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In the early 1990s, the French Army operated two artillery systems designed and manfactured by the state-owned company GIAT: the AuF1 tracked self-propelled howitzer, which had reached the end of its production run, and the TRF1 towed howitzer, which was beginning to be delivered, but in reduced numbers. Absent further orders for its products, GIAT might have had to shut down its artillery program for unprofitability, permanently losing an important industrial capability. The firm therefore sought to develop a new, high-performance system that significantly improved upon both the AuF1 and the TRF1. This new design would be a truck-mounted 155 mm howitzer with a 52-calibre barrel, which would have greater accuracy and longer range than the 39-calibre barrels on GIAT's existing models. The system would also have to be air-transportable on a C-130 along with an entire gun crew and 18 rounds of ammunition. The project's first technology demonstration was shown at the Eurosatory defense industry fair in June 1994: a 155 mm 52-calibre cannon mounted on a modified Unimog U 2450 truck, with a cab supplied by Lohr Industrie (later renamed Soframe).[1][2]

Four years later, a pre-production model underwent trials with the French Army in 1998 and the Malaysian Army in 1999. Based on this early performance, the Direction Générale de l'Armement (DGA) ordered five additional prototypes for further testing in September 2000. After delivery was completed in June 2003, these vehicles were organized into a complete, "experimental" artillery section to evaluate possible operational procedures for the CAESAR. The results of these evaluations convinced the French Army to order more CAESARs instead of continuing to upgrade AuF1 self-propelled artillery vehicles to the AuF2 standard. Thus, in December 2004, the DGA awarded GIAT a €300 million contract to produce 72 new CAESARs, upgrade the five vehicles already delivered, supply an initial amount of ammunition, and provide maintenance to the fleet for five years. The news systems would use a new purpose-built truck chassis, the Sherpa 5 by Renault Trucks Defense (RTD), instead of the Unimog-Soframe chassis of the first five.[1][3][4][5][6]

In 2006, the year that the company would be reorganized and renamed to Nexter, GIAT received the first export orders for the CAESAR, from the Royal Thai Army (RTD chassis) and the Saudi Arabian National Guard (Unimog-Soframe chassis).[1][7][8][9]

In peacetime the production rate at Nexter was reportedly 10 CAESARs per year.[10] The 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine boosted demand. By early 2023 Nexter's factory in Bourges was producing between two and four units per month in continuous operation. The next milestone expected is to produce eight CAESARs a month by December 2023.[11]

The gun uses a special kind of shell, the LU 211, which is produced at Les Forges de Tarbes,[12] within the confines of the town arsenal.[13] The forge was privatized in November 2021 by a French firm which had recently been recapitalized by €100 million.[13][14] In 2020, the Minister of the Armed Forces signed a contract worth €25 million for the plant to supply shells to the French Army for the decade. The privatization furnished €9 million each year for the 2021–2024 period. In autumn 2021, the firm supplied an extra €2 million to modernize the plant, which also produces 120 mm ammunition for the Leclerc tank.[15]

Potential sources for CAESAR, other French weapon systems

  • Blog post by Eric H. Biass at European Security, includes photos of CAESAR testing in Malaysia
  • Galleries of CAESAR photos at Esprit de Valmy web forum
  • Archive of defense-related press releases going back to October 1998
  • The development of the French defence industry in the 20th century, a January 2005 report by Martin Lundmann of the Swedish Defence Research Agency, summarizing Laurent Giovachini's book L’armement français au XXe siècle (Les Cahiers de l’armement, Ellipses, Paris, 2000)
  • Obscure forum thread from 2002 linking French sites; first found Giat website here
  • Discussion thread at Zona Militar web forum (in Spanish), covering VBCI, CAESAR and other wheeled combat vehicles; includes assessment of Argentine Army procurement needs; another thread on the French army in general
  • Discussion thread on truck procurement for the French Army (in French) at air-defense.net
  • Discussion thread at Moroccan Military Forum (in French) on CAESAR, including links to articles and press releases
  • TTU, defunct website that provided newsletters and reporting on defense topics, especially exhibitions
    • Report (in French) on IDEX 2007: five pre-production CAESARs used Unimog chassis; main series of 72 used RTD
  • Browne, Kyle D. (December 2018). Self-propelled wheeled howitzer for Marine Corps use: capability-based assessment (PDF) (MSc thesis). Monterey, California: Naval Postgraduate School. Retrieved 21 June 2024.
  • Abas, Marhalim (20 April 2016). "Show Report 4, Nexter Systems Caesar SPH". Malaysian Defence. Retrieved 7 July 2024. [Sherpa 5 specified]

