Better late than never: testing of the Koalitsiya-SV self-propelled gun went on for more than 8 years

SVO helped speed up work on artillery

“Defense specialists” report on the completion of state tests of the 152-mm self-propelled artillery gun “Coalition-SV”. The news seems to be positive, but as they say, “with tears in my eyes.” The fact is that work on our answer to NATO in artillery, that is, on the “Coalition-SV”, has been going on since 2002. And 8 years ago, in 2015, a prototype of the Coalition-SV was even shown on Red Square. How long are we harnessing?

Perhaps the development of a long-range, high-precision artillery system would have continued for another 10 years. But a special military operation, in which our artillerymen entered mainly with Soviet-developed artillery, was “interfered.” A number of Western howitzers and self-propelled guns that were supplied to Ukraine surpass our systems in range and accuracy.

And most importantly, due to its integration into the system of reconnaissance and strike complexes, this is when information from all reconnaissance means is received online by the artillerymen and thus they almost instantly hit the desired target within the range of their fire.

It is clear that it was the SVO that forced the industry to speed up and complete the necessary test cycle. But this is not enough. Now it is very important to organize mass production not in years, but in a matter of months.

The developers report that Coalition-SV has confirmed its unique technical characteristics and even “exceeds the best world and domestic models in terms of firing range and accuracy, as well as in the time it takes to solve combat missions.” Eh, it’s a pity that by the beginning of the Northern Military District we didn’t have such a weapon. But, as they say, better late than never.

The need for a weapon that could effectively destroy enemy artillery and mortar batteries and armored vehicles is very great. Especially in light of our future big offensive.