Howitzers on Wheels and Tracks: Self-Propelled Artillery from the 2S1 to the 2S35

The 2S1 Gvozdika, Russian for Carnation, mounts a 122 mm howitzer on the amphibious MT-LBu chassis built by the Kharkiv Tractor Plant. It entered service in 1972 and more than 10,000 were produced between 1971 and 1991, so it sets the baseline: a light, cheap tracked gun that is still in use with more than 40 countries today.

The South African G6 turned the towed G5 howitzer into a self-propelled gun on a six-wheeled, mine-protected armoured chassis. Production ran from 1988 to 1999 with 154 units built. It shows that a wheeled carrier could be a front-line artillery piece, a choice that later designs such as the Type 19 and RCH 155 follow.

The British AS-90, named for Artillery System for the 1990s, is a tracked 155 mm howitzer built by Vickers. It fires to about 24.7 kilometers with a 39-calibre barrel or 30 kilometers with a 52-calibre barrel, and 179 were produced between 1992 and 1995. By 2025 the British Army had donated all 68 of its remaining vehicles to Ukraine.

The Chinese PLZ-05, built by Norinco, was unveiled in July 2007 and entered People's Liberation Army service in 2008 to replace the Type 59-1 towed gun and the Type 83 self-propelled gun. It has a crew of four, an 800 horsepower diesel engine and a range of up to 60 kilometers depending on ammunition, and about 320 serve with the PLA Ground Force.

The Swedish Archer places a fully automated 155 mm L52 gun on a modified Volvo A30D 6x6 chassis, with an armoured cabin and a remote-controlled weapon station. It entered Swedish Army service in February 2016 and is also operated by the United Kingdom and Ukraine. It can fire BONUS submunitions and M982 Excalibur guided projectiles.

The Polish AHS Krab is a hybrid: a modified South Korean K9 Thunder chassis carries a turret based on the British AS-90M Braveheart, with a 52-calibre gun made by Huta Stalowa Wola and Polish Topaz fire control. It entered service in 2016 and is operated by the Polish Land Forces and the Ukrainian Ground Forces. Its name abbreviates the Polish armatohaubica samobiezna.

Japan's Type 19 puts a Japan Steel Works 155 mm howitzer on a Rheinmetall MAN HX44M 8x8 truck chassis as a cheaper counterpart to the tracked Type 99. It entered service in 2020 with the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force alone, replacing the ageing FH70 towed howitzer, with about 70 vehicles ordered as of 2025. Its range is 30 kilometers with standard ammunition or 40 with base-bleed rounds.

The RCH 155, built by Krauss-Maffei Wegmann and now KNDS Deutschland, pairs the 155 mm L/52 gun of the PzH 2000 with an automated, remotely controlled gun module on a Boxer armoured vehicle. It can fire while moving, a rare capability that supports shoot-and-scoot tactics against counter-battery fire. Production began in 2022, with Qatar and Ukraine already operating it.

The Russian 2S35 Koalitsiya-SV was first shown publicly in 2015 during rehearsals for the Moscow Victory Day Parade and was designed to supplement and eventually replace the 2S19 Msta. It mounts a 152.4 mm gun firing about 16 rounds per minute, with a range of about 80 kilometers using rocket-assisted rounds. It entered service in 2023 and has been used in the Russo-Ukrainian War.