Slovakia To Supply 16 More Zuzana-2 Self-Propelled Howitzers To Ukraine
Ukraine signed has a new contract with Slovakia for the supply of 16 more Zuzana 2 Self-Propelled Howitzers manufactured by Konstrukta-Defence. The agreement was announced by Slovak President Zuzana Caputova during the visit of her Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky to Bratislava. “We managed to sign a contract for the supply of 16 Zuzana’s to Ukraine and this will happen very soon,” Caputova said in a statement. The President also stated that Slovakia and Ukraine intend to jointly develop a new type of howitzer and begin joint production of Zuzana munitions and the Bozena demining system.
Marija Precner, spokesperson for the Slovak Ministry of Defense, said the total value of the deal is 92 million euros and will be co-financed by Denmark, Germany and Norway, Slovak news agency TASR reported. Precner stated that the first of 16 Zuzana-2 self-propelled howitzers for Ukraine will be produced by the end of July, and that all of the artillery systems in question will be delivered to Ukraine by the end of 2024.
In June 2022, Ukraine and Slovakia signed the first contract for the purchase of eight Zuzana 2 self-propelled guns. In August 2022, the Slovak Ministry of Defense delivered the first four Zuzana-2 155 mm self-propelled howitzers to Ukraine. Ukraine received two more Zuzana-2 Howitzers about a month after the first batch. Slovakia delivered the 7th Artillery system to Kiev in November 2022, followed by the 8th and final system in January 2023.
The 155mm ZUZANA 2 is a self-propelled artillery system with an automatic ammunition loader that is manufactured by the Slovak company Konštrukta Defense. This artillery system consists of a 155mm 52 caliber gun mounted on a TATRA 815 8 truck chassis. As secondary weapons, the vehicle has a 12.7mm machine gun and a number of smoke grenade launchers. All NATO standard ammunition with a diameter of 155mm can be fired by the weapon system, which has the capacity to carry 40 rounds. The Zuzanas artillery have a minimum firing range of 5km and a maximum range of 41.5km, with long-range artillery ammunition. It can fire 5 rounds in the first minute and 13 rounds in 3 minutes. Manual reloading is also an option if the automatic loader fails. Manual fire rate is 2 rounds per minute. The sustained rate of fire is approximately 1.5 rounds per minute. The vehicle is operated by a four-person crew and is powered by a TATRA T3B-928.70 449hp. The system’s top road speed is 90 km/h, and the range of movement with its internal 460 liters fuel tanks is 600 km.