The war in Ukraine has ushered in a renaissance of artillery-dominated, mobile warfare. Both sides’ strategic and tactical battlefield decisions depend for a large part on their big gun capabilities. The West has already started sending some serious equipment to the front, from tank-busting Javelins, Turkish TB2 drones or British-made MANPADS, all of which are having a notable, if not yet decisive effect on the Russian army’s armored capabilities. But there is one cannon, made in France, which is perfectly adapted to dynamics of the war in the Donbas: the CAESAR 155mm self-propelled howitzer produced by Nexter.
The CAESAR cannon was developed back in the 1990s by the state-owned French company GIAT Industries (now Nexter), a project launched in collaboration with Lohr Industries. The first order by the French army for 5 howitzers was signed on September 20, 2000, with the order being received 3 years later. After a series of tests, another 72 were ordered in 2004.
Over 300 have since been produced, with the canons being deployed by Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, and Lebanon, as well as Denmark. It is combat-proven, serving during external combat operations in Afghanistan, Mali, Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, the Sahel region, the Middle East, and East Asia, highlighting the gun’s robust characteristics and ability to perform under different geographical or climatic conditions. Its high-performance, mobility, crew-protection attributes, rusticity, and combat-proven effectiveness make it perfectly adaptable to the dynamics of the current war in the Donbas.
