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While drones dominate the skies over Ukraine, causing up to 95% of battlefield casualties, Ukrainian forces are proving that tube artillery is far from obsolete. By ditching bulky truck chassis and mounting NATO-standard 155mm/52-caliber guns onto towed carriages, the domestic 2P22 Bohdana-BG has become an elite "sniper rifle" for the front lines. Emplaced in underground bunkers, directed by integrated drone units like the "Greg" brigade, and surviving direct drone hits, discover how Ukraine’s towed artillery and the upcoming "Marta" howitzer are outsmarting Russian electronic warfare and rewriting modern fire-support doctrine.
⏱️ CHAPTERS:
00:00 - The Artillery Paradigm Shift: Surviving the Drone Era
02:46 - The EW & All-Weather Factor: Why Drones Can't Replace Artillery
04:09 - The "Caponier" Doctrine: Underground Shelters & 10-Round Precision Salvos
07:12 - Legacy Workhorses: M114a 155mm Howitzer & Camouflage Advantages
08:32 - The 2S22 Bohdana Evolution: From Wheeled SPG to Towed 2P22 Bohdana-BG
11:21 - The 6-Minute Kill Chain: Ballistic Radar & Precision Dugout Strikes
14:08 - Battlefield Survivability: Repair Cycles vs. Western Systems (CAESAR)
15:53 - Next-Gen Ukrainian Artillery: The 155mm 39-Caliber "Marta"
Support us directly as we bring you independent, up-to-date reporting on military news and global conflicts by clicking here: https://www.youtube.com/@TheMilitaryShow/join
#militarystrategy #militarydevelopments #militaryanalysis
#themilitaryshow
SOURCES / ATTRIBUTIONS: https://pastebin.com/vpyLQYZ9
While drones dominate the skies over Ukraine, causing up to 95% of battlefield casualties, Ukrainian forces are proving that tube artillery is far from obsolete. By ditching bulky truck chassis and mounting NATO-standard 155mm/52-caliber guns onto towed carriages, the domestic 2P22 Bohdana-BG has become an elite "sniper rifle" for the front lines. Emplaced in underground bunkers, directed by integrated drone units like the "Greg" brigade, and surviving direct drone hits, discover how Ukraine’s towed artillery and the upcoming "Marta" howitzer are outsmarting Russian electronic warfare and rewriting modern fire-support doctrine.
⏱️ CHAPTERS:
00:00 - The Artillery Paradigm Shift: Surviving the Drone Era
02:46 - The EW & All-Weather Factor: Why Drones Can't Replace Artillery
04:09 - The "Caponier" Doctrine: Underground Shelters & 10-Round Precision Salvos
07:12 - Legacy Workhorses: M114a 155mm Howitzer & Camouflage Advantages
08:32 - The 2S22 Bohdana Evolution: From Wheeled SPG to Towed 2P22 Bohdana-BG
11:21 - The 6-Minute Kill Chain: Ballistic Radar & Precision Dugout Strikes
14:08 - Battlefield Survivability: Repair Cycles vs. Western Systems (CAESAR)
15:53 - Next-Gen Ukrainian Artillery: The 155mm 39-Caliber "Marta"
Support us directly as we bring you independent, up-to-date reporting on military news and global conflicts by clicking here: https://www.youtube.com/@TheMilitaryShow/join
#militarystrategy #militarydevelopments #militaryanalysis
#themilitaryshow
SOURCES / ATTRIBUTIONS: https://pastebin.com/vpyLQYZ9
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NewsTranscript
00:01At the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine,
00:04artillery was one of the most important weapons of war on both sides.
00:08Thousands of shells were fired back and forth on a daily basis
00:11as Russia sought to break down the Ukrainian defensive lines
00:15and Ukraine attempted to dig in and fend off its enemies' mechanized assaults.
00:19This continued throughout the opening years.
00:22Artillery systems consistently dealt with the most damage,
00:25with Russia chewing through its enormous stockpiles of munitions
00:28and Western howitzers being dispatched to Ukraine to help even the odds.
00:32As time went by, however, the face of the war began to change.
00:36Unmanned systems, like drones, came to dominate the front lines
00:40and many analysts anticipated that the days of artillery's dominance
00:43might be approaching their end.
