Elbit Systems / ATHOS 

I was Gunner in a M-109 in Swiss Army, and we are definitely manually faster then that, much faster!

What’s the point of an automated system when you still have the same number of people operating it?

I can already foresee so many components are going to wear out quick and will require a crap ton of maintenance. Look at all the parts shaking and vibrating immediately after firing the gun.

What's autonomous with a system that requires a guy dropping the propellant charges in?

as an ex artilleryman to many moving parts what can go wrong will go wrong

It looks like a mess of wiring harnesses waiting to fail at the worst possible time

Thank you elbit for arming us. Greetings from the Philippines.

Elbit also makes the worlds most advanced fighter pilot helmets, you eyeball a target, it get hit, etc..The US uses in joint effort those Helmets as well.

this is the artillery equivalent of wearing gamer glasses

Operator: "Holly shit, sand got into the insert primer button. This gun can no longer fire."

It's an interesting concept, but it still requires a crew to load propellant manually, presumably as a safety feature to prevent the gun from going berzerk if it suffers a technical malfunction or its gunnery systems are hijacked. The integrated Ammo Crane is exceptional, though. I'm sure gunners will appreciate the choice of loading using a mechanized arm over breaking their backs.

I'm honestly more shocked at a MIC RU-vid video that has comments turned on than any innovation shown here.

I was an Artilleryman in the Marines. We were firing the WWII 105mm and the M198 155mm. While I appreciate the technology on this hardware, I agree with some of the posts on this forum. Too many parts that can go wrong and it looks like an Arty Mech's nightmare..

Like from Azerbaijan !!!

I was looking forward to no humans at all. I guess judgement day will have to wait.

For one bizarre moment, I thought this was going to be a kickstarter campaign

3 rounds in ten seconds, plus it takes more seconds to put another 3 rounds in the ammo rack. I understand that this would make it more easier and would make it require less crew, but it would come at a price regarding overall effectiveness. A standard crew on a standard 155 can load faster and can load constantly. In the battlefield every second counts and even just one second difference can save your life. I don't know the specifics of this thing, but looking at it, it looks like if one system breaks, it compromises the entire gun. A well trained crew could even fire more rounds than an autoloading system plus much more reliable I'm no expert, but. If you're willing to listen to ideas/advice, it's that, don't overthink and overcomplicate things, you'll only end up creating more problems and using a lot more of money and probably end up just scrapping it. Just keep things simple. Simple but effective

Too complicated and expensive for a simple howitzer. Take that gun on an armored and much more mobile chassis and it will make more sense.

My only question really is if it is able to be completed manually operated still. Seems like a lot of parts to possibly wear or malfunction. I see a lot of vibration and wiggly bits

my back feels better for the boys sending it

It looks waaay too much complicated. These moving parts and automatic systems will be a constant headache for a crew to repair

Congratulations #Elbit Elbit won 400 Athos howitzers order for India Army .

A lot of people seem to be shitting on this system but it does have potential. Although it cannot fire as fast as a crew, what happens when the crew is doing this all day? They get slower and may make mistakes. Although machines do eventually fail, they will keep running at a more consistent rate for prolonged fire. You can also reduce the crew by a lot. Although It doesn't say the full crew size, a crew of 3 can come close to the volume of fire a 8 man crew can do. Although the system will be more expensive, this will reduce overall cost by reducing crew size. Machines are stronger then men. If we want to go up to something like 170, 205, 225mm or somewhere in that range, a human loader will be very impractical. Although we will still need to bring the ammo to the gun, the gun can handle the rest Another issue brought up is durability. Yeah, it does not look like a super durable system, but people are not very durable either. Anything that would stop this machine from working would stop a human from being able to work or even live. Although it is true that this thing is massive and cannot run or hide like people. Another thing to note is that artillery is not intended to be used on the front lines, so it will not be exposed to anything that you wouldn't expose an M777 or an M109. Last issue I want to address, is complexity and reliability. It is true, it is way more complex than a typical howitzer. And it may fail. But these are issues that will be ironed out in future versions. Many current technologies were clumsy, too expensive, or not beneficial enough when they first came out. The M16 had a lot of problems but troops today swear by it, computers used to be massive and expensive and now most people has on in their pockets, early auto-rifles were heavy, overly complex, fragile, and now are standard even with unconventional forces. Hell, early autoloaders used on T-34s and BMP-1s were overly complex and they are now standard on Russian tanks and used in a number of other tanks such as Leclerc and K2 Black Panther. Give it time, and many of these issues will be ironed out.