Government of France

GIAT Industries

Renault Trucks Defense (RTD)

Potential sources for MRAP

Russo-Ukrainian War

More informative SIPRI citations

Miscellaneous resources

  1. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference janes-foss was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Girard, Philippe (28 March 2023). "Le CAESAR, ou la genèse atypique d'un matériel d'armement" [The CAESAR, or the unusual genesis of a weapon system]. Le magazine des ingénieurs de l'armement (in French). Paris, France: Confédération Amicale des Ingénieurs de l'Armement. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
  3. ^ "Caesar à l'honneur" [Caesar in the spotlight] (PDF). GIAT Magazine (in French). Paris, France: GIAT Industries. April 2001. p. 4. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 March 2001. Retrieved 22 June 2024.
  4. ^ "Commande de canons CAESAR à Giat Industries" [Order for Caesar howitzers from Giat Industries] (Press release) (in French). Paris, France: Délégation à l’Information et à la Communication de la Défense. 20 September 2000. Archived from the original on 11 June 2001. Retrieved 22 June 2024.
  5. ^ "Delivery of Caesar artillery systems to the French Army" (Press release). Versailles-Satory, France: GIAT Industries. 24 June 2003. Archived from the original on 2 August 2003. Retrieved 21 June 2024.
  6. ^ "La France commande 72 canons d'artillerie Caesar® à Giat Industries" [France orders 72 Caesar artillery cannons from Giat Industries] (Press release) (in French). Versailles-Satory, France: GIAT Industries. 13 December 2004. Archived from the original on 19 January 2005. Retrieved 21 June 2024.
  7. ^ "First export contract for CAESAR artillery systems" (Press release). Versailles-Satory, France: GIAT Industries. 3 April 2006. Archived from the original on 16 June 2006. Retrieved 21 June 2024.
  8. ^ "CAESAR® artillery systems go on with export success" (PDF) (Press release). Versailles-Satory, France: GIAT Industries. 20 July 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 November 2006. Retrieved 21 June 2024.
  9. ^ Perrimond, Guy, ed. (February 2007). "IDEX 2007: Premiers enseignements" [IDEX 2007: First lessons]. TTU Online. Dossiers (in French). Certes SARL. Archived from the original on 2007-10-16. Retrieved 2024-07-14. Les succès du Caesar à l'exportation, avec le contrat conclu avec l'armée de terre thaïlandaise (six Caesar/RTD) et la Garde nationale saoudienne (76 Caesar), devraient lui ouvrir les portes des autres pays du Golfe (Koweït, Oman, Qatar et EAU), qui ont déjà manifesté leur intérêt. [The success of the Caesar in exports, with the contract concluded with the Thai army (six Caesar/RTD) and the Saudi National Guard (76 Caesar), should open the doors of other Gulf countries (Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the UAE) who have already expressed interest.]
  10. ^ Kotlarski, Amael (18 June 2022). "Eurosatory 2022: Lithuania signals intent to acquire CAESAR SPH". Janes Information Services. Archived from the original on 26 June 2022. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
  11. ^ Gastal, Alain (22 February 2023). "Ça fait voir que la France est armée : à l'usine Caesar à Bourges, on est fier de voir le canon livré à l'Ukraine" [This shows that France is armed: In the Caesar factory in Bourges, one is proud of seeing the gun delivered to Ukraine]. France Info (in French). Retrieved 24 February 2023.
  12. ^ "Avec la guerre en Ukraine, les besoins en obus relancent une usine d'armement à Tarbes" [With the war in Ukraine, the need for shells revives an arms factory in Tarbes]. Le Parisien (in French). Paris, France: LVMH. 7 April 2023. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
  13. ^ a b Déjean, Jean-Philippe (28 May 2021). "Europlasma va prendre le contrôle de Tarbes Industry pour sécuriser sa croissance" [Europlasma will take control of Tarbes Industry to secure its growth]. La Tribune (in French). Paris, France. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
  14. ^ Déjean, Jean-Philippe (30 April 2021). "Europlasma met en action la deuxième phase de son plan de développement" [Europlasma implements the second phase of its development plan]. La Tribune (in French). Paris, France. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
  15. ^ Gain, Nathan (12 October 2021). "Un nouveau cap pour les Forges de Tarbes" [A new direction for the Tarbes forges]. Forces Operations Blog (in French). Retrieved 20 June 2024.
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