Lithuania’s defense minister heads to Paris to buy Caesar howitzers

WARSAW, Poland — Lithuania’s defense minister has announced he is visiting Paris June 13-14 to sign a letter of intent with his French counterpart, under which Lithuania is to buy new-generation 155mm Caesar self-propelled howitzers .

“Leaving for Paris, where I will meet with the newly appointed French Minister of Defense, Sébastien Lecorn. We will discuss the strengthening of [the Lithuanian] Armed Forces capabilities. I will also sign the first letter of intent on purchasing French 155mm howitzers ‘Caesar’ for [Lithuania’s military],” Arvydas Anušauskas tweeted June 12 .

The minister did not disclose the value of the planned purchase nor the number of howitzers Vilnius aims to acquire. Nexter Systems is developing the six-wheel drive, new-generation Caesar Mark II artillery system under a contract awarded in February by France’s military procurement agency, the Direction générale de l’armement.

The new weapons are to boost Lithuania’s artillery capacities, which currently rely on the country’s 155mm PzH 2000 howitzers. In 2015, the Baltic state’s military acquired 21 such secondhand weapons from the German military.

The Lithuanian government has decided to accelerate several planned purchases for its military, including a multiple launch rocket system, in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine .

Jaroslaw Adamowski is the Poland correspondent for Defense News.

波兰华沙——立陶宛国防部长宣布，他将于 6 月 13 日至 14 日访问巴黎，与法国国防部长签署一份意向书，根据该意向书，立陶宛将购买新一代 155 毫米凯撒自行榴弹炮。

“我即将前往巴黎，在那里我会见新任法国国防部长塞巴斯蒂安·勒科恩。我们将讨论加强立陶宛武装部队的能力。我还会签署第一份关于为立陶宛军队购买法国155毫米‘凯撒’榴弹炮的意向书。”阿尔维达斯·阿努绍斯卡斯6月12日在推特上写道。

部长并未透露计划采购的金额，也未透露维尔纽斯计划采购的榴弹炮数量。根据法国军备总局（Direction générale de l'armement）今年2月授予的合同，奈克斯特系统公司（Nexter Systems）正在研发六轮驱动的新一代凯撒Mark II型火炮系统。

这些新武器旨在提升立陶宛的炮兵能力，该国目前主要依赖155毫米PzH 2000榴弹炮。2015年，这个波罗的海国家的军队从德国军队购入了21门此类二手武器。

为应对俄罗斯入侵乌克兰，立陶宛政府决定加快几项军方采购计划，其中包括多管火箭炮系统。

Jaroslaw Adamowski 是《防务新闻》驻波兰记者。