Russia's Self-Propelled Artillery vs Ukraine's

Comparing the self-propelled artillery of Russia to that given to Ukraine by NATO nations by rate of fire and range.

Hello, a short video here where I thought I would compare the self-propelled guns by Ukraine and Russia. I won’t go into too much details about each weapon, I thought I would keep this short and to the point.

So, I have prepared two tables. The first here, shows rate of fire between all the PSG in use in Ukraine. Russia is operating the 2S35, the 2S19, the 2s5, 2s1, 2s3 and the 2s7m.

Now, most of those are also operated by Ukraine. But Ukraine has received a number of donations from NATO countries---the Panzerhaubitze, Caesar, Zuzana 2, the Krab, the M109 and the DANA.

So, the 2S35 from Russia is top. With a claimed firing rate of 16 RPM—very impressive. Ukraine’s best is the PZH 2000 from Germany with 10 RPM. The 2S19 M2 is available in greater numbers to Russia and has a rate of fire of 10 RPM.

The average is 6 RPM—met by the Krab and Zuzana 2, with the 2S19 and the Caesar managing between 6 to 8 RPM.

At the lower end, the massive 2S7M manages just 2.5 rounds per minute.

However, there are just 12 2S35s in service and no word that they are actually in Ukraine yet or that they are going to be deployed. But I have included it just in case. Even if only a few are sent, it seems only fair to add it since vehicles like the Zuzana 2—also low in number—are included.

Also, side note—the figures for the 2S35 do come from Russia and haven’t been verified by outside sources.

Now, to look at range. I have gone for max range regardless of ammo, as the data for some weapons was only available for the best available.

The 2S35 has an impressive max range of 80 KM with precision guided rounds.
The PZH 2000, with rocket assisted rounds, has an impressive range of 67 km.
The massive 2S7M can launch its massive shells a max distance of 47.5 km
The CAESAR has a range with rocket-assisted rounds of 42 KM and the Zuzana-2, a little less at 41.
The Krab, 2S5 and M109 have comparable max ranges of 40 km depending on the ammo used.
Russia’s 2S19 has a range of 28.9 km.
The 2S3—with rocket assisted rounds can hti 24 km
The 2S1—has a range of just 21.9 km
DANA-- an early predecessor of the impressive Zuzana 2 has a max range of 20km.

So, when it comes to range, again they are pretty comparable. The 2S35 can hit a long way, but again there is no word that it is actually in Ukraine. The PZH 2000 has a very long max range, but is only available in small numbers—same as the CAESAR and the Zuzana. The 2S7M has an impressive range, but as seen earlier, is let down by its rate of fire.

However—you can’t really just artillery by numbers alone. There’s the accuracy of the system which isn’t included here and, for many systems, data isn’t available. But the Zuzana 2, for example, is said to be highly accurate. There is also factors such as ease of use, reloading time, crew needed, reliability of the system etc which all comes into play. And of course—most importantly, the skill of the operator. So looking at the range and rate of fire doesn’t mean much in the grand scheme of things. But I thought it would be interesting to see how things stack up

Then, the numbers available. Unfortunately, the kit supplied in NATO is relatively low in numbers compared to those operated by Russia.

Ukraine also uses many of the Russian guns and in large numbers. So the artillery battles aren’t just NATO equipment vs Russian.

In the end—artillery is going to play an important role in the war. Indeed, it has played an important role in the war. While the equipment is important, the skill of the operators is, in my opinion, the key thing.