Germany Delivers More Slovak Zuzana-2 Howitzers to Ukraine
Oh! Zuzana-2, Don't you cry for me.
Last week, Germany’s Ministry of Defense confirmed that three additional Slovak-made Zuzana-2 155mm wheeled self-propelled howitzers have been delivered to Ukraine.
It is another reminder that while the headlines may focus on tanks and jets, this war is often won by the relentless rhythm of artillery. These three new units bring the total number of Zuzana-2 systems sent to Ukraine to nine, with more still to come.
It is part of a broader, meticulously coordinated European effort that began back in 2022, when Germany, Denmark, and Norway signed a trilateral deal to finance the production of 16 Zuzana-2s specifically for Ukraine.
At the time, the Ukrainian military was screaming for more long-range artillery, and the European partners answered by leveraging Slovakia’s industrial capacity to fill the gap. The total package came to around €92 million, split between the three countries.
In simple terms, Slovakia builds the guns, and Germany, Denmark, and Norway pick up the tab. It is a smart model for collective defense procurement, especially when speed matters more than politics.
Rather than funnel weapons through endless national parliaments or bureaucratic roadblocks, the three nations sidestepped the usual mess and fast-tracked delivery. The first units arrived in early 2024, and now the momentum is accelerating.
Oh! Zuzana-2,
Don't you cry for me.
I come from Alabama (or Germany)
With my banjo on my knee.
(c.1847 - Stephen Foster.)
Why Germany Ended Up Delivering Slovak Howitzers
Germany’s role in this artillery pipeline might seem unusual at first glance. After all, why is Berlin delivering Slovak hardware? The answer lies in a key shift in European defense thinking.
Recognizing that simply sending old stockpiles to Ukraine was not enough, Germany and its partners realized that Ukraine needed fresh production, built for modern combat. Slovakia’s KONŠTRUKTA–Defense was ready to manufacture, and Berlin, Oslo, and Copenhagen were ready to fund it.
It also reflects Germany’s ongoing effort to step up its leadership role in European security after years of hesitancy. Supplying Ukraine with Slovak-made Zuzanas, rather than just German Panzerhaubitze 2000s, allowed Berlin to project influence, strengthen European defense industry ties, and rapidly arm Ukraine without depleting its own critical stocks.
The arrangement is simple but effective.
Slovakia builds them.
Germany delivers them.
Ukraine puts them to use hammering Russian positions.
Fun for the whole family!
What Makes the Zuzana-2 a Battlefield Asset
On paper, the 155mm Zuzana-2 is a howitzer. In practice, it is a highly mobile, autonomous artillery system designed for the demands of modern high-intensity warfare.
Mounted on a rugged Tatra 8x8 chassis, it can race across open fields or broken Ukrainian roads at speeds up to 100 kilometers per hour. Its range with standard rounds reaches 41 kilometers, but when using rocket-assisted projectiles, it can reach out to a staggering 50 kilometers.
It is a NATO-standard system from barrel to breech. The Zuzana-2 fires all NATO-standard 155mm shells, which means Ukrainian logistics officers do not have to lose sleep over ammunition compatibility.
What really sets the Zuzana-2 apart, though, is its automation. It boasts a fully automated loading system, dramatically reducing crew exposure during fire missions. It can fire multiple shells in quick succession, each programmed to hit the target at the same time, a technique known as MRSI, or Multiple Round Simultaneous Impact.
Imagine four shells landing within milliseconds of each other before the Russians can even duck. That is the kind of psychological and material shock Ukraine needs to keep Russian forces off balance.
The gun turret itself can rotate a full 360 degrees, and the weapon can fire from virtually any orientation without needing extensive repositioning. Inside, the crew of four is housed in fully NBC-protected armored cabins, insulated against small arms fire, artillery fragments, and even chemical attacks.
The Zuzana-2’s fire control system integrates inertial navigation, muzzle velocity radar, and thermal imaging, giving it both pinpoint accuracy and a real edge in counter-battery duels.
Simply put, this is not your Cold War-era towed artillery piece. It is a mobile, armored, autonomous war machine designed for modern maneuver warfare.
A Tactical Boost Ukraine Needed
The delivery of the Zuzana-2s could not have come at a more critical time. In this war, firepower alone does not win battles. Survivability, speed, and precision are what allow a force to not just survive, but dominate. Ukraine’s artillery corps, battered by two years of grinding combat, needs systems that can move, shoot, and stay alive in a battlespace saturated with drones, counter-battery radars, and electronic warfare.
That is exactly where the Zuzana-2 shines.
Traditional artillery doctrine, pound the enemy from static firebases, simply does not work in modern Ukraine. The moment you fire a shot, the clock starts ticking. Russian counter-battery radars and reconnaissance drones pick up the firing position in minutes. Without rapid relocation capability, any artillery unit is living on borrowed time.
The Zuzana-2’s fully motorized Tatra 8x8 chassis, combined with its automation and rapid-fire capabilities, changes the equation.
Ukrainian crews can unleash a devastating salvo, lay down precision MRSI strikes where multiple shells arrive simultaneously on target, then be barreling down the road to a new firing position before Russian drones can even relay the coordinates. It is the kind of "shoot and scoot" warfare that breaks the enemy’s kill chain before it is even built.
