15.05.2020.

Minister Vulin: The modernized "Gvozdika" will serve the Serbian Armed Forces for a long time

Today, the Minister of Defence, Aleksandar Vulin, attended the construction tests by firing from the modernized 122 mm "Gvozdika“ self-propelled howitzer at the "Pasuljanske livade" military complex.

Minister Vulin pointed out that "Gvozdika" is an artillery piece which, according to the plans of some former ministers and former ministries, was supposed to be put out of use in our armed forces.

- As you can see, this is an excellent artillery weapon, and with the modernization we are currently working on, which you could see on this functional model, "Gvozdika" shows that it is extremely usable, very useful and will continue to serve our armed forces for a long, long time - Minister Vulin emphasized.

According to him, its range has been increased, one of the most modern fire control systems has been installed, it is able to act from a position after only 20 seconds of reaching the appropriate position, and it needs the same amount of time to change position.

- It is much more comfortable for the crew itself, it has appropriate ballistic computers that are able to find and hit the target without calculating and direct work of the soldiers. This is a modern and contemporary asset that is incomparably cheaper than assets of the same quality bought from a foreign manufacturer - Minister Vulin pointed out.

Given that the modernization process is carried out by the Military Technical Institute, said the Minister of Defence, once again we show that our local know-how is very competitive, very adaptable and very useful for our military.

- Artillery in the Serbian Armed Forces is a very important branch and thanks to artillery the Serbian Armed Forces have gained supremacy in all wars, from the First World War until today. Of course, we will not lose that. With the modernization of our rocket artillery and weapons such as “Gvozdika", we will only strengthen our armed forces for far less funds than if we were to buy something new - concluded Minister Vulin.

According to the Assistant Minister for Material Resources Nenad Miloradović, PhD, by modernizing the Serbian Armed Forces’ weapons, the artillery "went ahead of all other military branches" due to the achievements of the defence industry. He also said that two of the three main artillery systems envisaged for future use in the Serbian Armed Forces are already being serially produced – the modernized "Oganj" and the 155mm "Nora" artillery system.

- What the Serbian Armed Forces asked for was the modernization of the "Gvozdika" self-propelled howitzer. Previously adopted subsystems were applied to other weapons that were modernized and the required results were achieved - a 38 percent increase in range with the use of two new types of artillery projectiles with increased range and increased target effectiveness. Systems have been installed that allow for a completely independent action with the help of a new fire control system - Miloradović pointed out.

According to him, the basis of modernization is a new navigation system that allows for a much higher speed of target setting - fire will be delivered in a shorter time and the trajectory manoeuvre will be performed, and accelerating the trajectory manoeuvre leads to simultaneous impact of several projectiles fired by one weapon.

- Today we tested firing with four projectiles, and we expect to achieve a simultaneous impact with six projectiles - which means that one weapon can replace the entire battery - said Miloradović and announced a very quick completion of this modernization process and initial equipping of the Serbian Army Forces’ units with this artillery system by the end of the year.

Lieutenant Colonel Predrag Puhača from the Development and Equipping Department pointed out that the Serbian Armed Forces had expressed the need to improve their artillery pieces and a decision was made to improve the 122 mm 2S1 "Gvozdika".

- Today we saw the "MRSI" firing technique which involves firing several shells from a gun, all of which hit the same target at the same time - said Lieutenant Colonel Puhača, adding that in modern weaponry, the rate of fire is expressed by number of rounds fired per unit of time.

First of all, as he pointed out, the firing speed is four times higher, target effectiveness is much higher, and the crew has much better conditions such as air conditioning, fire protection, as well as being able to drive normally at night.

- Now we have a weapon that is a counterpart to the weapons of the brigade artillery used in foreign armies, with minimal costs in relation to the price of a new weapon - Lieutenant Colonel Puhača emphasized.

Today's testing and firing were also attended by the Head of the Development and Equipping Department of the General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces, Brigadier General Milan Popović, and the Director of the Military Technical Institute, Colonel Bojan Pavković.