© Reuters. SUBMIT PICTURE: A self-propelled howitzer is seen on a roadway near a frontline, in the middle of Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk area, Ukraine January 29, 2023. REUTERS/Viacheslav Ratynskyi
BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany intends to acquire approximately 28 self-propelled howitzers to change weapons hurried to Ukraine out of army stocks in 2015, according to a spending plan draft seen by Reuters on Monday.
Heavy artillery-type weapons such as howitzers, long viewed as arms of the past by military specialists, have actually made a substantial resurgence as Ukraine looks for to fend off a Russian intrusion.
The German parliament’s spending plan committee will choose the howitzer offer at a session on Wednesday.
The federal government in Berlin has actually provided 14 howitzers to Kyiv, and initially planned to ask parliament for their replacement in summertime just. Defence Minister Boris Pistorius brought the move on after criticism that the backfilling of German military hardware was going far too gradually.
According to the spending plan draft, the defence ministry intends to acquire a minimum of 10 howitzers for some 180 million euros from German arms maker Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW), and obtain choices for the purchase of another 18.
The file stated the ministry planned to quickly activate choices for the procurement of 12 extra howitzers in order to change all the weapons turned over to Ukraine and to likewise offset extra parts provided to Kyiv.
The Panzerhaubitze 2000 howitzer is among the most effective artillery weapons in Bundeswehr (German military) stocks. It can strike targets at a range of 30 kilometres (18.6 miles) with basic ammo and at a range of approximately 100 kilometres with sophisticated kinds of ammo.
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