November 2024, Ukraine received the first supply of the DITA "self-propelled gun-howitzer," the newest artillery system from the Czech manufacturer Excalibur Army. The delivery took only 9 months after commissioning the order, as announced at the time by the National Guard commander Oleksandr Pivnenko.
This provision was surrounded by a certain intrigue regarding which units of the Ukrainian Defense Forces would become the first users of DITA, a highly digitalized and automated artillery system introduced just a few years ago, in 2021. Finally, some details have come to light: turns out, it was the Azov brigade of the National Guard that received these newest Czech SPGs, the unit notified of this with a video published on its official YouTube channel.
Read more: Ukraine Receives First Czech 155-mm DITA Howitzers Nine Months After Order
The footage in this video report offers valuable feedback, being essentially the first review of DITA, especially with practical experience of using these guns in real combat — in this case, in battles against the russian invaders in the Toretsk operational axis.
As separately emphasized in the video, the very arrival of the Czech DITA systems was a significant boost to the Azov brigade's artillery capabilities: now they can strike targets further thanks to the howitzer's 39-km firing range, including the enemy's close-rear positions.
Moreover, up to this point, the Azov brigade's fighters had to rely solely on towed artillery to repel the russians, all looking hopelessly obsolete compared to DITA. This is particularly true about the DITA's mentioned high level of automation: two people are enough for day-to-day maintenance, just the commander and the driver.
As noted, in the event of an electronics breakdown, all functions of DITA can be done manually, although it requires assistance from a third crew member.
Though in normal conditions, the howitzer's electronics give the operators many capabilities and options. For example, the system can perform in a GPS-denied environment; the on-board computer basically takes over all the necessary manipulations, while the commander only has to input the target data. The command to open fire, however, can only be issued after all the preparations are in place — recoil supports have been deployed, a position has been taken, etc.
A notable detail from the video is that all markings on the instruments and all the software elements support the Ukrainian language.
An exceptionally important feature is that the DITA self-propelled gun can fire in the MRSI mode, where several shells are shot along different trajectories, hitting the same target almost simultaneously. The ammunition stock carried by one vehicle is 40 shells, the rate of fire is six rounds per minute. For more information of DITA's specifications, read this article.
Earlier, Defense Express reported that the initial nine Czech-made DITA howitzers on behalf of Ukraine were commissioned by the Netherlands in February 2024, followed by an order extension in October.
Read more: Ukrainians Say Their 2S22 Bohdana is More Accurate Than PzH-2000 With Rocket-Assisted Firing Range of 60 km
