Poland's Krab Howitzer (the 155mm gun) Has Passed the Test!

The tests of 155mm gun, for the self-propelled howitzer Krab, produced by Stalowa Wola
metalworks...

hsw.pl

...ended with a complete success! Krabs will enter service in Wojsko Polskie next year.

Stalowa Wola Metalworks will also provide Polish army with Langusta rocket launchers
(first 18 launchers, on Jelcz truck chassis, will be delivered this year)...

youtu.be/-b6GzLnQwdM

youtu.be/IbotIa-g8fU

The specialists from Stalowa Wola are currently working on self-propelled 120mm mortar,
let's hope that its quality will be as high as that of Krabs and Langustas.

Wow, good on Poland for producing decent equipment! More of the same, please :)

Go Krabby! :)

My father will be so proud.

I don`t like those names: Crab, Crawfish. They are crustaceans which are easily dominated by other predators, e..g, octopus. I prefered the former name of Krab - Chrobry - Braveheart.

As an old artilleryman, I'm very impressed.

langusta !!! Eat yer heart out Katushya :)
My Hippie half says " Boo hiss"
My big kid half says " Woah,a fully traversable turret on a 155!!!! ,Cooooo el" :)

Let's hope they scrap that Anders wannabe tank, and make a real one. Something similar to what Goryl was to become, based on the Israeli Merkava IV.

Why inventing so much time, money and effort to build something similiar of what already exist and you could buy easily????

When you don't have a tradition in weaponry and no big R&D military industry it will be hard to build something which could be a match for other already successful systems from countries which much more expertise.

If I were Poland I would go shopping instead...

True but Poland always liked to build it's own, national pride I guess. But if it's not wealthy enough to afford it it shouldn't. Politics play a role in purchasing weapons, you buy so and so many tanks in a few years the two counties are enemies you can't order any more or get replacement parts. Just like Poland had with the Soviets after Solidarity came about.

Not at all. Why do you think France or Germany produce own weapons instead of buying American ? Because of pride ?

Because of this


Only Poland now can't

Because our domestic arms industry needs money, when you're a small country in a safe region you dont need an arms industry, when you're a medium sized country you do, also it pushes science forwards quite a bit.


We do.


Its enough for quite a few advanced projects, Krab is for example a world class howitzer all the way up there with its german counterpart, but cheaper.


And what if we ever enter a conflict with Germany or if Germany suffers an economic collapse, what about our science, manufacturing and arms sectors? There's a gazilion economic and political reasons to make your own stuff and polish arms industry is quite big, a few decades ago it handled much bigger projects.

Always the optimist, eh Sok? ;)

Well, that was just how I see it. Germany's arms industry is not so much about pride or security but a huge economical factor. We sell our stuff left and right....

If Poland wants to do the same, why not!

There is a lot of competition in selling arm you have to compete against U.S., England, French and Russia but Germans has advantage in chemistry and sold so much chemical to Libya that NATO is not willing to put troops until the stuff will be destroyed.

Really!

Interesting....

I know. My pops said Huta Stalowa Wola was the largest arms producer in Poland. So much went for export to Middle Eastern countries, tanks, armored personnel carriers, rocket systems, trucks. Iraq alone owes (or owed) Poland several billion dollars for it. For arms purchased in the 80s.

I have read about Kaddafi trying to normalize the situation with west and was buying chemicals from Germany and giving deals to english as to get good contacts going and the only reason I can think why they still dealing with the stalemate and not invaded yet, but they are trying to kill him with a 500 kg bomb.

No i just gave an example, sh*t happens and while Germany is a reliable arms dealer the most reliable arms dealer is always home.


Thats pretty much the same for Poland, we dont get so many sales but we do have enough, it boosts our science and technology and provides jobs, buying stuff is simply not worth it.

There are times when developing stuff would be too expensive for example tanks are an absurdly expensive doodad so its cheaper to buy used stuff off Germany, Jets are tricky too so it pays to buy from US but artillery, trucks, APCs, mortars, IFVs and much more we can handle and it pays to develop them.


We sold tanks, trucks, APCs, engineering vehicles, towed artillery, AA guns, radars, radios, minelying and medevec vehicles etc... Currently we have deals with Iraq, Egypt, some South American countries, Turkey and India.

Im intregued too, that sounds like the one example where tinfoil helmet boy may just be onto something......kinda like in that Mel Gibson movie.....

Can't afford what ? It's less expensive than foreign products + there are potential export orders.

I think it's not such a bad idea - it allows Poland to retain expertise in this area, and I've always thought Poland could do well in niche areas. It would be pointless for Poland to take part in the Eurofighter programme, but it's not such a bad deal to build smaller things that can be churned out in decent quantities.

For instance, look at Finland - Lapua ammunition is world class.

Luckily there was always plenty left that the communist regime was able to crush opponents, and would still be doing so if the Russians hadn't run out of money.

Artillery, combat rifles, engineering... lots of mainline areas.

Big arsed remote controlled sniper rifles aswell..........or was that a movie I saw? ;)

Dont know about remote controlled but we got a sniper rifle, remote control bots though we do have.

btw have you ever played Close Combat game series?

A very old pc version yes, The Battle of Arnhem one,my mate designed it :)
But Im guessing you dont mean that one :)

(Sok, If Im remembering right,the Rifle in the re make of Day of the jackel was a Polish model)

Yes these ones, they've been released all of them within last 3 years:) Improved yet still looking retro. Their newest overhaul is supposed to come out today.

They may have been old,but the maps were spot on. Thanks for the link :)
My only problem though was,when placing my 6 pounders in the their historical positions they were always destroyed imediatly .....ah well ;)