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Saudi Arabia requests quotation from Nexter for large order of artillery systems and armored vehicles.
According to a tweet posted by Defense Arab on October 24, French company Nexter Systems has been requested by Saudi Arabia to present a quotation for an impressive amount of artillery systems and military vehicles: 118 towed 105LG 105mm howitzers, 147 CAESAR 6x6 155mm self-propelled howitzers, 112 CAESAR 8x8 155mm armored self-propelled howitzers, and 153 TITUS wheeled armored vehicles.
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Nexter CAESAR 8x8 (Picture source: Army Recognition)
It is not specified whether all the equipment would actually be ordered, or whether this is a comparative request between the 105LG to be towed by 6x6 Titus, CAESAR 6x6 and CAESAR 8x8 systems (as a reminder, CAESAR stands for Camion Equipé d’un Système d’ARtillerie, Truck Equipped with an ARtillery System). The CAESAR 6x6, and its heavy-duty armored 8x 8 version, continue to attract potential users. Saudi Arabia was the first export customer of this outstanding (a benchmarker, actually), with two orders for 76 units in 2006, and 52 units later.
The Saudi army operates five artillery battalions: the 14th Field Artillery Battalion (155m towed howitzers), the 15th Field Artillery Battalion (MLRS), and the 18th Missile Battalion (MLRS).