This is the best light howitzer on earth and at the end of the day in terms of what russians generals fear, extremely capable lightweight howitzers that consistently get into position faster than heavier out of date russian ones that are being produced not just repaired and maintained in Ukraine… is really sobering news.
It also sucks for russia that these are perfect for pulling behind a humvee and Ukraine has piles of humvees at this point…
Between this and the Bohdana Ukraine has quickly become one of the most powerful artillery powers on earth.
edit example video of US soldiers “shooting and scooting” with the M119
https://www.dvidshub.net/video/960183/b-roll-us-paratroopers-fire-howitzers-during-african-lion-2025
example video of M119 being operated by US troops.
https://www.dvidshub.net/video/1002607/summit-strike-2026
another with Kenyan troops.
I own some shares of GB0002634946 . Has been a good investment so far. Bit wobbly green line, but seems to go up more than down.
105mm has limited range compared to 155mm so i don’t get how these fit in. it is well within drone kill zone
It is also smaller and thus easier to hide. If the drone can’t find it, it can’t destroy it. If the enemy is already close you don’t need range. So this fits a real niche.
Something to note here, contrary to russian howitzers which make a big ass flash when they fire, the L119/M119 has a flash hider on the barrel so even when firing at night there is almost no muzzle flash, especially when viewed from far away or above.
To say this increases survivability for artillery crews is an understatement, it completely changes the battlefield calculus. Comparatively worrying about raw distance to the front is a trivial concern to lighting your ass up at night everytime you fire or being limited to only firing during the day.
The L119 is not only superbly light, far lighter than almost any other howitzer on earth, it has been pressed into fighting where an incomprehensible amount of shells were fired through individual artillery pieces because of an intense push that defenders had to keep pushing back on over and over again to stop. This places the L119/M119 into an extremely unique category of being both an advanced lightweight version of a tool while also being just as durable if not more durable than heavier dinosaurs like Soviet D30s.
The L119 does not stop firing, not when it is raining, not when it is cold, not when it is windy… that is the difference with drones. The drones will eventually stop, whereas L119 artillery batteries can put out such a high volume of shells that people on the receiving end essentially are transported directly to hell.
That is the thing, most people who don’t understand war look at a small cannon like this and think it is less devastating than a bigger weapon, but the thing about a light cannon is you can get it where it needs to be fast, and you can fire it fast over and over and over again. Far faster than larger weapons can be fired…
All of this to say, the British understand how to make a light howitzer/cannon, which they better given their history…
A 105mm shell has over 2kg of explosive in it. A small FPV drone usually has less then 0.5kg of explosive. This means you can shell people in dug in positions or buildings and actually cause some damage. This is especially true since shells are cheaper then drones. The howitzer is also light, which means a lot of vehicles can easily move it around.
A 105mm shell flies 17km tops, while drone killzone extends 20-30km deep or more. 155mm can have that 40km range. Drones come in many sizes
The zone where FPV drones are being used is about 20-30km wide. However they are launched within that zone. Meaning the range of the cheap models is about that of a 105mm gun. The key here is that those are no longer the cheap drones ordered from Wish, but specialized to withstand jamming and the like. Therefore the cost per drone has gone up a lot. They are still cheap enough to be extremely common, but a 105mm shell is very realistically a tenth of the price of a low end FPV drone. They also do not work all the time. There are reports from Ukraine, that an old Leopard1 tank withstood over 30 FPV hits and is still going for example.
Because raw distance is not the only factor that matters…?
edit also the only difference between a L119 and a high rate-of-fire Mach 2 guided munitions launcher is some R&D and a different munition loaded into the L119…
