North Korea Transfers D-74 Guns to Russia

17 December, 2024 A Korean D-74 cannon with the Russian military in Ukraine. December 2024. Ukraine.

Source: RT North Korea has handed over D-74 artillery guns to the Russian military. Footage of these guns in Ukraine was shown by the RT.

In particular, they are being used in the Kurakhove direction as part of the 238th Russian Artillery Brigade. The Korean origin of this 122-mm cannon was revealed by wheels identical to those previously demonstrated with the D-74 to Kim Jong-un.

D-74 cannon in the DPRK.

Source: AFP Comparison of the wheels on the D-74 cannon in the DPRK and from the Russian RT video

The Russian invaders have been retrained to operate 122-mm D-74 guns instead of the 152-mm 2A65 Msta-B howitzers. Russian troops also have Korean OF-472 shells and charges (copies of Soviet ones).

Korean OF-472 shells and charges used by the Russian military in Ukraine with the D-74 gun. December, 2024.

Ukraine. Source: RT

The footage clearly shows the characteristic blue color, as well as the unpainted lead belt and centering depressions, which are typical of North Korean shells. As in the case of the 130-mm M-46 guns, the reason for the return of these artillery platforms to service was the supply of rare ammunition that is no longer produced in Russia.

During the Soviet era, a small number of D-74 guns were produced. They were mainly produced for the needs of allied countries, including locally under license. Between the 1960s and 1970s, almost all D-74s were removed from Soviet arsenals and transferred to the Middle East and Asia. In Europe, these guns were used to a limited extent by the Warsaw Pact countries, including Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, and the former German Democratic Republic.

However, those guns have been decommissioned.

Iraqi D-74.

Photo from open sources

D-74s were and still are actively used by the armies of North Korea, Vietnam, China and Algeria.