French CAESAR Howitzers earn high praise from Ukrainian soldiers
Ukrainian soldiers gave an interview where they shared their impressions of using the French CAESAR self-propelled Howitzers. What is their opinion about this weapon?
11:03 AM EDT, July 10, 2024
CAESAR (fr. CAmion Équipé d’un Système d’ARtillerie) is an artillery gun mounted on a truck chassis, providing great mobility. Despite certain limitations, such as lacking an armoured cab (in the basic variant), this system has garnered significant interest from many countries. It has proven to be a substantial reinforcement for the Ukrainian army.
Ukrainians praise CAESAR
Besides its mobility, one of the greatest assets of this French artillery is its long firing range—up to 25 miles using shells with a gas generator and up to 50 miles with Vulcano GLR sub-calibre shells. Ukrainian soldiers also frequently highlight these aspects.
"A big plus is the wheelbase, which makes the system very maneuverable. Also, the rate of fire, the ability to work with navigation equipment, and setting up a firing position within a few minutes. Additionally, the ability to use precise, state-of-the-art ammunition," said the commander of a unit equipped with the CAESAR Howitzer in an interview with the Armia TV channel on YouTube.
Denmark gives away CAESARs and regrets it
CAESARs are arriving on the front, mainly from France. In March this year, Paris announced another aid package, including as many as 78 more CAESAR Howitzers and 80,000 shells of 155 mm caliber. In 2023, Denmark handed over all its CAESAR Howitzers to Ukraine, resulting in severe issues for the Danish armed forces. Wanting to support Kyiv, Copenhagen ultimately deprived itself of self-propelled artillery. The quick filling of these gaps was supposed to be ensured by Israeli ATMOS 2000 and PULS systems; however, it turned out that their deployment into service was much more complicated and costly than initially anticipated.
It is worth mentioning that Danish CAESARs differ slightly from the French ones. They are a modernized version based on the Tatra 8x8 chassis (instead of Renault 6x6) and equipped with an armored cab and an automatic loading system.
Regardless of the version, CAESAR can fire in MRSI mode and reach speeds of up to 62 mph on the road, making it a difficult target for the opponent.
