Compared to tracked vehicles, wheeled vehicles have the advantages of being cheaper to build and easier to maintain with greater mobility. Tire pressure can be regulated to allow good mobility off-road and there is power-assisted steering on the front four wheels. It lowers 3 hydraulic stabilizers into the ground before firing, and has a roof mounted crane to assist with ammunition loading.
The crew of the DANA consists of the driver (operates the hydraulic stabilizers) and commander sitting in the front cabin, the gunner (aims the gun and opens fire) and loader operator (selects the appropriate amount of powder charges) are on the left side of the turret, the ammo handler (sets the shells' primers) is on the right side of the turret.
Original Dana had manual fire control and automatic reloader. Latest version Dana M2 has also computerized automatic fire control, allowing reduction of crew to as few as only 2 persons.
Development
The DANA was designed in the late 1970s by Konštrukta Trenčín to provide the Czechoslovak People's Army with an indigenous self-propelled indirect fire support weapon without having to resort to purchasing the Soviet2S3 Akatsiya SPG. Design work was completed in 1976 and the DANA project was handed off to production at ZTS Dubnica nad Váhom. It was accepted into service in 1981, and by 1994 over 750 units had been built. The DANA was also exported to Poland and Libya.
Design
The DANA was a significant departure from contemporary self-propelled guns as it used a wheeled chassis and featured an innovative automated loading system which was the first of its kind at the time of its introduction to service. The vehicle has a driving cabin at the front, an open-topped fighting compartment at mid-length and the engine compartment in the rear. The front crew cabin seats both the driver/mechanic and vehicle commander. The armoured turret is installed on a traversable mount adapted to the Tatra 815 wheeled chassis (8x8) and is divided into two halves, divided by the howitzer's recoil mechanism and a pathway for the reciprocating action during firing. The left half of the turret is occupied by the gunner and first loader and houses the various fire control optics, electro-mechanical gun laying controls, the automatic propellant charge feeding device, and an auxiliary ammunition magazine. The right side of the turret contains a mechanized projectile delivery system which is operated by a second loader at this position.
The DANA's primary weapon is a 152 mm howitzer with a monolithic barrel (with a fixed rifling pitch) equipped with one expansion chamber. The howitzer has a semi-automatic, vertically-sliding-wedge-type breech which opens to the left side. The recoil assembly consists of a hydraulic buffer, two pneumatic return cylinders and a controlling plunger which governs the displacement of the buffering system. The gun laying is carried out by an electro-hydraulic drive system or an emergency manual control.
DANA's unique feature is that its autoloader is able to load a shell and a cartridge in any elevation of the barrel.
As there is no gyroscopic or similar system for independent, automated and autonomous gun laying in the DANA, the gunner of howitzer uses a ZZ-73 panoramic telescope with a PG1-M-D collimator for indirect gun laying. This sight has a horizontal scale used to set the appropriate horizontal laying via aiming at reference points. This means that the DANA is not an autonomous system there needs to be an additional device to assist in gun laying (in fact, the firing positions of such artillery systems are usually prepared before the guns are positioned there). For direct fire engagements, the gunner uses an OP5-38-D telescopic sight.
Ammunition
As of 2014, there are three main shell types used by Czech Army:
152-EOF, which means "high-explosive" with a maximum range of 18 kilometres (11 mi)
152-EOFd, which means "high-explosive long-range" with a maximum range of 20 kilometres (12 mi)
152-EPrSv, which means "high-explosive anti-tank" used for direct-fire at armored targets
General characteristics
Length: 10.5 m (34 ft)
Width: 2.8 m (9 ft)
Height: 2.6 m (8.53 ft)
Weight: 23,000 kg (50,706 lbs)
Performance:
Maximum Road Speed: 80 km/h (50 mph)
Range: 600 km (373 mi)
Rate of Fire: 3 rpm for 30 minutes
Maximum Gun Range: 28 km (17 mi)
Fording: 1.4 m (4.59 ft)
Vertical Obstacle: 1.5 m (5 ft)
Trench: 1.4 m (4.59 ft)
Crew: 4 to 5
Armament:
Primary: 152 mm gun-howitzer, length: 5,580 mm (37 calibers)
^Cooper, Tom; Grandolini, Albert; Delalande, Arnaud (2016). Libyan Air Wars, Part 2: 1985-1986. Helion & Company Publishing. p. 13. ISBN978-1-910294-53-6.
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