WZ551 APCs that have been converted into self-propelled guns/howitzers inside a shed that is almost certainly at the Defence Engineering Industry Corporation near Bishoftu. (Ethiopian Federal Defence Forces)
The Ethiopian Federal Defence Forces (FDF) is modifying some of its armoured personnel carriers (APCs) into self-propelled artillery by fitting them with what were previously towed guns.
The FDF released a photograph on 7 August showing at least four Chinese-made WZ551 6×6 APCs mounted with 122 mm D-30 guns/howitzers. The ordnance was fitted so it could be operated by gunners standing in the troop compartment, with a new shield providing them with limited frontal protection.
The combination was almost certainly seen in television news coverage of a visit by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to the Defence Engineering Industry Corporation's complex near Bishoftu on 17 May, although it was obscured by a Type 89 tracked APC that had undergone a similar conversion. This or another Type 89 fitted with a 122 mm gun was almost certainly seen behind the modified WZ551s in the 7 August photograph.
It is unclear if the APCs have been fitted with lowerable stabilisers to prevent their suspension from being damaged by recoil.
Ethiopia is also working on a rapidly deployable 120 mm mortar that was seen in a photograph released by the FDF on 6 August. Fitted to the back of a pickup truck, this consists of what appeared to be a standard 2B11-pattern mortar with its base plate attached to a pneumatic system that lowers it from the vehicle's bed to the ground so it can be fired.
The FDF released the photograph to illustrate a visit by senior officers to the Ethiopian Defence University in Bishoftu, which it said is working on upgrading weapons.
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