On Monday, March 2, 2026, PONAR Wadowice announced that, together with the Kramatorsk Heavy Machine Tool Building Plant (Ukrainian: Kramatorskyi Zavod Vazhkoho Verstatobuduvannia, KZVV), it had established the Polish-Ukrainian joint venture PK MIL, which will work to strengthen the European defense industry and support the priorities of the ReArm Europe initiative.
Image: PRONAR Wadowice
The company’s purpose is to produce 155 mm artillery systems in the NATO standard, including the Bohdana self-propelled howitzer and the Bohdana-BG towed howitzer. The project will be carried out on the basis of European production capacity and close industrial cooperation between Poland and Ukraine.
PK MIL is part of the PONAR Wadowice Group, and PONAR Wadowice holds a majority stake of 51% in the company. This provides PK MIL with a stable capital, technological, and organizational foundation, while enabling the effective use of the PONAR Wadowice Group’s expertise in implementing projects for the defense sector.
The establishment of PK MIL is a response to growing demand for proven, reliable, and scalable artillery systems. The new company will make it possible to increase production capacity, shorten supply chains, and coordinate activities in the defense sector more effectively.
PK MIL was established in October 2025 and is currently finalizing the formalities necessary to launch production in Poland. No exact production start date has been announced, but the process is underway, given the specific nature of the defense sector.
Bohdana 6.0 / Image: KZVV
The 2S22 Bohdana has so far been developed in the following variants:
- The 28-ton Bohdana 1.0, mounted on the KrAZ-6322 6×6 chassis produced by AutoKrAZ in Kremenchuk, was unveiled in 2018. It featured an unarmored cab and a manual loading system, with a range of up to 40 km using standard 155 mm ammunition. It was the first Ukrainian howitzer of NATO caliber and was tested between 2019 and 2022. On May 6, 2022, the gun made its combat debut, and on June 30, then Commander-in-Chief General Valerii Zaluzhnyi stated that the 2S22 Bohdana had played an important role in the liberation of Snake Island.
- The Bohdana 2.0, mounted on the MAZ-6317 6×6 chassis, was produced under license as the Bogdan-6317 and introduced after Russia’s invasion in 2022. It featured an armored cab borrowed from the RKP-360 command systems used in the Neptune missile system. This variant was developed in response to the unavailability of KrAZ chassis following the company’s bankruptcy. The system still relied on manual ammunition loading.
- The Bohdana 3.0, mounted on the Czech Tatra T815-7T3RC1 8×8 chassis with an armored Puma cab, was introduced in 2023. The Puma cab provides better crew protection, while the Tatra chassis improves mobility and reliability. This version is regarded as more advanced, with an improved fire-control system. Some units also received additional anti-drone protection screens (Ukrainian Bohdana howitzer produced abroad).
- The Bohdana 4.0, mounted on the Czech Tatra T815-7 or Tatra Phoenix 8×8 chassis, is a variant with an armored cab produced by the Ukrainian company Ukrainian Armor, which made it possible to reduce dependence on Czech supplies. It is equipped with a semi-automatic loading system that facilitates crew operations, as well as a deployable anti-drone shield. It can fire M982 Excalibur precision-guided ammunition. Production of this version began in 2023 and is currently being expanded.
- The Bohdana 5.0 (working name), mounted on a Czech Tatra chassis (most likely the Phoenix 8×8), is the latest version, presented in 2025 by the 44th Separate Artillery Brigade. It features a new Ukrainian-made armored cab with modifications compared with the 4.0 version, such as the absence of lighting above the windshields and changes to the heat-dissipation system. This variant was developed in response to long wait times for Czech Puma cabs and their high cost. Further Ukrainization of components was introduced, raising the share of locally produced parts to more than 85 percent.
- The Bohdana 6.0 is a planned version mounted on a MAN or Mercedes-Benz Zetros truck chassis. Germany has financed 200 units for the Ukrainian Ground Forces, worth 750 million EUR (Patent for New Ukrainian Howitzer Bohdana 6.0 Registered).
- The 2P22 Bohdana-BG is a prototype of the towed variant, with a 155 mm barrel mounted on the carriage of the 2A36 Giatsint-B gun. The prototype was shown on October 3, 2024, and in March this year the 47th Artillery Brigade published photographs of it in use.
Outside Ukraine, due to the wartime situation, production began abroad, which was first disclosed in May 2023. Later, Denmark invested USD 47 million in the production of Ukrainian weapons systems, including the Bohdana, on its own territory, although this has not yet begun. Copenhagen had previously also financed the production of 18 howitzers that were delivered to Ukraine. Germany, for its part, as part of its partnership with Ukraine, is supplying Mercedes-Benz Zetros chassis for the latest Bohdana 6.0, although final assembly is carried out in Ukraine. In total, serial production is estimated to have exceeded 600 units on four different chassis, whereas in 2022 there had been only a single prototype on the KrAZ-6322 chassis, first shown in August 2018.
The self-propelled version of the Bohdana produced by PK MIL could in the future be offered under Poland’s Kryl program, should that program be restarted.
