Slovakia can sell self-propelled artillery to Ukraine

“I can confirm we are in talks,” Slovak Defense Minister Jaroslav Nad said during a televised debate on April 10, referring to the possibility of the country selling Zuzana self-propelled howitzers to Russia. Ukraine, but did not disclose further details. It is not clear what variant of the Zuzana self-propelled howitzer that Slovakia might sell.

Earlier, Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Heger on April 8 announced that Slovakia has air defense complex S-300 only for Ukraine. Heger affirmed that the move to transfer S-300 missiles “doesn’t mean” Slovakia became part of the armed conflict in Ukraine.”

Many Western countries announced their support of more weapons to Ukraine after Russia launched a special military operation in the country on February 24. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Britain would supply 120 new armored vehicles and anti-tank missiles to Ukraine in addition to a batch of “premium military equipment” worth $130 million.

The Slovak army is operating 16 self-propelled howitzers Zuzana 2 155 mm mounted on the body of Tatar 8×8. The Zuzana 2 variant has a 360-degree rotating turret, an armored cabin and a crew of three, one less than the old variant thanks to automation.

Zuzana 2 cannon can hit targets at a distance of nearly 40 km with a rate of fire of 5-6 rounds per minute. The cannon can run at a maximum speed of over 80 km/h and a maximum travel distance of 750 km.

Slovakia also developed a self-propelled gun variant Himalaya on the basis of placing the Zuzana turret on the T-72 tank body for foreign customers, but the weapon did not pass the initial assessment and was difficult to produce further.

Nguyen Tien (According to Reuters)