LONDON, UK — 30 155mm AC90 self-propelled howitzers promised London to Kyiv. It turns out that they were the operationally ready and serviceable guns in the British Army. Now, London must think about how to restore its artillery combat capability.
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The British tabloid Daily Mail writes about the complete lack of the required number of serviceable vehicles. Tank and artillery crews will be most affected by the bad news. They will feel that blow, says British Chief of Staff General Patrick Sanders. However, he is optimistic that the donation of self-propelled howitzers to Ukraine opens up an opportunity for London to begin modernization and transformation of the army.
General Sander commented that currently, not Great Britain, but Ukraine needs the 30 AC90 self-propelled artillery systems. He believes, writes the Daily Mail, that the Ukrainians will be able to skillfully, precisely, and well use ground artillery systems.
Britain will have to look to international markets for suppliers. London has no problem buying American or European artillery systems. However, sources say that the British Prime Minister Mr. Rishi Sunak’s government is trying to buy the Korean K9 Thunder or the Swedish Archer.
Britain is now at a new level in terms of military supplies and aid to Ukraine. At the beginning of the year, London abruptly changed course and increased its commitment to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 14 Challenger 2 tanks have been promised to Kyiv, thus making Britain the first country to decide to provide a heavy ground attack weapon.
The 14 promised tanks were followed by the 30 AC90 self-propelled howitzers. This gave impetus to other allies to more boldly bet on the possibility of Ukraine acquiring tanks. A response from Berlin followed, allowing the re-export of Leopard 2 tanks. However, this decision did not come easily. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was put under serious pressure from Washington and it was even rumored that Germany was threatened with isolation from its Western partners.
To show solidarity with Kyiv, Washington followed the example of London and Berlin and a total of 31 Abrams tanks will be delivered by the end of 2023 and the beginning of 2024. Currently, there is even talk of sending fighter jets to Ukraine. Poland and the Netherlands are the first two countries to express their desire to supply F-16s to the Ukrainian Air Force.
Russia, for its part, is not worried about the announced supplies to Ukraine. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced that Russia will destroy the supplied Western equipment and continue its offensive in Ukraine.
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