The French Ministry of the Armed Forces has placed an order for 18 Caesar guns to replace the 18 units delivered to Ukraine, which have reduced almost a quarter of the French army’s stock, industrialist Nexter announced on Friday.
“The systems will be delivered to the Army in the summer of 2024 at the latest,” explains the industrialist, who explains in a press release that the award of the contract had been the subject of an “accelerated procedure responding to the pace of ‘an economy of war’.
Paris wants the defense industry to be able to rapidly increase its production rates and capacities to respond to the situation created by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
18 months to make a cannon
A Caesar system currently takes more than 18 months to manufacture, according to Nexter, at its sites in central France. Before the start of the Russian military offensive on February 24, the French army had 76 Caesars, truck-mounted 155mm guns with a range of 40 kilometers.
The contract amount notified to Nexter was not disclosed. The Minister of the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu, announced in the Senate a few days ago that an “85 million euro envelope” would be allocated to the replacement of the 18 Caesars.
In February, the then Prime Minister, Jean Castex, had also signed a €600 million contract with Nexter to develop an armored and modernized version of the Caesar, the “Caesar NG”, and purchase 33 examples, deliverable from 2026.
Source: BFM TV
