Russia receives a batch of Malva self-propelled guns

25 June, 2024 2S43 Malva wheeled artillery system. Russia. Photo credits: Russian media

The Russian military industry has delivered the second batch of Malva wheeled self-propelled guns to the Russian Armed Forces. Russian media reported on this. The Uraltransmash enterprise transferred an unspecified number of 2S43 Malva 152mm self-propelled artillery systems to the Russian Armed Forces within a government contract.

According to Russian officials, the deployment of the new artillery systems was urgent, but the pace of delivery remains relatively slow. The previous batch of vehicles was delivered eight months ago, last October. Thanks to the automobile chassis and simplified design of the artillery unit, the production of these systems should be easier and more massive than their tracked counterparts.

In addition, Malva has borrowed several off-the-shelf elements already mass-produced by the Russian defense industry. In particular, the self-propelled howitzer is equipped with the 2A64 gun used in the Msta-S self-propelled howitzers.

Malva on the battlefield

The first sighting of Malvas in the Russian army was recorded earlier this month when one of the vehicles was firing at the Kharkiv region from the territory of the Belgorod region. It was reported that the self-propelled gun belonged to the 9th Artillery Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces.

Photo credits: @OSINTua

The experience of using the 2S43 has revealed its low level of automation. The system has a primitive fire control system and requires manual feeding of ammunition to fire. According to the Russian military, the equipment has significantly limited horizontal guidance angles.

It also requires flat ground at the firing position because the platform cannot be leveled independently. In addition, the outdated artillery system with the 2A64 152mm gun has a short maximum range, which disadvantages it in counter-battery warfare against modern Western self-propelled artillery systems.

This April, the Ukrainian defense industry reached the production rate of 10 Bohdana self-propelled artillery systems per month and will continue to scale up production.