CAESAR

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CAESAR
CAESAR on a Unimog U 2450

CAESAR on a Unimog U 2450

General properties
crew 6 soldiers
length 10.0 m
width 2.50 m
height 3.26 m
Dimensions 18.5 t
Armor and armament
Main armament Artillery gun in caliber 155 mm, 52 caliber lengths, 6–8 rounds / minute, elevation : + 66 °, azimuth : 30 °
Secondary armament no
agility
drive diesel
Top speed 100 km / h (50 km / h off-road)
Power / weight
Range 600 km

CAESAR ( Apronym for CAESAR self-propelled howitzer , German  equipped with artillery system trucks ) is in France developed and manufactured self-propelled, non-armored howitzer mm in caliber 155th It is a new type of artillery piece. It is produced by Nexter and Lohr Industrie and used by the armed forces of several countries, including France and Saudi Arabia .

development

In the early 1990s, Giat (now Nexter ) began developing the CAESAR. The aim was to develop a light, mobile and air-transportable artillery system. The project remained in prototype status until the end of the 1990s. It was not until the early 2000s that the initially skeptical French army ordered five guns for test purposes. The 93 e régiment d'artillerie de montagne (93rd Mountain Artillery Regiment ) in Varces ( Département Isère ) carried out the troop test. In 2004, France ordered 77 copies for a total price of 300 million euros. Three guns were planned for the artillery school and eight per regiment. In 2008, Nexter delivered 16 Caesars to the French army, the first gun on July 1, 2008, and another 30 in 2009. The 68 e régiment d'artillerie d'Afrique in La Valbonne in the Ain department was the first regiment to be converted. In 2009 a further order of 64 copies was made, this should increase the total stock to 141 guns between 2015 and 2020 and replace the outdated TRF1 and AMX AuF1 . However, this order was withdrawn in May 2013.

In total, the system was introduced in six French artillery regiments. However, after the one he régiment d'artillerie de marine in Laon was dissolved on June 30, 2015, only five units with these guns in service.

description

In the export version, the gun is mounted on the Unimog U 2450 (6 × 6) or in the version for the French armed forces on the chassis of the Renault Sherpa 5 or Renault Sherpa 10 and is therefore mobile, but not armored. Only the driver's cab is protected against light splinters. The gun can be brought into position in a minute. For this purpose, a combined support and tail skid are lowered. 18 bullets of ready-to-use ammunition and the associated propellant charges can be transported on board the vehicle . CAESAR can be air-loaded in a C-130 or an Airbus A400M .

The CAESAR 8x8 version was presented in 2016 . This uses the 8x8 chassis of the Tatra 815 family of vehicles and weighs around 30 tons. The same gun is used. However, this is equipped with a fully automatic loading device for the projectiles and propellant charges . CAESAR 8x8 can carry 30 projectiles as ready-to-use ammunition.

The gun is a further development of the F3 howitzer and with 52 caliber lengths is significantly longer than the original. The semi-automatic screw cap and the cargo chamber are attached to the end of the pipe . This has a volume of 23 liters and corresponds to the Joint Ballistics Memorandum of Understanding (JBMOU) of NATO. With ERFB bullets (Extended Range, Full Bore) a shooting distance of over 30 km is achieved. With ERFB-BB ( Base-Bleed ) projectiles , 42 km can be reached. With extended range - VLAP ammunition , shooting distances of up to 50 km are possible. A semi-automatic loading aid is installed on the gun, which allows a rate of fire of 6-8 rounds per minute, whereby the first three projectiles can be fired within 15 seconds. This means that eight guns can target over a ton of ammunition within a minute .

commitment

User states

CAESAR in Afghanistan

CAESAR has been offered for export since 2003.

  • DenmarkDenmark Denmark - 19 vehicles of the CAESAR 8x8 version ordered in 2017 and 2019.
  • FranceFrance France - 77
  • IndonesiaIndonesia Indonesia - 55
  • MoroccoMorocco Morocco - Unknown number ordered in 2020.
  • Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia Saudi Arabia - 132
  • ThailandThailand Thailand - 6
  • LebanonLebanon Lebanon - 24 (funded by Saudi Arabia)

Web links

Commons : Camion équipé d'un système d'artillerie  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. CAESAR. In: defense.gouv.fr. French Armed Forces , October 25, 2018, accessed September 10, 2019 (French).
  2. a b c d e Armada International, Issue 2, April-May 2015: Compendium Artillery. 2015, p. 26.
  3. Bruno Daffix: http://www.defense.gouv.fr:80/dga/votre_espace/presse/communiques/2008/la_dga_livre_le_premier_canon_caesar_a_l_armee_de_terre ( Memento of August 25, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Ministère de la Défense on. France, accessed December 20, 2008
  4. Projet de loi de programmation militaire 2014–2019 - Dossier Thématique. In: scribd.com. Ministère de la Défense, August 2, 2013, accessed July 29, 2015 (French).
  5. Caesar Renault Sherpa 5 Nexter wheeled self-propelled howitzer - armyrecognition.com , accessed: July 27, 2015 (English)
  6. ^ A b Ian Gander: Wheeled Artillery. Defense Threat Information Group (DTIG), January 29, 2013
  7. Caesar 155-mm self-propelled gun-howitzer - military-today.com , accessed: July 27, 2015 (English)
  8. CAESAR 8x8 The new version of the well-known self-propelled 155mm / 52 Cal. artillery system. In: fna.artillerie.asso.fr/. Fédération Nationale de l'Artillerie, accessed on March 16, 2017 .
  9. ^ Christopher F. Foss : Caesar rolls in on eight wheels. In: janes.com. IHS Jane's, October 16, 2016, accessed March 16, 2017 .
  10. a b Caesar 155mm Artillery System - army-technology.com , accessed: July 27, 2015 (English)
  11. ^ Artillery: Caesar Gets Bulletproof, Just In Case - RP Defense . In: RP Defense . Retrieved November 5, 2014.
  12. Stefan Brändle: Critique of France's arms exports , derstandard.at of June 1, 2019, accessed on June 2, 2019.
  13. Edrmagazine.eu: [1]
  14. Denmark selects CAESAR self-propelled 155mm gun-howitzer installed on an 8X8 truck chassis. In: defense-blog.com. Defense Blog, March 15, 2017, accessed March 16, 2017 .
  15. a b Extended production of French Nexter CAESAR 155mm self-propelled howitzer. In: armyrecognition.com. Army Recognition, April 25, 2018, accessed July 8, 2019 .
  16. Armyrecognition.com: Nexter Caesar self-propelled guns for Moroccan army
  17. ^ The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS): The Military Balance 2018 . 1st edition. Routledge, London 2018, ISBN 978-1-85743-955-7 , pp. 361 (English, as of January 2018).
  18. Trade Register on sipri.org , accessed on July 22, 2015 (English)
  19. IDEX 2015: Lebanon to receive 24 CAESAR systems . ( Memento of February 25, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Jane's Information Group , accessed December 24, 2015