Ukraine progressing in testing Dana-M2 self-propelled howitzer.

According to a tweet from Sam Cranny-Evans, the Ukrainian army is progressing in its trials of the Excalibur Army Dana-M2 self-propelled howitzer (SPH). A contract was placed for 26 howitzers in November 2020.
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Dana-M2  self-propelled howitzer. (Picture source: Army Recognition)

In October 2019, during the Arms and Security Defense Exhibition that was held in Ukraine, the Czech company Excalibur Army presented its Dana-M2, the latest upgraded version of the Dana, an 8x8 152mm self-propelled howitzer.

The Dana was developed in the late 1970s by ZTS to meet the operational requirements of the Czech Army for a highly mobile self-propelled artillery system. The Dana is based on automotive components of the Tatra 815 (8 × 8) truck with the driver's compartment at the front, a fully enclosed turret in the center, and the engine compartment at the rear. All three compartments are armored and provide protection against small arms fire and shell splinters.

The Dana-M2 has been modernized with a new crew cabin offering more protection and fitted with two large bulletproof windows at the front and one window on each side enhancing situational awareness. The howitzer is also equipped with a powerful Onboard Control System which contains subsystems of diagnostics, navigation, automatic gun aiming, computerized firing control elements, and a new ammunition selection system.

The newly implemented automatic guiding system allows fast and fully automatic weapon adjustment into the fire position. The turret is divided into two parts, with the gunner and loader operator on the left, while the ammunition handler is on the right and sets the fuzes of the projectiles manually. The Dana is fitted with a fully automatic system that loads the projectile and then the charge using an automatic rammer. The turret is armed with a 152mm cannon which has a maximum firing range of 20 km with extended ammunition type and 21.5 km with DN1CZ ammunition. Notice that Dana-M2 is so far available only in Russian 152mm caliber, not NATO 155mm.

Dana-M2 SPH during trials in Ukraine (Picture source: Defence of Ukraine/Twitter account of Sam Cranny)