Trumpeter 00324 British 155mm AS-90 self-propelled howitzer

The AS-90 is a modern British self-propelled howitzer. The first prototypes of the vehicle were created in the early 1990s, and serial production continued in 1992-1995, ending with the production of 179 vehicles. AS-90 is engine driven Cummins VTA 903T-660 with a power of 660 hp. The vehicle is armed with a single 155 mm Royal Ordonance L31 cannon howitzer and a single 7.62 mm machine gun.

AS-90 was created to replace the M109 self-propelled howitzer from the United States. Originally, at the beginning of the 1980s, work was carried out on a new SP-70 self-propelled gun in several European countries in cooperation. However, in 1986, the cooperation was terminated and participants of the SP-70 program, including the United Kingdom, started working on their own. The fruit of these works is - in the case of the British army - precisely AS-90 . It is undoubtedly a modern weapon with decent parameters: it has a good rate of fire (up to 18 shots in 180 seconds) and an acceptable range of the shot: the classic missile has a range of about 25-26 km, and a gas generator up to 30 km. AS-90 it is exclusively owned by the British armed forces and has not been exported to other countries.