The Front "lit up" the D-74 systems: As in the army of the Russian Federation rare howitzers appeared
Previously, these systems were considered written off, but their restoration indicates either supply from abroad or the use of residues from Russian warehouses. For their part, the Defense Express analyst noted that the Russians for the D-74 guns use North Korean Copies of the AF-472 shells. These ammunition, which are probably not produced in the Russian Federation, create muzzle pressure up to 885 m/s, and everyone's weight is 25 kg.
Thus, the Russian army was likely to receive artillery systems from the DPRK. In addition, distinctive features, such as wheel design, confirm this assumption. Earlier it was believed that all D-74 was removed from weapons and sold for export until the early 1980s, including supplies to North Korea.
On this basis, it is suggested that Russia could receive these systems as military assistance from the DPRK to compensate for the losses of artillery, especially given that earlier the 238th artillery brigade used modern towing howling "MSTA-B". On the other hand, there is a version that D-74 was taken from old storage warehouses in Russia, where they could have been in Soviet times in a "unaccounted" state.
You can also not exclude the option of supplying Chinese copies of the D-74 guns known under the designation of Type-59, which were produced by China in the past. Experts believe that the return of the D-74 artsystems is associated with the losses of Russian artillery in Ukraine. Hundreds of guns were estimated were destroyed by the Armed Forces counter -battery fire. Therefore, in a resource deficit, Russia actively modernizes old systems, such as D-74, to maintain combat capability.