Quote:
Originally Posted by pmulcahy11b
I was shocked a bit when the supposedly obsolete and out of service M44T (a Turkish variant of the M44 SPH, supposedly taken out of Turkish Service in the 1970s) was spotted in use by Turkish forces in 2019 by a news crew filming the Turks wiping out a Kurdish position. I statted out on my Turkish Artillery page of what a modernized M44T might be like.
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It's a classic case of the Turks wanting M109s but not paying for them so they did the next best thing- re-engined and regunning their old SP howitzers. So a 39 cal tube, new turret elevation/traverse, going w/ a German diesel and new trannies, etc etc. After all that work I wonder if just buying M109A2/A3s from Sugar would have been cheaper but the concept dated back from the mid 80s, so.....
Right now the Turks are going full bore w/ their homegrown copy of the Korean K9 realizing that nowdays you need that longer barrel especially when nobody in the West seems to be interested in building ICM rounds any more.
Mad Mike