In a huge military parade to mark the 27th anniversary of independence, Ukrainian troops demonstrated off the newest artillery and missile systems at the streets of Kyiv on 24 August.

Some 250 units of military equipment were showcased during the event, some 4,500 military personnel took part in the parade.

Units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the National Guard, the State Border Guard Service, the Security Service of Ukraine and other formations marched along Kyiv’s major thoroughfare, Khreshchatyk Street.

During the parade on Independence Day, the new An-178 transport aircraft publicly presented for the first time. Also, the demonstrated new models of weapons and military equipment, created by the national defense industry.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine has paraded new artillery, reconnaissance and missile systems.

During parade was unveiled for the first time the new 2S22 Bogdana 155mm advanced wheeled self-propelled howitzer. The new self-propelled artillery system was intended to destroy command posts, armoured and mechanised units, artillery batteries, communication posts and field fortifications.

The Bogdana self-propelled artillery system is mounted on a KrAZ 6×6 high-mobility truck chassis, manufactured by Ukrainian “AutoKrAZ” industrial company.

Also was displayed the new Obolon-A artillery fire control vehicle. The vehicles provide investigation and fire control of platoons, batteries, battalions both day and night, at any season, under any weather conditions.

The Verba is a rocket launcher system mounted on KrAZ 6×6 truck chassis and equipped with cabin for 5 people.

Fire control, aiming and even recharge is performed automatically from the cabin, without soldiers’ direct intervention. The weight of the new MLRS is nearly 20 tons, though “Verba” can increase the speed up to 85 km/h.

The “Verba”  MLRS developed by “Kharkiv Morozov Machine-Building Design Bureau”

The Polozhennya-2 is an automatic sound ranging system is intended to locate artillery batteries (guns) and mortars from the sound of gunfire and adjust friendly artillery fire from the sound of shell bursts.

The system provides: search, direction finding and position-finding of the acoustic signal sources in a given zone of surveillance; display of the surveillance results on the monitor of the system commander’s workstation; transmission of the surveillance information to higher authorities over radio and wired links.

The Vilha high-precision rockets system is developed by the Luch engineering bureau in cooperation with other Ukraine defence industrial companies. The rocket has a solid motor and can be armed with various types of warheads. It has so-called inertial correction system, which provides for angular stabilization of the round at the boost phase and flight.

The new system can deliver strikes as far as 20-120 km with a high degree of precision. The new rockets were launched from a 9K58 self-propelled launcher.

The 1L220UK is a mobile weapon locating system designed for providing protection of own troops and civilians by suppressing enemy artillery weapons and/or provide a warning for incoming fire. The weapon locating radar system incorporates the latest technologies and is effective in a counter-fire and ECM environment.

The Grim-2 has a range of 350km, but technically, a missile is able to fly up to 500km. The new system developed by Yuzhnoye Design Bureau in partnership with Pavlograd Chemical Plant and Kharkiv Morozov Machine-Building Design Bureau.