Frag Out! Magazine

support vehicles. At the time, there was a plan to purchase 360 self-propelled howitzers for 20 battalions, with 18 cannons for each, which was to let the Polish tube artillery become re-armed and re-equipped with new systems. prototypes The first prototype underwent factory traction trials and fire tests in 2001. At the same time, due to financial limitations, the R&D program was narrowed and instead of working on six prototypes of British turrets and Polish chassis, as originally intended, only two of those prototypes were chosen to be worked on further. The second howitzer unit was read in 2002 – both Krabs went through a full cycle of factory tests and trials successfully, and were then subject to evaluation tests conducted under the supervision of MOD. According to the plan of the time, preparations for serial production were to finish in 2003. The certificate of the system's compliance with MOD's requirements was approved, which closed the related R&D works. Due to insufficient funds and conceptual and political difficulties occurring at the time, the project did not proceed to the stage of implementation – it was suspended for the following three years and only in 2006 a declaration of the intent to produce Krabs was made. The plan was to adapt the cannons to make them compatible with guided ammunition, to upgrade the fire-control system, and to modify the assumptions for systems of command and support, including a change of the chassis for the command-staff and command post vehicles, i.e. replacing it with a tracked variant. A total of 75 howitzers for three battalions, with 24 cannons for each, and three additional units for training purposes were to be produced. The first prototype Krab battalion module was ordered by moD in 2008 as part of implementation of "155 mm self- propelled howitzers regina artillery battalion". The agreement required HSW to deliver eight Krab gun- howitzers with British AS-90P turrets, mounted on Polish tracked chassis, and command-staff and command-post vehicles for various levels based on the LPG (Lekkie Podwozie Gąsienicowe; EN: Light Tracked Chassis), as well as support vehicles on the Jelcz truck chassis: ammunition supply vehicles (PL: WA; EN: ASV) and artillery armament repair vehicles (PL: WRUiE; EN: AARV). In 2012, a batch of eight Krab howitzers, modified with respect to the prototypes, and a set of five new command and logistic support vehicles were handed over, after a series of successful acceptance tests, for use and operation to the 11th Artillery Regiment. Moreover, the order was extended by gun-howitzers and a set of support vehicles, i.e. there were 16 gun-howitzers, two command-staff vehicles, nine command-post vehicles, and five ASV to be produced additionally. A complete 24-cannon battalion was supposed to be made available in 2015. Since the British AS-90 had been discontinued, the barrels and sub-assemblies for cannons were purchased from France. Fire tests of the first cannon assembled by HSW were carried out in 2013. The plant invested significant amounts in new production facilities vehicles

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