>The heavy weapon is equipped with a NATO-standard 155mm gun and modern fire control electronics that allow it to outrange comparable Russian systems by a considerable margin. As originally designed, the Bohdana was mounted on a truck chassis produced by Ukraine’s KrAZ automotive plant. Production was only six weapons a month following Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, because of weak Ukrainian government financing, and manufacturing problems at KrAZ linked both with funding volumes and Russian missile strikes.
>Speaking at the Yalta European Strategy Summit in Kyiv, Poulsen said that during March, Danish and Ukrainian officials began to discuss military assistance. The delegations agreed that increased production of Ukraine-manufactured artillery systems – and most importantly the Bohdana – should be a top priority for Danish-led funding.
>After appeals from residents of the Kursk region to Russia’s President Putin asking for assistance in evacuation fell on deaf ears, a member of the State Duma wrote to the Red Cross for help.
>“That was first deal that Denmark made with the government of Ukraine. That was in fact to reimburse eighteen (Bohdana) artillery systems produced here in Ukraine,” Poulsen said. “[If) you were buying artillery systems in Europe, I think it would take some years to be delivered. In July we placed the order for reimbursement, and this weekend the eighteen Bohdana systems have been delivered to the Ukraine forces. That’s an amazing speed of time.”
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>The funding framework that purchased the Bohdana howitzers made Denmark the first NATO nation to invest directly in weapons production in Ukraine.
>The AFU currently fields what is a maintainer’s nightmare – commonly referred to by Ukrainian gunners as a “zoo” – of some 700 Western-manufactured, 155mm-capable artillery systems. Some are towed guns dating back to the 1970s and the Cold War, and others are modern self-propelled systems.
>The AFU has proved skillful at operating even state-of-the-art weapons like Germany’s powerful PzH2000 and Sweden’s rapid-firing Archer howitzers, but intense combat has at times left hundreds of weapons off-line for months, because howitzers needing major maintenance such as replacement of worn barrels or repair of serious battle damage, must often be transported back to the country that manufactured them.
>Ukrainian-manufactured Bohdanas will be repaired and maintained inside Ukraine and their cost “is a lot less” than a comparable system produced for a European army, Paulsen said. He said that Danish support to Ukrainian arms manufacturing would increase and that the success with Bohdana production was merely a “first milestone.”
StealthCuttlefish on
We need more initiatives like this one to support and develop Ukraine’s domestic defense industry.
Perhaps help increase production of long-range one-way attack drones and Neptune missiles?
waldo--pepper on
I will be on pretty safe ground when I say that if we were to really look at the financing details of what Denmark in fact did was to use the profits/interest from Kremlin cash to procure these weapons. I am pretty certain that the principle has not been touched. And that detail makes the initiative even sweeter. That is the notion that has been bandied about anyway. Hopefully that was what was achieved.
4 Comments
>The heavy weapon is equipped with a NATO-standard 155mm gun and modern fire control electronics that allow it to outrange comparable Russian systems by a considerable margin. As originally designed, the Bohdana was mounted on a truck chassis produced by Ukraine’s KrAZ automotive plant. Production was only six weapons a month following Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, because of weak Ukrainian government financing, and manufacturing problems at KrAZ linked both with funding volumes and Russian missile strikes.
>Speaking at the Yalta European Strategy Summit in Kyiv, Poulsen said that during March, Danish and Ukrainian officials began to discuss military assistance. The delegations agreed that increased production of Ukraine-manufactured artillery systems – and most importantly the Bohdana – should be a top priority for Danish-led funding.
>After appeals from residents of the Kursk region to Russia’s President Putin asking for assistance in evacuation fell on deaf ears, a member of the State Duma wrote to the Red Cross for help.
>“That was first deal that Denmark made with the government of Ukraine. That was in fact to reimburse eighteen (Bohdana) artillery systems produced here in Ukraine,” Poulsen said. “[If) you were buying artillery systems in Europe, I think it would take some years to be delivered. In July we placed the order for reimbursement, and this weekend the eighteen Bohdana systems have been delivered to the Ukraine forces. That’s an amazing speed of time.”
>Advertisement
>The funding framework that purchased the Bohdana howitzers made Denmark the first NATO nation to invest directly in weapons production in Ukraine.
>The AFU currently fields what is a maintainer’s nightmare – commonly referred to by Ukrainian gunners as a “zoo” – of some 700 Western-manufactured, 155mm-capable artillery systems. Some are towed guns dating back to the 1970s and the Cold War, and others are modern self-propelled systems.
>The AFU has proved skillful at operating even state-of-the-art weapons like Germany’s powerful PzH2000 and Sweden’s rapid-firing Archer howitzers, but intense combat has at times left hundreds of weapons off-line for months, because howitzers needing major maintenance such as replacement of worn barrels or repair of serious battle damage, must often be transported back to the country that manufactured them.
>Ukrainian-manufactured Bohdanas will be repaired and maintained inside Ukraine and their cost “is a lot less” than a comparable system produced for a European army, Paulsen said. He said that Danish support to Ukrainian arms manufacturing would increase and that the success with Bohdana production was merely a “first milestone.”
We need more initiatives like this one to support and develop Ukraine’s domestic defense industry.
Perhaps help increase production of long-range one-way attack drones and Neptune missiles?
I will be on pretty safe ground when I say that if we were to really look at the financing details of what Denmark in fact did was to use the profits/interest from Kremlin cash to procure these weapons. I am pretty certain that the principle has not been touched. And that detail makes the initiative even sweeter. That is the notion that has been bandied about anyway. Hopefully that was what was achieved.
No more will be rubles. Now will be Kremlin Cash