Santa Bárbara Sistemas 155/52 🇪🇸 The Spanish temperament on the battlefield

Santa Bárbara Sistemas 155/52 Field howitzer 155mm

The Santa Bárbara Sistemas 155/52 is a 155 mm towed howitzer developed and manufactured by the Spanish company Santa Bárbara Sistemas (SBS).

Description:
This howitzer has a twin-mast mount, hydraulic stem-type brake and hydraulic counter-stem with moderator, pneumatic recoiler, screw lock with self-closing drive, three-stage muzzle brake and plastic biscuit shutter. It also has a 106 HP diesel engine that acts as an auxiliary power unit (APU) and gives it an autonomous speed of 18 km/h, allowing rapid entry and exit into position. Although the Spanish Army plans to equip itself with self-propelled howitzers on wheels, it is ruled out to develop a version of this type of this piece due to its high weight.

The tube is an autofretted monobloc, with a length, as indicated by the name of the piece, of 52 calibers, that is, 52 times its diameter (155 mm), 8,120 mm. The chamber volume is 23 liters.

The howitzer can use instantaneous, timed, proximity and electronic percussion fuses. The projectiles, for their part, can be breaker, smoke, illuminating and anti-tank.

Its aiming sector in direction is -/+ 40° and in elevation -3/+72°. It has a hydraulic loading system, usable with any angle of fire and any type of ammunition. It is also equipped with an inertial navigation system and a ballistic computer.

The manufacturing and assembly is carried out in the Asturian factories of La Vega and Trubia, although the raw tubes are supplied by the German company Rheinmetall, although their production, using the cold self-banding system, is done in Trubia.