New success of the CAESAR cannon in Europe for 2024!
2024 will certainly have been the year of KNDS France's strong comeback on the European scene, thanks to the CAESAR cannon, the CAmion Equipped with an ARtillery System. At the end of the Eurosatory exhibition in June 2024, the French group, a specialist in land weapons and armored vehicles, had recorded orders from Estonia, Armenia and Croatia, in addition to the Lithuanian, Belgian and Czech orders placed previously.
This success is still far from having to stop. Indeed, several European countries are taking a close interest in the French artillery system, in particular to replace their towed artillery, such as Spain, Finland and Greece.
This is also the case for Portugal, which has just confirmed the next order of 36 CAESAR cannons from KNDS France, precisely to replace its American M114A1 towed cannons, a model which entered service in the middle of the Second World War, under the designation M1.
In this section:
CAESAR cannon demonstrates the effectiveness of its concept in Ukraine
The success of the CAESAR, now indisputable, was far from being a given until recently. Certainly, countries such as Thailand (6 units in 2006), Saudi Arabia (76 units in 2006) and Indonesia (37 units in 2012) had turned to the French system after it was commercialized in the early 2000s.
However, the CAESAR gun was mainly perceived as a lightweight system, specially designed for lower intensity theaters, particularly in Europe, while the armies of the old continent continued to turn massively towards tracked armored artillery systems, such as the American M109, or the German Pzh2000.
It was not until 2017 and the Danish order for 15 CAESAR 8×8, later increased to 19, that a first country chose the French system to replace its own self-propelled artillery capabilities, in this case, the Danish M109s. Despite the excellent performance of the French CAESAR in Iraq, in the hands of Task Force Wagram, it still struggled to convince, particularly in its 6×6 version, in Europe.
The dispatch of the first French CAESAR guns to Ukraine in the summer of 2022 will have profoundly changed this perception. Not only will the conflict in Ukraine have put artillery back at the center of the concerns of European armies, but the conflict has quickly demonstrated the great vulnerability of towed systems to counter-battery fire and drones.
At the same time, the French system demonstrated exceptional qualities, probably surprising many armies, on the battlefield, in the hands of Ukrainian artillerymen. By its mobility, range, accuracy, hardiness and reliability, it quickly established itself as the best of the artillery systems sent to Ukraine by the West, and as the nightmare of Russian artillerymen.
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https://www.forcesoperations.com/danemark-mea-culpa-ministeriel-et-enquete-a-venir-sur-le-remplacement-des-caesar/
I forgot☹️
"Mistakes were made" in replacing CAESAR guns with Israeli ATMOS and PULS systems, admitted Danish Defense Minister Jakob Elleman-Jensen, returning to his post after several months of absence.
Ordered in February from Elbit Systems to replace the 19 CAESAR 8x8s donated to Ukraine, the first ATMOS and PULS systems have recently arrived in Denmark. While the pride is palpable on the industrial side, this initial delivery is also the culmination of a procedure marred by irregularities.
"Mistakes were made in this process. I have apologised to Parliament for this today, just as I have apologised for the process surrounding the urgent handling of the documents," said Jakob Elleman-Jensen.
"Unfortunately, the statements show that Parliament has received incorrect information in several cases. This is information that I have received from my ministry and have passed on. This is open to criticism. I take this very seriously," he added. On at least four occasions, Danish parliamentarians have been deliberately misled by both the ministry and the Danish Defence Procurement and Logistics Organisation (FMI).
The investigation is ongoing.
Denmark did not replace its CAESARs sold to Ukraine with other CAESARs but with Israeli Atmos, if my memory serves me right.
This was followed by a Danish controversy and suspicions of corruption at both ministerial and military levels.
I believe you had touched on the subject.
Do you have any other information on this subject?
Did this completely surprising, even irrational, choice of Denmark have the slightest impact on the commercial career of CAESAR - it would seem that it clearly did not?
Did the Danish choice mainly reveal Israeli commercial aggressiveness on the European market, which we can imagine will be temporarily attenuated by domestic needs?
Thank you
What are the lessons learned in Ukraine about the comparative effectiveness of the 8x8 version and the 6x6 version?
Thanks?
Nothing specific that I know of, other than a lower attrition rate (only one of the 19 was reportedly damaged). But it may also depend on other factors, with 6x6s being more heavily used because they are lighter and easier.