Azernews.Az

Italy is believed to have supplied Ukraine with another group of M109L self-propelled howitzers, adding to the roughly one hundred units Rome has already transferred since the start of the full-scale war. Although the Italian government has not formally announced any new deliveries, such public confirmation is not required, and analysts suggest a fresh batch has likely been dispatched, according to Ukrainian sources.

According to military observers, the howitzers sent most recently may have required extensive repairs after years in storage. “This is the first batch in a long time, so returning these systems to operational condition may not have been straightforward,” one expert noted.

Italy previously transferred a substantial number of M109L systems to Ukraine, beginning in 2022. By October of that year, several dozen had already been delivered, with the remainder arriving gradually throughout 2022 and 2023. As reported by A-129 Mangusta, by June 2023 the Ukrainian Defence Forces had received over one hundred of the systems from Italian stockpiles — suggesting that there has been a pause of around two and a half years before the latest shipment.

Questions now focus on the state of the newly supplied vehicles. It is likely that some have been refurbished for frontline use, while others could serve as donors for spare parts given the heavy maintenance needs of the platform.

Ukraine has so far lost 108 M109 systems of all variants (A3/A4/A5/A6/L), according to the Oryx analytical database. Despite these losses, the M109 remains an important part of Ukraine’s artillery capabilities, and all remaining units require continuous repair and technical support.

In a separate development, Defence Express earlier reported that Italy has revived a long-dormant project to develop a counterpart to Germany’s RCH-155 — the RH1-155/52 Hitfire — signalling renewed interest in strengthening its domestic artillery industry.