Artillery: October 20, 1999

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Turkey has developed a new self-propelled 155mm howitzer for its Army, and plans to begin replacing older towed guns in a year or two. The Turks originally acquired large numbers of ex-US M44 and M52 self-propelled howitzers, and upgraded some of them a few years ago, but these are now at the end of their service lives and upgrade paths. The new SP2000 mounts a 155mm howitzer (either 39 or 52 calibers long). It is expected that these will go to the first-rank units, which will then send their older M52/44 SP howitzers down to infantry divisions now using towed artillery.--Stephen V Cole