Ukraine receives Romanian М1981 howitzers

16 May, 2023 Romanian 152mm M1981 howitzer in service with the Ukrainian Armed Forces, May 2023 Romania handed over to Ukraine an unnamed number of 152mm ?1981 howitzers of its own production. This was reported by the Ukraine Weapons Tracker analytical team.

The Romanian ?1981 152mm towed howitzers, which are a copy of the Soviet D-20 howitzers, were the first ever spotted in service with Ukrainian gunners. The transfer of these artillery systems to Ukraine by the Romanian side has not been previously reported. ?1981 is the key to Romanian field artillery. To date, 320 howitzers of this type are officially in service with the country.

Artillery systems are part of brigades' artillery battalions.

?1981

?1981 is a Romanian 152mm towed howitzer of the 1981 model. The artillery system was manufactured under license at the Romanian Resita plant. Romania acquired documentation for their production from China in late 1975.

The howitzer, weighing 5.7 tons, is equipped with a rifled barrel 34 calibers long. Its target range of fire reaches 17 kilometers, and its maximum range is 24 kilometers. The crew of the howitzer consists of eight people.

The ?1981 can use the entire standard nomenclature of Soviet 152mm artillery rounds for the D-20 howitzer. In 1990, a part of the howitzers was modernized by integrating pneumatic seating for projectiles. The seating was powered by a compressed air cylinder located on the protective shield on the right side to increase the rate of fire.

Thus, the rate of fire of the gun in a minute reached 8-10 rounds.

Modernized Romanian 152mm M1981 howitzer with pneumatic seating of projectile

A week earlier, Militarnyi reported on the appearance in the service of the Ukrainian military of the Romanian 122mm APR-40 multiple rocket launchers, which are a localized version of the Soviet BM-21 Grad MRL on the chassis of local production.