00:45Ukraine just proved them wrong.
00:48It hasn't given up on artillery.
00:50It simply shifted tactics, embracing a whole new strategy of sniper-style strikes
00:55and using some of its very own domestically developed equipment
00:57to create a veritable nightmare for Russia's forces.
01:01But, before we dig into the details, why not become a member of the military show channel today?
01:06You'll unlock instant access to our exclusive reports on Ukraine, Russia, China, Iran,
01:12and all of the most important military news.
01:14On the face of it, it shouldn't really have been possible for Ukraine
01:18to continue using artillery into 2025, 2026, and beyond.
01:23Because the war today is very different from what it was when it began.
01:28Drones saturate the skies above the occupied territories and beyond,
01:32seeking and destroying any enemy troops, assets, or infrastructure that enter their sights.
01:37They're fast, cost-effective, and extremely lethal,
01:40with their bird's-eye views of the battlefield,
01:43allowing them to easily pick out and home in on large targets,
01:46like artillery systems, for example.
01:48And when you have high-speed flying killing machines with AI brains on one side,
01:53and slow-moving hunk of metal on the other,
01:55the end result seems obvious.
01:57Unmanned aerial vehicles, UAVs, should be able to defeat artillery every single time.
02:02So, the logical tactical decision would therefore be to remove artillery from the equation,
02:08to withdraw howitzers and self-propelled systems to more secure locations,
02:12deeper inland, further from the front,
02:14where they're far less useful, but at least somewhat safe.
02:17That's what Russia did with its tanks and armoured vehicles, for example,
02:21when its tactical planners saw that so many of them were being wiped out by Ukrainian UAVs.
02:26They didn't want to see any more of their most expensive and important assets go to waste,
02:31so they simply stopped using them for the most part.
02:33But Ukraine didn't follow that example with artillery.
02:36Even to this day, when Ukrainian commanders openly admit that drones account for around 95% of all battlefield damage,
02:44Kyiv's forces continue to lean heavily on artillery systems in frontline locations,
02:49with artillery brigades still enjoying serious successes, even in the most hostile of locations.
02:54Why?
02:54Well, Vitaly Kornienko, commander of the Gregett Drone Artillery Brigade,
03:00says it's because there are certain jobs that only artillery can accomplish.
03:03There are tasks that only artillery can handle.
03:06For example, now we have several enemy targets in the Kupyans direction,
03:10which drones cannot reach due to electronic warfare,
03:13and slow drones on fibre optics are simply shot down.
03:16What do we do?
03:17We call in artillery.
03:18Nothing affects its projectile.
03:20Fog, strong wind, snow, headwind in our direction.
03:23It doesn't matter to artillery.
03:25It will still work.
03:26It's a succinct and incredibly accurate assessment.
03:30Even Ukraine's drone army, which is incredibly diverse,
03:33featuring a rich mixture of bomber drones, strike UAVs, AI-powered systems,
03:38and other drones designed for surveillance, intel gathering, and other tasks, isn't omnipotent.
03:43Drones can't do everything,
03:44and even the most advanced models can struggle in the face of difficult weather conditions
03:49or enemy electronic warfare jammers.
03:51That's why there's still a place for conventional military equipment, like artillery.
03:56Ukraine still needs its howitzers and other guns to be able to blow holes in enemy defences
04:01and pile pressure onto fortified locations and assault squads.
04:05That's the why, but the how is much more complicated.
04:09As Kornienko notes, earlier on in the war, the sky was clear,
04:13and guns could be moved into position relatively safely.
04:16This allowed both sides to amass sizable amounts of artillery systems in frontline locations
04:21and exchange fire with one another.
04:23Now, however, due to the sheer quantity and dominance of drones,
04:27even getting a gun to the front lines is, in Kornienko's words, a lottery.
04:31He explains that Ukraine had to adapt to that fact.
04:35Its crews could no longer function as they had before.
04:37Even if they tried to move their guns in the conventional way,
04:40most would be taken out before they even had a chance to fire a single shell.
04:45And so, Kyiv's tacticians came up with a bold new approach,
04:48combining drones and artillery systems, making the most of their unique advantages
04:52and compensating for each weapon's weakness.
04:55Nowadays, every artillery movement has to be planned out and prepared to perfection.
