03-2023 KRAB

AHS Krab is a modern Polish self-propelled gun-howitzer (AHS) with a tracked chassis. The first prototypes were built in 2000-2001, but serial production only started in 2015. In total, by the turn of 2017-2018, approx. 30 examples of this vehicle were built, compared to 120 ordered by the Polish Army. The crab is single powered MTU MT 881 Ka-500 engine with a capacity of 1000 HP. The vehicle is armed with a single 155 mm howitzer mounted in a rotating turret and a single 12.7 mm machine gun. The first conceptual work on the introduction of a new 155 mm self-propelled howitzer to the Polish Army began in the early 1990s, but financial problems related to the political system change, lack of decisiveness of military and civil decision makers, as well as problems in coordinating work in Polish companies armaments, the production of the Crab began only in 2015! It is also worth adding that it is a vehicle based on the chassis developed by Samsung Techwin for the K9 Thunder self-propelled howitzer, the license of which was purchased in 2014, and the drive unit is developed by the German company MTU. AHS Krab is capable of firing high-explosive shells at a distance of approx. 32 km, and when firing ammunition with a gas generator, the firing range increases to approx. 40 km. Vehicles of this type have become or will soon be part of the 11th Masurian, 5th Lubuskie and 23rd Silesian Artillery Regiments.