Manual loading would kill this thing, if the mission is 4 shells.

As someone who worked on Elbit IBM mainframe clones I was just waiting for an armed and fused shell to be rammed into a closed breech block ensuing fun, games and fireworks for all concerned :)

Thanks again to Israel for supporting India and transfer of technology by elbit system. thanks

Nothing will replace good 'ol towed 155 howitzers (all manual that is). This one seems too clunky, and too many "automated" parts. Seems too vulnerable to failing parts.

The question is: will it be able to operate in manual if the auto reloading system fail?. Talking about robustness.

I was a military Engineer, not a grunt or an Artilleryman so take my comment for what it's worth: I've watched videos of the M198 and the M777 being fired. It seems to me that the older, un-automated system would be able to keep up a greater and maintained barrage as opposed to everything coming to a halt as the three round magazine is reloaded in the ATHOS. I'd be interested in hearing what an Artilleryman who has crewed both the M198 and M777 has to say.

India is considering this Gun for purchase. How helpful will it be in rapid movement across deserts and in the Himalayas? Will the Gun’s complexity be hindrance in fine sand or snow capped topography?

Скорострельность как в 16веке, зато расчет не устает))) 👍👍👍👏👏👏

noice! i didnt know that it was such a process, in the movies, it make it look like FIRE, NEW SHELL, FIRE AGAIN but its more complicated then i though, plus this is a heavy round

Advanced technology like the Japanese robots from the 70's, only there the automation was complete and here you still need to help the machine! :)

most of you who are saying this has too many moving parts or isnt as fast as Xyz really need to step back a few as this isnt new and its going to be the norm very soon. this sort of equipment is getting better every year in both efficiency and durability, also cheaper be that through less men needed to run it or the parts being less expensive to fabricate because the tooling becomes more common.

What is that white thing they put in the barrel after loading the round

Why is it that none of the howitzers around have automated propellant loading? Except for the Archer system.

Still have to have the human component so it isn't totally 100% autonomous. My question is, does the autonomous system itself have a way to deal with various types of fuses such as timed fuses? Or is that a human component thing?

Love isreal brother...from india.....😇😇😇😇congo to sir....benjamin for again president..

Just wondering... I know it's light... but why the propellant is still loaded manually?

Can it shoot further than the South Africa's G6? 73kms or just over 45 miles..? 155mm howitzer that can fire 4 rounds a minute and is very mobile...

How will this work in bad weather conditions. Rain, snow, sand storms?

Even after 5 years in Artillery Cadets & becoming my Regiment's CWO, I still feel artillery is a dying breed and will likely be phased out by precision guided airstrikes.

thank you for your service all of you

It seems to be too complicated, vulnerable & fancy. I doubt it's dependability in war chaos.

I love it when 90% of the comments act more professional then the designers of ATHOS.

I need one of these! Still needs a 30 round magazine!

Wow those are the biggest bullets I have ever seen :)

Имейте в виду , что данная Гаубица отрабатывает по целям, находясь в глубоком тылу, поэтому столь размеренная механическая загрузка тяжелой группы снарядов актуальна для данной модели, в работе с несколькими парами с поочерёдным залпом.

Aren't you supposed to swab the breach between rounds?

I was in artillery 9 years (USSR and Ukraine). The system is amazing. Why? It's all about details that non-professionals are unlikely to see. First of all, from H&S point of view. Although of course Hollywood has already come up with a better solution )))

Why not try make a buffer feed munitions,? it'll reduces cycle time for reloding. And how about automatic propelant reloading too,? Where the propellant and munitions can be loaded in one robot with separated feed placement.