05:00Before guns even move an inch,
05:02drone swarms are dispatched to clear the sky of enemy reconnaissance UAVs,
05:06blinding Russia's eyes in the skies.
05:09Then, and only then, once the coast is clear,
05:12are cannons towed into their firing site,
05:14which Kornienko describes as Kapaniez,
05:17completely dug underground with well-camouflage entrances.
05:20As the commander notes,
05:21We do a lot of work to prevent the cannon from burning down,
05:25because every loss of a cannon is a great pain for us.
05:28To that end,
05:29Ukrainian artillery crews spend many hours studying maps,
05:32planning routes that allow them to evade mines and enemy surveillance systems,
05:36digging tunnels and covering their tracks with camouflage
05:39to reduce the risk of their assets being seen by the enemy.
05:42They also tend to position their guns as far as they can from the front lines,
05:46while still ensuring that they remain in range to strike their intended targets
05:50and actually impact the battlefield in a positive way.
05:53And once a gun is in place,
05:55Ukraine can't just fire off hundreds of shells
05:57and provide a full-on barrage of artillery fire to overwhelm the enemy,
06:01for two clear reasons.
06:03First, it's expensive.
06:05A couple of dozen cheap drones can do the exact same work
06:08as a couple of hundred artillery shells for a fraction of the cost.
06:11Second, it's risky.
06:13The more shells a gun fires,
06:15the easier it becomes for the enemy to pinpoint its location
06:18and dispatch its own drones to take it out.
06:21Instead,
06:22Kornyenko explains,
06:23typical missions now involve guns firing ten shots at the most,
06:26three to five for aiming purposes,
06:28to fine-tune their trajectory and help them line up their sights,
06:32and another handful to actually take out their targets.
06:35Meanwhile,
06:36drones take on a larger part of the work.
06:38This is our vision, which was approved for us,
06:41artillery and drones in one brigade.
06:43Drones knock out enemy artillery and logistics,
06:45and our guns cover the infantry,
06:47destroy objects,
06:48and make it impossible for the enemy to get out of the dugout.
06:51This way,
06:52we eliminate the shortcomings of both means and increase efficiency.
06:56But in order to maximize efficiency
06:58and extract the most value from its artillery strikes,
07:01Ukraine needs the right kind of equipment.
07:03It needs guns that are rugged, resilient, light enough,
07:06and compact enough to move more easily from place to place,
07:09but also capable of packing a serious punch,
07:12and firing with precision from distances of around 9 to 12 miles,
07:16or 15 to 20 kilometers.
07:18For a long time,
07:19it made do with the American M114,
07:22a towed howitzer developed and used by the United States Army
07:25as far back as World War II.
07:27This gun also saw service in the Korean War and the Vietnam War,
07:31before eventually being phased out and replaced by the M198 howitzer.
07:36It's almost 100 years old,
07:37yet Ukrainian troops have managed to make amazing use of it,
07:41with one crew calling it an underrated artillery firepower system
07:44and praising its survivability and the simplicity of its design.
07:48They note, for example,
07:50the fact that it copes well in frosty and icy conditions,
07:53and since it doesn't have a muzzle brake like more modern systems,
07:56it doesn't release propellant gases that could interfere with the surrounding camouflage
08:00and make the crew easier to spot.
08:02Even so, the M114 isn't perfect.
08:06It's not the easiest gun to maintain, for instance,
08:08and has a maximum range of 9.3 miles or 15 kilometers.
08:13Plus, this is a western-supplied system,
08:15so Ukraine has no control over how many guns it gets
08:18or the spare parts supply chain necessary to repair broken or damaged units.
08:23Fortunately, Kyiv has an alternative on the table,
08:26a domestically developed alternative that's been labelled the sniper rifle of artillery systems.
08:32But before we get to that, there's more where this came from,
08:35so if you're getting value from the military show, don't forget to subscribe.
08:39Introducing the 2S-22 Bodana, a 155mm .52 caliber,
08:46NATO-standard wheeled self-propelled howitzer designed and developed in Ukraine,
08:51boasting an effective range of 26 miles or 42 kilometers when using conventional shells
08:56and a staggering 37 miles or 60 kilometers with rocket-assisted projectiles.
