The Polish Ministry of National Defence has approved a contract to procure 48 more Krab self-propelled howitzers and 36 accompanying cars for its Army’s Regina fire modules. The defense contractor and steel mill Huta Stalowa Wola will deliver the howitzers and 36 accompanying vehicles between 2025 and 2027. The ministry’s Armaments Agency signed a contract worth zl3.81 Billion ( $797.09 Million ) with Huta Stalowa Wola in this regard. 48 self-propelled howitzers, 22 command vehicles, 12 ammunition support vehicles, and two mobile workshops for weapons repair are scheduled to be delivered between 2025 and 2027.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defence Mariusz Blaszczak confirmed this in the presence of President Andrzej Duda at the International Defence Industry Exhibition MSPO in Kielce. The Minister said: “The latest deal is the second contract while the first one was concluded in 2016. The Minister said: “It is important that we are consistently increasing the defence capabilities of the Republic of Poland by developing both the numerical strength of the Polish Army and equipping the Polish Army with modern equipment. This is the case with Krabs. This is the case with cannon-howitzers that proved themselves during the war.”
In 2016, the Polish military ordered 96 self-propelled howitzers from Huta Stalowa Wola. Each of the planned five regiments of Krabs will be equipped with 24 howitzers. In late May 2022, the Polish government donated 18 Krabs to Ukraine to help the Ukrainian military defend the nation against the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. It was subsequently revealed that the two governments had signed a contract under which Poland would sell Ukraine an additional 60 Krabs, in a deal worth US$700 million. With the deal, Ukraine became the first export customer for Polish Krabs. The agreement was the largest defence contract that Poland had made in the previous 20 years.
The AHS Krab (Crab) is a 155 mm NATO-compatible self-propelled tracked gun-howitzer designed in Poland by Huta Stalowa Wola (HSW), by combining the South Korean K9 Thunder chassis with a British BAE Systems AS-90M Braveheart turret with French Nexter Systems 52-calibre long gun and Polish WB Electronics’ “Topaz” artillery fire control system. As of 2016 full-rate production of 120 Krabs for Polish Army has started with deliveries to be completed by 2024. As of 2019, Huta Stalowa Wola started using barrels of their own manufacture in successive production batches.