On Monday, May 11, 2026, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan published a video on his social media accounts showing preparations for the Republic Day parade, which will be held in Yerevan on May 28. Notably, the footage showed for the first time two of the 36 155 mm CAESAR Mk1 (Camion Équipé d’un Système d’Artillerie) self-propelled howitzers on the Sherpa 5 6×6 chassis that were ordered from France two years ago. This is in line with an earlier announcement by the prime minister himself in an interview with the Armenpress news agency, in which he said that new military equipment would be unveiled during the parade.
Video: Nikol Paszynin via Instagram
During a visit to Paris on June 17, 2024, Armenian Defense Minister Suren Papikyan signed an intergovernmental agreement with his counterpart, then-Minister of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu, now Prime Minister, on the sidelines of the Eurosatory trade fair.
“During the meeting, the current state of defence cooperation between Armenia and France was discussed. The Minister of Defence of the RA provided an update on the progress of defence reforms in Armenia and the activities carried out within the framework of cooperation with France in this direction. Both parties emphasized the importance of military-technical cooperation. New agreements have been reached in this regard.” read the press release at the time.
Nous continuons de renforcer notre relation de défense avec l’Arménie.
Entretien chaleureux et productif avec mon homologue 🇦🇲@papikyan_suren, en marge d’Eurosatory.
Nouveau jalon important avec la signature d'un contrat pour l’acquisition de canons CAESAR. pic.twitter.com/WT7wpSxo6f
— Sébastien Lecornu (@SebLecornu) June 18, 2024
The Armenian Land Forces are replacing obsolete Soviet-made howitzers ‒ the 122 mm 2S1 Gvozdika and 152 mm 2S3 Akatsiya ‒ with French NATO-caliber systems, as well as 72 Indian MaRG 155-BR systems on a 4×4 truck chassis produced by Kalyani Strategic Systems (KSSL), which were ordered in December 2023.
CAESAR systems are currently produced in a second-generation version, which has been exported to Belgium with 28 units, Croatia with 18, and Lithuania with 48, while Slovenia, Bulgaria, Brazil, Iraq, Finland, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Portugal have expressed interest. Armenia opted for the first generation, likely due to the speed of delivery, possibly involving surplus equipment from the French Army in connection with its purchase of the second-generation version. In previous years, Estonia, Morocco, Czechia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Saudi Arabia decided to procure the first generation, while Denmark transferred its guns to Ukraine, which is also receiving them as part of international military assistance led by France.