This is the best light howitzer on earth and at the end of the day in terms of what russians generals fear, extremely capable lightweight howitzers that consistently get into position faster than heavier out of date russian ones that are being produced not just repaired and maintained in Ukraine… is really sobering news.
It also sucks for russia that these are perfect for pulling behind a humvee and Ukraine has piles of humvees at this point…
Between this and the Bohdana Ukraine has quickly become one of the most powerful artillery powers on earth.
edit example video of US soldiers “shooting and scooting” with the M119
https://www.dvidshub.net/video/960183/b-roll-us-paratroopers-fire-howitzers-during-african-lion-2025
example video of M119 being operated by US troops.
https://www.dvidshub.net/video/1002607/summit-strike-2026
another with Kenyan troops.
A 105mm shell has over 2kg of explosive in it. A small FPV drone usually has less then 0.5kg of explosive. This means you can shell people in dug in positions or buildings and actually cause some damage. This is especially true since shells are cheaper then drones. The howitzer is also light, which means a lot of vehicles can easily move it around.
A 105mm shell flies 17km tops, while drone killzone extends 20-30km deep or more. 155mm can have that 40km range. Drones come in many sizes
The zone where FPV drones are being used is about 20-30km wide. However they are launched within that zone. Meaning the range of the cheap models is about that of a 105mm gun. The key here is that those are no longer the cheap drones ordered from Wish, but specialized to withstand jamming and the like. Therefore the cost per drone has gone up a lot. They are still cheap enough to be extremely common, but a 105mm shell is very realistically a tenth of the price of a low end FPV drone. They also do not work all the time. There are reports from Ukraine, that an old Leopard1 tank withstood over 30 FPV hits and is still going for example.