According to French newspaper Le Monde, French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu made this announcement at a joint press conference with his Ukrainian counterpart Oleksiy Reznikov. Lecornu said that the transfer of 12 CAESAR self-propelled howitzers would be financed from a EUR 200 million fund that was approved by the Parliament: part of the €200 million from the special support fund “will allow us to give 12 additional CAESARs to Ukraine”, Sébastien Lecornu declared.
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Ukrainian army CAESAR self-propelled howitzer, still in French army camo livery (Picture source: Ukraine MoD )
The calendar of delivery remains to be set up but it will be in a matter of weeks. So, if necessary, some of these 12 additional CAESARs might be taken from the French army inventory, as it already happened with the previous donations. "If the transfer of these 12 CAESARs is possible, it is because Nexter is increasing its production capacities", indicated the Minister of the Armed Forces.
Let us remind that France already offered 18 CAESARs to Ukraine in 2022. They need maintenance, which costs a lot, hence a comitment of tens of millions of euros to this mandatory operation.
The CAESAR self-propelled howitzers already demonstrated great effectiveness in combat in Ukraine and were able to destroy specific targets through the use of guided artillery munitions. This artillery piece has been designed and is manufactured by the French company Nexter. It is armed with a 155mm/52 caliber cannon mounted on an Arquus 6x6 truck chassis.
The cannon of the CAESAR is able to fire a wide range of ammunition: among others, LU family (HE, Illuminating, Smoke and Practice) filled with insensitive or conventional explosives, the BONUS (Anti-Tank, smart), ERFB NR (Explosive Extended-Range Full-Bore), as well as the new Katana155mm, guided artillery ammunition. It has a firing range from 4.5 to 40 km and a high level of accuracy with the LU family.
