Designed and built by the British Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering Co., the AS-90 self-propelled howitzer now appears unremarkable in firepower but very reliable, using semi-automatic loaders, assigned to divisional and above troops and providing the necessary fire support for combat groups.
AS-90 self-propelled howitzer basic parameters vehicle length of 9.07 meters, vehicle height of 3 meters, width of 3.3 meters, its total combat weight of 42 tons, the maximum speed of 55 km / h, the vehicle equipped with the necessary inertia dynamic reference device, turret control computer, etc., convenient for rapid calculation of ballistics to increase the hit rate, the number of equipment is 179.
The main weapon is a 39-caliber barrel 155 mm howitzer, followed by a 52-caliber rifle for increased range, the main firing of personnel anti-personnel grenades, rocket range extended ammunition, because of the semi-automatic loading, so a total of 2 loaders, can do 10 seconds 3 rounds of explosive firing, ammunition base of 48 rounds, the tail of the turret is equipped with a bomb bay, containing 31 shells, and 17 shells can be stored in the hull.
The tail of the howitzer has a large back door, which is convenient for quick personnel to get on and off and replenish ammunition, and in a safe position, it can be directly replenished with ammunition for a long time by relying on this large opening door, but this situation is best not to do easy to fly in the era of large-scale popularity of unmanned aerial vehicles.
Thanks to the excellent quality and technology of the howitzer, it can fire for a long time, with a sustained speed of 2 rounds / min, a maximum sustained rate of fire of 6 rounds / min for 3 minutes continuous fire, and a maximum range of 24 when firing a general grenade. 7km, the maximum range of the rocket range extender is 30km, the follow-up modified version can reach a maximum range of 40km, and the howitzer can also fight with the tank bayonet, the maximum range of flat fire is 2km, and the large caliber of 155 mm is enough to throw the current main battle tank out of the whole.
The AS-90 self-propelled howitzer uses a GBT155 turret, which was originally designed to be installed on retired British Challenger main battle tanks, which can greatly save the army and increase economy, and the armor thickness of the turret is 17mm, which can prevent the attack of small arms and shell fragments.
Because the howitzer was set during the Cold War, so with a lot of the atmosphere of the times, installed a complete three-defense equipment and air conditioning system, the vehicle power system for a VTA903T V-shaped 8-cylinder turbo diesel engine, the maximum power of 485.3kW, and the use of German LSG2000 type hydraulic mechanical integrated transmission, howitzer chassis using 640A double-pin tracks can be hung rubber pads.
In addition to the as-90 self-propelled howitzer is equipped with an inertial dynamic reference device, a turret control computer, a data transmission and various displays to form an automatic aiming fire control system, this design is convenient for quickly automatic fixing or releasing the marching fixer of the gun body tube, which can make the howitzer quickly unfold and retract the quick strike and quick withdrawal.
Now that Britain has aided the Ukrainian government forces with 20 155mm self-propelled howitzers, as the as-90, which is almost a battalion quantity, and has also provided 45,000 rounds of ammunition, this is not the first time that britain has delivered old equipment to Ukraine like stocks, and with the implementation of the new Lend-Lease Act, Ukraine's future debt has been added.
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