Why not make a tracked chassis for this, like the 2S7 Pion

Отлично ! Надо создавать максимально сложные образцы техники )

Fantastic. The first hit in proximity will break all this stuff including the plastic joystick and the robot arm. :)

Why not Full Automatic Loader???

Everyone keeps mentioning the moving parts of the machine. I'm sure they have considered that weakness. There's a lot of factors involved in choosing a weapons system. Unless your the engineer or have had experience with it, I wouldn't criticize it so harshly for its reliability. There's a lot of modern machinery that appear very complex but are still used. Take a look at a modern car engine.

AS90 can do 3 rounds in under 10 seconds. This is to reliant on automatic systems. What's the manual option, if any.

So what happens when it runs out of gas? Or one of the hydraulic lines breaks?

so, Elbit just been caught spying on the Aussies. Naughty naughty

HOW SILLY YOU STILL HAVE TO LOAD THE CHARGE BY HAND

First- class quality armaments from Israel!!!

When the loading system is more advanced than the gun

nice,but against who you wannt to use it?

How will this fair getting caked with mud, rain, snow, hours of continuous use? One little pin breaks and the whole thing is broke?

is this for the 155 round only, or possible for 215 round system too?

Separated shells and propellant charges? Not a combined shells with propellant-filled casings? Have they forgotten an all analog simplified servo-mechanized mechanically automated loading-reloading/casing ejection systems powered not only by electricity but by compressed air powered all mechanical systems just in case an EMP blast renders all electrical and electronics useless?

Looks good... but when the automatic loading system is broken/jammed, the gun couldn't be fired... or at least it looks like that it would be very hard to be loaded manually.

I guess the guy who simulates the automatic priming loader must be a robot

I would hate to see this thing be a replacement, its so much more fun to do it manually with your battle buddies, compete against other platoons and just simply find ways to make loading faster together.

Elbit is also specialist in the production of security fences right? I heard that they made those large walls/fences at the israeli-egyptian border.

Could I get one ATHOS towed automatic artillary, to shoot one house fly. I would be happy to get one for myself, because there is like hundreds of house flys everywhere.

are these guns accurate to 100 yards or 1/4 mile ?

How heavy is this thing?

So.. it's a Bofors knock-off but not as good?

Artillery has come a long way since the mid 19th Century.

How much u think every round cost ? 500$

I suppose that the parts that will need replaced or repaired often are cheaper than backs .

We have DRDO ATAGS bt I think ATHOS Howizers are more reliable and light weight. Btw love a lot from India 🇮🇳 to Israel🇮🇱. Our friendship is unbreakable.

Israeli ATHOS and Indian ATAGS gun. both are beast.

At what point is there automation, to focus not see?

Can you make me something to load my bong please.

Looks very much like our old Swedish Haubits 77.

Where archer fires 8-9 rounds a minute on 2 people. Same bore diameter.

Bravo Israel Iloveyou from Indonesia

For fights in mountains 2500 - 3500 m.🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱 heights. For India.

Капитанамана! Батарейканама кончилася! Пушкимана больше пух-пух не делать!

porque you tube no borra estos videos??

How about they demo it when its shitty weather conditions. Looking pretty ideal....

Wow!!...congrats for winning Indian Army artillery trials!!

...machine never gets tired...

I can see so much that can and will go wrong with system when deployed.

and yet they're still going to stick with the artillery piece that just needs 8 people

The Philippines has 12 units now being used by the PH Marines. 12 self-propelled guns are coming.

My next deer hunting gun right here.

The average dog is a nicer person than the average person

Two questions, have I: 1. Whose nephew got the contract to build that monstrosity for the military? 2. Who's that Bad Ass who doesn't even flinch from the concussion of the launched round?

In Russia, guns with a caliber of 152 mm and higher among others can use nuclear shells. For example, a 152-mm 3БВ3 nuclear shell has a power of 2.5 Kt. Even a 1947 D-20 cannon can use this shell .

I wonder how well that would work at -30 Celsius or lower?

We have machine guns but we don't have the artillery version yet? interesting.

Looks like it will fit in my backyard. I'll take one each.