09:01This modern artillery system was designed in the late 2010s
09:04and introduced into service with the Ukrainian military in 2022 when the war began.
09:10Back then, it was mounted onto a truck chassis, like the six-wheel drive KRAZ 6322 truck,
09:17and it proved to be a valuable asset during the early stages of the conflict.
09:20As time went by, however, Ukraine realised that it was able to produce large numbers of gun parts,
09:25like barrels and breaches, but didn't necessarily have enough spare trucks lying around to attach them to.
09:31What's more, as drones came to dominate the conflict,
09:34the disadvantages of self-propelled guns, SPGs, became more evident.
09:39They're bigger, bulkier, heavier and more expensive, for example,
09:42and they have a far harder time covering tough terrain
09:45or getting into the kinds of concealed shooting positions
09:47that Ukraine slowly shifted towards using as the years went by.
09:52SPGs are also trickier to maintain on the whole,
09:54and if one part breaks down, the whole system can quite literally get stuck in the mud,
09:59turning into a prime target for enemy drones to attack.
10:02Towed artillery, however, despite seeming almost obsolete in modern warfare,
10:07actually brings many distinctive benefits to the table.
10:10It's cheaper, simpler and stands a far better chance
10:13of surviving in the drone-infested frontline kill zones of Ukraine,
10:16with one Ukrainian artillery commander quite conclusively stating,
10:20I don't want an SPG, it's bulky, very hard to camouflage,
10:25and I feel sorry for my people.
10:26It's extremely hard to work with these systems.
10:29Towed guns, meanwhile, are much more comfortable to work with.
10:32With that in mind, Ukraine came up with a simple yet innovative idea.
10:37Why not transform the Bodana from a self-propelled system into a towed one?
10:41All they had to do was put the gun onto carriages,
10:44like those of the old Soviet-era 2A36 Gyrozynt B guns,
10:48to create something new, exciting and invaluable to the frontline effort.
10:53The 2P22 Bodana BG.
10:56On the surface, it looked like a step backwards.
10:59Ukraine had taken away the truck chassis,
11:01which provided its own advantages in terms of speed, crew protection and convenience.
11:06But it had actually gained something more important.
11:09They had turned the Bodana into a far smaller target,
11:12one that was easier to move around and harder for the Russians to track.
11:15The most important piece of the puzzle, the gun itself, was still there.
11:19Ukraine had simply changed the platform used to get it from point A to point B,
11:24and in doing so, it had given itself an incredibly powerful gift.
11:27An artillery gun with remarkable accuracy,
11:30capable of reliably striking targets from a couple of dozen miles away,
11:33and giving the enemy almost no opportunity to escape.
11:37A recent battlefield report by Meza,
11:39highlights just how well this weapon works in real-world conditions.
11:43An artillery drone crew was in the middle of an interview with Meza reporters,
11:47when one of their drones suddenly spotted a group of three Russian soldiers,
11:50making their way through the forest in the direction of Ukrainian positions.
11:53The UAV feed was immediately projected onto displays across the crew's command centre,
11:58and within minutes, a nearby Bodana BG was getting ready to fire.
12:02The Russians had just enough time to flee into an abandoned dugout,
12:06but only six minutes after being seen,
12:08they heard the first artillery shell explode just 70 metres from their location.
12:12The Ukrainian crew adjusted the gun's trajectory and fired again.
12:16This time, the shot is directly on target, landing on the roof of the dugout.
12:21A couple more shells follow, and within minutes, the Russian's position is no more.
12:25At least one lifeless body is caught on camera as a surveillance drone flies in to assess the damage.
12:30This is what the Bodana BG does, day in and day out.
12:35As one commander notes,
12:37the gun is a sniper rifle, its accuracy is very good, but for this result, people have to work hard.
12:43He explains that the effectiveness of the BG depends on multiple crews gathering and sharing data,
12:49including precise real-time coordinates of enemy positions, weather data and more.
12:54Everything has to be controlled and calculated to perfection to ensure maximum damage.
13:00Fortunately, Ukraine's crews have years of experience in this sort of thing.
13:04They very rarely miss a beat, working around the clock to track enemy movements,
13:08position their guns in the perfect places and make every shot count.
13:11And it's only because of this that Ukraine's new strategy works so well.
