A Guide To The 2S22 Bohdana, Ukraine's Own Self-Propelled Howitzer
For many of us, a "howitzer" is a great way to describe a hard boxing punch or powerful hockey slapshot. But when you're a soldier, it tends to refer to something a tad more explosive: A long-range artillery weapon designed to destroy armored vehicles, defense fortifications, and anything else that means you harm. While the basic idea of the howitzer existed for hundreds of years — that idea being a machine that launches a mortar far from where you're standing — its modern iteration could likely take on a group of the old ones.
The 2S22 Bohdana Self-Propelled Howitzer is certainly being put to work as a result of the Russian-Ukrainian War. According to Forbes, the Bohdana includes a 155 mm NATO-standard artillery caliber cannon mounted on the rear chassis of a Ukrainian six-wheel-drive KrAZ-6322 truck. The front holds an armored 5-crew capacity cabin that provides protection against small arms fire and artillery shell fragments, like from a Russian howitzer, for instance.
Why the 2S22 Bohdana is a devastating weapon
It features approximately a 20-shell capacity and is pretty quick on the draw for its size, with a maximum rate of fire of six shells a minute. Those shells wouldn't be ideal for hitting a mosquito four feet away or a meteor heading towards Earth because the Bohdana howitzer includes a minimum range of 780 meters and a maximum range of 40 km (with HE/AP ammunition), unless it's firing a rocket-assisted projectile, in which case that rises to 50 km. So try to stand at least 51 km away from a Bohdana howitzer.
An early prototype of the 2S22 Bohdana was presented at the 2018 27th Independence Day parade in Kyiv. At the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, manufacturers were ordered to destroy the prototype to prevent it from falling into Russian hands. The Ukrainian armed forces managed to protect the howitzer, ultimately deploying it at the front against the Russian army, particularly against Snake Island, which is 35 km from mainland Ukraine. It prompted a pullback of Russian forces, reports Reuters.
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry stated at the beginning of 2023 that serial mass production of the Bohdana was underway, with several improved features, including an autoloader. There are also reports that Ukraine is attempting to generate interest in the 2S22 Bohdana for international orders.