On Tuesday, March 26, the Minister of the Armed Forces of France, Sébastien Lecornu, announced at a press conference a joint purchase with Denmark and Ukraine of a total of 78 CAESAR (CAmion Équipé d’un Système d’ARtillerie) 155mm/L52 self-propelled howitzers, which will be delivered to the Armed Forces Of Ukraine.
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France will soon be able to deliver 78 CAESAR howitzers to Ukraine and increase stocks of artillery ammunition to meet Kiev’s urgent needs for ammunition to fight against Russia’s full-scale invasion – said the French minister.
On January 18 of this year, Lecornu announced that as part of the Artillery Coalition for Ukraine, led by France and the USA (along with 22 other countries), Paris ordered 12 CAESAR howitzers, while the authorities in Kiev announced the acquisition of 6 cannons. At the same time, he reported that the maximum annual production is 78 units, and that is also the number to be ordered for Ukraine in the near future. The remaining members of the initiative were supposed to participate in the purchase of the remaining units.
However, on Tuesday, the French official stated that the purchase of the remaining 60 howitzers will be financed solely by France and Denmark, with the costs and their division between the two countries not yet known. Nevertheless, according to promises made, the cannons will be delivered as quickly as possible.
Additionally, France has also set a goal to deliver up to 80,000 155mm artillery shells to Ukraine this year – compared to 30,000 delivered since the beginning of the war, which started on February 24, 2022.
Additionally, as Lecornu stated, France is participating in efforts to identify available stocks of powder and ammunition that can be purchased from non-European Union countries, as part of a plan initiated by the Czech Republic to acquire 800,000 155mm and 122mm artillery shells, which has been joined by at least 18 countries including Poland. The first deliveries of ammunition are expected to start in June of this year.
Earlier, the French government provided its CAESAR howitzers as part of military aid to Ukraine – a total of 30 units on the Renault Sherpa 5 6×6 chassis, while Denmark provided all of its 19 units on the Tatra T815-7T3RC1 8×8 chassis.
According to the Dutch analytical group Oryx, which keeps the list of Russian and Ukrainian losses based on photographic and video evidence, Ukrainians lost 7 former French howitzers, including 4 completely destroyed and 3 damaged, and one former Danish howitzer was irreversibly destroyed as well.