within 48 hours," said a representative of the Bohdana artillery systems manufacturer.
Read more: Ukrainians Say Their 2S22 Bohdana is More Accurate Than PzH-2000 With Rocket-Assisted Firing Range of 60 km
