A video posted on Facebook by the press service of the 14th Separate Regiment of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces shows how its drones identified and directed a HIMARS strike on three North Korean M1989 Koksan 170mm self-propelled guns (SPG) partially hidden in a forested area in Russia’s Kursk region.
According to the video and the regiment’s report it spotted the camouflaged artillery systems in an unidentified wooded area in Russia’s Kursk region. It was also noted that the guns had been fitted with slat armor – so called “cope cages” – designed to mitigate the effect of first-person view (FPV) kamikaze drones.
The drone teams then called in a strike by an M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) or M270 multiple launch rocket system (MLRS) employing a mix of high-explosive and cluster munition warheads.
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While the outcome of the attack remains unconfirmed the images shown on the video suggest that at the very least the Koksans were likely to have been seriously damaged and its personnel killed or wounded as the system does not include armored crew protection.
The movement of trains transporting M1989s through Russia was recorded during November and December as North Korea supplied Russia with around 120 of its Koksan M1989 artillery systems to compensate for the severe losses Moscow has suffered during the war its 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine started.
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The M1989 170mm gun offers a claimed maximum firing range of up to 40 kilometers (25 miles) using standard ammunition.
In addition to the guns military analysts reported at the end of 2024 that North Korean supplied artillery ammunition made up more than 50%, and in some areas more than 70%, of stocks being used by Russian forces in eastern Ukraine.
Ukraine’s Atesh partisan movement reported in October that Russian troops were being trained on the Koksan at the Higher Artillery Command School (VAKU) in Saratov, although the guns have been seen being operated by both Russian and North Korean personnel.
On Feb. 18, Ukraine’s Khortytsia operational-strategic group (OSUV reported that a Koksan SPG was destroyed after being struck by a bomber drone from the 412th “Nemesis” Separate Unmanned Systems Brigade in Ukraine’s Luhansk region.
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