Rostec has created an "analog of HIMARS" – it turned out to be Soviet howitzers of the 1970s
At this, their range does not even reach the Serbian Nora B-52
The flagship of the russian military-industrial complex, Rostec, a state corporation run by putin's friend Sergei Chemezov, set out to create analogues of the American HIMARS and French CAESAR in a year's time – for this purpose, the company decided to install Soviet guns developed in the USSR on wheeled chassis.
On August 10, at the Army of russia 2023 forum, Rostec announced the arrival of new wheeled howitzers, the Malva and the Flex, in the army.
"The Malva has already passed state testing. Its serial production is currently underway. The first samples will be delivered to the troops in the coming months," said Vladimir Artiakov, deputy director general of Rostec, The Moscow Times reports, citing the russian media.
As for the Phlox, according to Artiakov, it is in the final stages of testing. "Believe me, we will have something to counteract the long-range Western howitzers that are currently being supplied to the Armed Forces," the top manager said.
Both vehicles are essentially copies of self-propelled howitzers developed 50 years ago, but they have been converted to the BAZ-6610 (8×8 wheels) and Ural 4320 (6×6) wheelbases.
For the Malva, with a range of 24-28 km, the 2A64 152-mm howitzer was adopted from the Soviet Msta tracked self-propelled gun, while the Phlox, with a range of up to 10 km, borrowed a gun from the Soviet designers of the Nona amphibious assault vehicle.
At the same time, the range of the Malva is at least one-third inferior not only to Western models, but even to Serbian ones.
The similar American M109 Paladin can fire at 30-45 km, the Swedish Archer at 30-40 km, the French 155-mm CAESAR can throw a projectile at 40 km, the Slovak Zuzana 2 at 41 km, and the German PzH 2 at 47 km.
Even the Serbian B-52 Nora has a range of about 40 km. The range of the HIMARS varies from 45 to 300 km.
Background. In late July, Germany handed over 6 more Gepard self-propelled anti-aircraft systems to Ukraine.
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