AHS Krab
| AHS Krab | |
|---|---|
AHS Krab, a self-propelled tracked howitzer | |
| Type | Self-propelled artillery |
| Place of origin | Poland |
| Service history | |
| In service | 2016 – present |
| Used by | Polish Land Forces Ukrainian Ground Forces |
| Wars | Russian invasion of Ukraine |
| Production history | |
| Designer | |
| Designed | 1997–2016 |
| Manufacturer | Huta Stalowa Wola |
| Unit cost | US$11.45M (est) |
| Produced | 2008 – present |
| Specifications | |
| Mass | 48 t (47 long tons; 53 short tons) |
| Length | 12.1 m (39 ft 8 in) |
| Barrel length | 8.06 m (26 ft 5 in) L/52 |
| Width | 3.63 m (11 ft 11 in) |
| Height | 3 m (9 ft 10 in) to turret roof |
| Crew | 5 |
| Caliber | 155 mm (6.1 in) |
| Breech | Sliding block |
| Elevation | +70° (1244 mils)/-3.5° (-62 mils) |
| Traverse | 360° (6400 mils) |
| Rate of fire |
|
| Maximum firing range |
|
| Armor | Max 16 mm (0.63 in) steel armour |
Main armament | 155 mm/52-calibre howitzer 40 rounds (29 turret, 11 hull) |
Secondary armament | WKM-B .50 BMG |
| Engine | STX Engine/MTU Friedrichshafen MT881Ka-500 8-cylinder water-cooled diesel engine 750 kW (1,000 hp) |
| Drive | Tracked |
| Transmission | SNT Dynamics/Allison Transmission X1100-5A3 4 forward, 2 reverse |
| Suspension | Mottrol/Horstman Hydropneumatic Suspension Unit (HSU) travel distance: ≤ 275 mm dead weight: 40 ~ 45 kN |
Operational range | 400 km (250 mi) |
| Maximum speed |
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| References | Janes |
The AHS Krab (Polish for crab) is a 155 mm NATO-compatible self-propelled tracked gun-howitzer designed in Poland by Huta Stalowa Wola (HSW), by combining a modified South Korean K9 Thunder chassis with a British BAE Systems AS-90M Braveheart turret with a 52-calibre gun produced by HSW and the Polish WB Electronics' Topaz artillery fire control system. "AHS" is not a part of the name, but the Polish abbreviation of armatohaubica samobieżna – gun-howitzer, self-propelled.
The 2011 prototype version used Nexter Systems barrels and UPG-NG chassis from domestic company Bumar-Łabędy.
For the production variant, since 2016, Poland decided to base the self-propelled howitzer on a modified K9 chassis with an STX Engine-MTU Friedrichshafen engine and, since 2019, uses barrels made domestically by HSW (earlier, the barrels were delivered by Rheinmetall).