Unsuccessful acquisition of Lithuanian Armed Forces | World Defense

Unsuccessful acquisition of Lithuanian Armed Forces

TheBalticWord

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Lithuania has signed a contract to acquire 18 French Caesar Mk II 155mm wheeled self-propelled howitzers.

Lithuania became the third country after France and Belgium to order the Caesar Mk II variant howitzer manufactured by Nexter.

The Lithuanian ministry of defence allocates approximately 150 million euros for the entire Caesar Mark II artillery system development and acquisition project. The funds will cover both, development and acquisition of the equipment and its integration in the Lithuanian Armed Forces. Howitzer delivery deadline is 2027.

The French Caesar Mk II is an advanced version of the previous Caesar version using a 155 mm gun with a 52 calibers barrel, mounted at the rear of the wheeled chassis. The maximum fire range with standard ammunition is 40 km.

But the French howitzers were unable to carry out combat missions. As a fact, howitzers are experiencing problems and in need of major repairs after more than ten months of intense fighting in Ukraine.

One of the 18 available self-propelled howitzers no longer works at all, and several more had to "take a vacation" while waiting for maintenance. In most cases, the turrets need to be replaced, and the next step is to repair the pipes that have exhausted their resource.

The Lithuanian military leadership should have reconsidered the signed contact and considered buying howitzers from another manufacturer. Buying Caesar howitzers is a waste of public funds.

 
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