France will invest 85 million euros to replace the 18 Caesar guns delivered to Ukraine, which have reduced almost a quarter of the French army’s stock, Armed Forces Minister Sébastien Lecornu said on Wednesday.
“In ammunition we have to do better”
Before the start of the Russian military offensive in Ukraine on February 24, the French army had 76 Caesars, truck-mounted 155mm guns with a range of 40 kilometers. “The challenge is that the defense technological industrial base continues”, commented the Minister of the Armed Forces, referring to the ongoing talks with the Nexter group, which manufactures Caesar weapons.
Manufacturing a Caesar system currently takes more than 18 months, according to Nexter. Although the high-intensity conflict in Ukraine has highlighted the shortcomings of the French defense apparatus, particularly in terms of ammunition stocks, Sébastien Lecornu considered that “in ammunition we must do better” and “from 2023, to be in conditions of replenishing a certain number of long-range ammunition, individual ammunition, artillery ammunition”. However, “to make these readjustments we need an industry capable of compliance,” he said.
Source: BFM TV
