Russian drones vs Ukrainian Howitzers: The battle behind lines
In recent weeks, numerous recordings have surfaced showing Russian Vandal drones targeting Ukrainian artillery situated behind the front lines. The Ukrainians are responding with attacks on the highly valuable Russian 2A36 Hyacinth-B howitzers. We explain why these are significant and provide details of the attack.
The widespread availability of affordable FPV drones that operate using fibre optics – similar to many anti-tank guided missiles – has made the situation on the Ukrainian battlefield almost revert to conditions when these devices were introduced, at the end of 2022 and beginning of 2023.
It turns out that jammers are ineffective against fibre-optic-controlled drones, and the only defence options are reactive armour, specialised armour, or screens that prematurely detonate the drone's warhead, or shooting it down before it reaches the target. One method of protection is deploying nets around targets, but this is not a reliable approach.
There will always be an exposed fragment, as seen in the recording below, where drone pilots from the RUBpAK "Feniks" unit of the "Revenge" brigade of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine neutralised three Russian 2A36 Hyacinth-B howitzers by damaging their barrels.
Introduced into service in the USSR in the late 1970s, the towed 2A36 Hyacinth-B howitzers are Russian 152 mm systems with the longest barrel length of 49 calibres (about 8 metres). This translates into a range of approximately 28-31 kilometres for standard ammunition, or up to 40 kilometres for rounds with a rocket booster. This capability allows for artillery duels, for instance, with the Polish Krab or the German PzH 2000.
For comparison, much more common systems with shorter barrels, like the D-20 or 2S3 Akatsiya, have a range of around 18 kilometres or 24 kilometres for the less common rocket-assisted shells.
The Russians developed the 2A36 Hyacinth-B howitzers and the self-propelled variant 2S5 Hyacinth-S as counter-battery weapons intended to combat conventional NATO artillery of calibre 155 mm, based on guns with a length of 39 calibres.
Hyacinths replaced M-46 130 mm guns and still today pose a formidable challenge for Ukrainian artillerymen. The rate of fire, according to Russian sources for the Hyacinth, is up to 6 rounds per minute. It is important to note that due to limited barrel production in Russia, every loss of a quality specimen is significant for them.