13:16It's because so many people work so hard to make it happen,
13:19so that Ukrainian defenders no longer need to fire 100 shells into the air
13:23or move multiple guns into dangerous frontline locations to fend off their enemies' attacks.
13:28All they really need is a small quantity of highly accurate guns using perfectly precise data
13:34to fire incredibly accurate shots before the enemy even understands what's happening.
13:38And the work doesn't end there.
13:40Ukrainian engineers have also taken troop feedback on board
13:44to steadily improve the Bodana's design as time has gone by.
13:48Commander Korinenko explains, for example, that earlier variants had some problems with loading and primers,
13:54but now the main problems have been solved.
13:55He adds that newer Bodana guns are also equipped with their own ballistic radar systems,
14:00which are able to measure the speed at which projectiles fly,
14:03which is incredibly useful when it comes to aiming the gun
14:06and reducing waste when working with different types of ammunition.
14:09In short, it makes the Bodana even more efficient,
14:12as crews can lock onto their targets more quickly,
14:15giving them even less time to react as explosive shells rain down upon them.
14:19The towed Bodana BG is remarkably resilient too.
14:23Many artillery systems aren't exactly built to withstand too much damage.
14:28The French Caesar, for example,
14:29despite being an excellent example of a wheeled self-propelled artillery system,
14:33can quite easily be wiped off the map with a clean hit or an FPV drone strike.
14:38Colonel Victor Dohal, commander of the 147th Separate Artillery Brigade,
14:43told Meza that one of the Bodana BGs his crew was working with managed to withstand three separate drone strikes
14:49and was repaired and ready to fire again only two days later,
14:52adding that this sort of thing simply wouldn't be possible when working with a Caesar or similar system.
14:57Plus, since Ukraine designed and manufactures the Bodana domestically,
15:02it doesn't need to wait for spare parts to arrive from the west
15:04or teach crews complicated maintenance procedures.
15:07It can easily roll out new parts as and when they're required
15:10and get broken Bodanas back into the battlefield with only the most minor of delays.
15:15What's more, since the Bodana BG is so much smaller and more maneuverable than the self-propelled version,
15:21it's far easier to conceal, bury and cover up with camouflage,
15:25meaning that it's much less likely to suffer damage in the first place.
15:28Indeed, in many ways, it seems like the ideal weapon for this stage of the war,
15:32an artillery system that's powerful, precise and cost-effective,
15:36and Ukraine is quite clearly using it to great effect,
15:39blowing up Russian troop positions and assets from hidden locations,
15:43using minimal munitions to deal maximum damage.
15:45But, as always, Ukraine is already thinking several steps ahead
15:49and planning the next steps of its artillery evolution.
15:53Kornienko notes that another new system, the MARTA,
15:56is already being worked on and will soon roll out,
15:59not to replace the Bodana BG but to supplement it.
16:02Part of the same 155mm artillery family,
16:06the MARTA will have a shorter .39 caliber barrel
16:08as opposed to the .52 caliber Bodana barrel
16:11and will also be significantly lighter,
16:13making it even easier to transport, bury and camouflage,
16:17which Kornienko concludes is definitely better for the way the war is fought today.
16:21MARTA seems set to build on the success of the Bodana BG.
16:25While it has some caveats, like a shorter firing range,
16:28it's going to be even harder for Russia to hunt down these smaller systems,
16:31which will also be able to operate like secret snipers,
16:34hiding out in hidden kaponiers
16:36and firing explosive shells at their enemies from afar.
16:39And Russia will continue to have no proven way to cope
16:42with Ukraine's groundbreaking combination of clearing drone strikes
16:45and high-precision artillery fire.
16:48Once again, Ukraine has rewritten the rules of warfare.
16:51Artillery isn't obsolete, as many believed.
16:54It simply evolved and continues to be just as valuable and influential as ever,
16:58thanks to Ukrainian innovation and adaptability.
17:00Now, you can learn more about Ukraine's military masterstrokes in this video,
17:05which covers the country's Operation Vivaldi,
17:07a multi-stage counter-offensive effort in northern Donetsk,
17:11or this video, which details how Ukrainian naval drones have nullified the Russian Navy.
17:16And finally, subscribe to the channel to ensure you don't miss out on more great content like this,
17:21and consider becoming a member for full access to all of our reports.