Equally important is the sheer endurance these systems offer. The Zuzana-2’s onboard storage holds 40 rounds ready to fire without resupply. That means sustained, high-tempo operations without the logistical tail of constant ammo convoys, a significant advantage when supply lines are contested and vulnerable to drone ambushes.
In places like the Kherson and Kupiansk sectors, where Ukraine is fighting a fast-moving battle across wide-open steppes and river valleys, mobility equals survival. Static artillery pieces die in place. Mobile guns kill and move on. The Zuzana-2 is built for exactly this kind of tempo: high operational rhythm, high survivability, and a steady rain of steel on Russian positions.
The system’s integrated fire control and inertial navigation allow it to fire effectively without elaborate setup or perfect terrain conditions. Crews can fire on the move if needed. They can quickly adjust to new coordinates and hit moving or time-sensitive targets like Russian convoys, makeshift headquarters, or armor buildup areas before they have time to disperse.
In short, the Zuzana-2s are not just more guns for Ukraine. They are smarter guns, faster guns, and deadlier guns. They give Ukraine’s artillery brigades what they have been screaming for since the first days of the war: the ability to strike hard, move fast, and make Russian generals afraid to mass their forces anywhere within 50 kilometers of the front.
The battlefield is changing under Russia’s feet, and machines like the Zuzana-2 are helping to accelerate that shift.
When I served in the Air Force, one of our favorite activities was wargaming out a scenario using modern equipment. What would a strike actually look like in practice?
Let’s game it out and imagine how Ukraine might use its Zuzanas…
Hypothetical
The battlefield has changed. Two of Ukraine’s new F-16s sit fueled and ready at Aviatorskoe-Dnipro air base, loaded with AGM-88 HARM missiles and precision JDAMs. Extremely close to the front, but the boss wants the Falcons on the offensive.
But there is a problem. Russian air defense batteries, particularly a cluster of S-300 (SA-10 Grumble) and Buk systems, have set up south of Melitopol, guarding a key logistics highway like a medieval castle wall.
For the F-16s to break through and strike supply depots deeper inside occupied territory, the radars have to go silent first.
Enter the Zuzana-2s.
At 0400, under the cover of pre-dawn mist, two Ukrainian artillery batteries roll into concealed firing positions inside a patchwork of forest and ruined farmland east of Zaporizhzhia.
Their mission: perform a "Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses" (SEAD) mission, using 155mm artillery to blind Russian radar before the jets even take off.
The target coordinates, exact Russian radar arrays and command vehicles, located by drone surveillance and signals intelligence intercepts, are fed into the Zuzana’s onboard fire control computers.
No map reading, no compass bearings. Just digital coordinates, confirmed and uploaded directly from overhead assets.
The order is given. The howitzers come alive.
Each Zuzana-2 launches a high-speed volley of cluster munitions designed for anti-radar and electronics destruction. Shells arc into the sky, guided precisely by the system’s inertial navigation package, and begin to rain down on the Russian air defense positions.
Radar trucks shatter. Antennas collapse in bursts of smoke and fire.
Within ninety seconds, the Russian radar net south of Melitopol is a smoking ruin. Survivors scramble but have no ability to track what is coming next.
Ten minutes later, the Ukrainian F-16s streak over the Dnipro River, climbing fast and banking south toward their target zone.
Without radar coverage, Russian SAM sites are blind.
The F-16s unleash their payloads, HARM missiles locking onto any surviving radar emissions, JDAMs targeting fuel convoys and ammunition dumps, and within an hour, an entire Russian logistics hub is burning from end to end.
Drone footage later shows columns of Russian supply trucks abandoned in panic, their drivers fleeing into nearby fields.
And it all started with a dozen rounds fired by the Zuzana-2s before the sun even came up.
Russia wants massed meat assaults and artillery duels. But this is what modern combined-arms warfare looks like: fast, brutal, surgical.
The Zuzana-2 was not just breaking Russian equipment that day, it was tearing open a corridor for airpower to drive a dagger into the enemy’s rear areas.
A few years ago, this kind of operation would have been the sole domain of the US, NATO allies, or Israel.
Today, it is Ukrainian pilots and Slovak artillery teaching the Russians about the future of warfare in real time.
Europe’s Quiet but Critical Success Story
Beyond the battlefield impact, the Zuzana-2 program is a good example of European military aid working exactly as intended. Germany, Denmark, and Norway managed to fund, produce, and deliver state-of-the-art artillery within two years, a speed previously unheard of in European defense procurement circles.
It shows that when European states align behind a clear objective and bypass the usual red tape, they can move fast, hit hard, and deliver meaningful results. It is the kind of model that will almost certainly be studied and replicated as Europe faces an increasingly hostile Russia on its borders and an increasingly bellicose US across the pond.
For Ukraine, it is another vital tool in the arsenal. For Europe, it is a reminder that unity, pragmatism, and urgency can change the course of a war.
And for Russia, every Zuzana-2 that rolls into action is a brutal message written in 155 mm: Europe still stands with Ukraine, and it’s not going anywhere.
Слава Україні! Crimea is Ukraine.
Interesting article. I had not thought of using tubed artillery as a means to suppress air defense. I wonder what percentage of Russian air defense is within range of 155mm rounds.
Thank you for informing us.
It does seem though that given how long the front is and how many troops and equipment the Russians have that the number of these artillery systems remains quite small. Why does it take so long to build them?