‘This Tears Barrels Apart’: Russian Military May Lose Their Artillery
- 16.12.2023, 14:35
The insidious machinations of a close ally?
The barrels of the Russian howitzers at the front began to burst more often. The reason for this may be the deterioration of the weapons of the Russian Armed Forces, and the characteristics of North Korean shells. Defense Express writes about this.
According to analysts, recently the occupiers have increasingly begun to complain that the shells received by Russia from the DPRK are damaging their artillery — they are tearing apart the barrels of self-propelled guns and howitzers.
Prior to this, there was already information that these ammunition exhibited abnormal expansion and had a manufacturing defect — five selected charges with the same markings contained different gunpowder, had different weights, a seal failure and the absence of a defroster.
“The reasons for the rupture of a projectile in the barrel can be as follows: insufficient strength of the walls or bottom of the projectile body, insufficient obturation of powder gases in the bottom of the projectile, unsatisfactory quality of the explosive in the projectile, metal defects, lack of a detonator. And opposite each of these points in relation to shells from the DPRK, it is quite possible to put a check. But we must also add barrel wear to this,” Defense Express analysts note.
They add that information about barrel explosions in the Russian army had previously been recorded, but at that time Russia had not yet received ammunition from North Korea. The reason for this was the high wear of the barrels, which leads to the appearance of defects in the barrel bore, which also cause the projectile to rupture in the barrel.
“But rather, shells from the DPRK have become just an element of a systematic global problem, which increases the chances of self-destruction of Russian artillery. At the same time, the enemy has no way out of this situation, because the more wear on the barrel, the less accuracy, which means the need to fire more shots, that is, leads to even more wear. And this is compounded by the additional scattering of shells from the DPRK, and the circle of problems closes once again,” analysts note.
According to their information, the enemy finds itself in a stalemate, since the Russian Federation cannot solve this problem, because it cannot produce the required number of new artillery systems from scratch.
According to South Korean intelligence data on November 1, the Russian Armed Forces received a batch of artillery shells from North Korea. It was also reported that North Korean advisers arrived in Russia to provide advice on the use of ammunition.