Pakistan Seeking to Boost Artillery

At IDEAS 2016 in Karachi this week, Denel Land Systems is promoting the T5-52 self-propelled howitzer, mounting the 155mm G5 ordnance on a Tatra 8×8 T815-7 truck.

A company statement earlier this year that the system was being tested in a foreign country led to speculation that it was Pakistan: the presence of the T5-52 in Karachi lends credibility to that surmise.

Weighing 28t, with a road range of 600km and a speed of 85km/h, The T5-52 has a range of over 42km, which can be extended to almost 54km with velocity-enhanced ammunition. It can achieve a five-round time-on-target fire mission to ranges of 13-30km, adding great flexibility to the indirect fire role.

Mönch understands that Pakistan is seeking to boost its artillery capability in response to the Indian order for 145 M777 155mm howitzers from BAE Systems earlier in 2016. Its most recent order was several years ago for 115 M109A2s. It is probably not entirely coincidental that a NORA B-52 system from Vojnotehnički Institut in Serbia is also on display at IDEAS 2016.