Senior Lieutenant Nguyen Van Son, Deputy Company Commander of the Command Company (Brigade 454) said: “The improved 105mm howitzer is heavy. Previously, every time we organized specialized training, we had to mobilize nearly a platoon of soldiers to carry the catapult and pull the howitzer to the battlefield, and at the end of the training session, we had to concentrate on bringing it back to the equipment storage house. This work took a lot of effort and time of the soldiers and was prone to safety incidents. This is the reason that urged me to research the initiative to manufacture the above equipment.”

Senior Lieutenant Nguyen Van Son introduced the initiative "Guidance device for improved 105mm howitzer".

The “Improved 105mm howitzer guidance device” consists of a pneumatic tire wheel and a bracket connected to the artillery leg. When moving the artillery, the gunners only need to connect the device to the position of 1/3 of the artillery leg from the bottom up, then fix it firmly. Instead of soldiers having to carry the leg as before, now the gunners only need to push the artillery to the battlefield. The initiative makes the process of moving the artillery to perform training, combat readiness, and exercises very convenient, easy, and safe. Not only is it used to move the artillery over short distances, but this device is also used by the unit to fix the artillery leg firmly during long-distance marches using specialized artillery pulling vehicles.

Lieutenant Colonel Pham Huy Le, Deputy Brigade Commander, Chief of Staff of Brigade 454 said: "The equipment is mainly made of iron and some common materials, so the cost is low. In addition, the equipment is compact, easy to operate, and can be used for a long time, so the Brigade commander has deployed mass production to provide to units for use, contributing to the convenient and quick training preparation process. The initiative "Guidance device for improved 105mm howitzers" won the Third Prize of the 22nd Youth Innovation Award in the Army".

Article and photos: NGUYEN TRUONG