The general director of the russian company "UralVagonZavod", Alexander Potapov, reported on the completion of state tests of the 2C43 Malva self-propelled artillery unit, which the russian media had previously nicknamed the "cabriolet howitzer" for some reason.
According to Potapov, "the Malva self-propelled howitzer has confirmed its characteristics during tests, and in the near future a decision should be made to adopt this vehicle into service and launch it into serial production."
Read more: Danish Caesar Howitzers Have an Important Distinction From French Version, and Ukrainians Will Be the First to Compare on Battlefield
There is a high probability that this can be quite a difficult task for russian manufacturers, as it has already happened with the passage of this self-propelled artillery system through government tests, which have already been postponed twice. In particular, they initially wanted to conduct state tests of the Malva self-propelled howitzer in 2021. Then it was promised that the state tests would be completed in 2022, but judging by the above statement, they were completed only in May 2023.
In addition, this is the second time that the russians have announced the completion of the state tests of this vehicle - previously it was reported that the Malva self-propelled howitzer had already completed state tests in August 2022.
The 2S43 Malva artillery system is a new russian development, the first images of this vehicle appeared in 2019, and during tests in 2021 it was confirmed that it "met the requirements of the tactical and technical task".
The Malva self-propelled howitzer was created by "Burevestnyk" OJSC as part of the Sketch (In russian it stands for Sketch in English) research and design work. The howitzer is based on the chassis of the all-wheel drive car from the Bryansk Automobile Plant BAZ-6610-027 Voshchyna with a wheel formula of 8x8. The installation is equipped with a 152-mm 2A64 gun , as in the "Msta-S" ACS.
The tactical and technical characteristics of this self-propelled howitzer are as follows: the range is 24.5 km, the rate of fire is 7 rounds per minute, the ammunition is 30 rounds.
Other characteristics: combat mass 32 tons, crew 5 people, ammunition 30 shells of 152 mm caliber, 8×8 wheeled chassis BAZ-6010-027; the cabin is armored, but the level of protection is unknown.
In fact, the russian Malva self-propelled howitzer can be called a copy of the French Caesar self-propelled howitzer on the Tatra chassis with an 8x8 wheel formula. These vehicles have already been put into service with the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and even destroy the enemy on the battlefield, by the way. Denmark is transferring a total of 19 such self-propelled howitzers to Ukraine.
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