KNDS sees ‘excellent’ chances to win US Army artillery competition

CANJUERS, France — KNDS, the French-German maker of land armaments, considers its Caesar howitzer has “excellent chances” to win a U.S. Army artillery competition to replace the M777, according to the executive in charge of marketing the truck-mounted 155 millimeter cannon.

The Caesar enjoys a strong reputation among American artillery crews, who saw the gun in action in Iraq and Afghanistan, said Olivier Fort, a former French artillery colonel now with KNDS, in comments to reporters after a firing exercise at Canjuers military base in southeastern France on Monday.

KNDS earlier this month announced an agreement with Leonardo DRS to offer the Caesar to the United States. Market observers expect the Army to order around 400 self-propelled howitzers to replace the towed M777, according to Fort, who as of Monday said he hadn’t yet seen a request for proposal.

“The French Army fired in Iraq, in Afghanistan, we were on the same bases as the Americans, and the Caesar cannon has an excellent reputation among American artillerymen,” Fort said. “Iraq was the operation during which we fired the highest proportion of shells at very, very long range – and that’s the real challenge for the weapon.”

French Caesar crews fired 18,000 shells in Iraq, with 70% of shots fired with five or six propellant charges, according to data provided by KNDS. Six propellant charges is the maximum for the 52 caliber gun, and allow the French-built howitzer to fire at a range of 40 kilometers.

KNDS has received total orders from more than 720 Caesar howitzers from 14 countries, according to Fort, including around 120 of the truck-mounted guns delivered to Ukraine.

The gun exists in versions mounted on six- or eight-wheeled trucks, and the company is developing a Mark II version of the six-wheeled variant with upgraded cabin armor and a more powerful engine that will be delivered to the French Army starting in 2027.

KNDS sent its Caesar howitzer to participate in an artillery shoot-off competition organized by the U.S. Army in 2021, which also featured competitors including Elbit’s Atmos wheeled howitzer and BAE Systems’ Archer.

Fort said KNDS has an advantage these days, which is that Caesar is currently the only truck-mounted cannon deployed in Ukraine, besides the domestically developed Bohdana. That has been a “considerable opportunity,” as the company has been able to constantly improve its gun based on Ukrainian feedback, the executive said.

The upcoming U.S. Army competition should be more limited than in 2021, with a very small number of cannons, though the process changes frequently, Fort said. He said Elbit remains a competitor, as well as BAE Systems, while KNDS Germany will enter the competition with the RCH 155. He said Rheinmetall will probably also be there, possibly in cooperation with Elbit.

“In fact, the United States has such a vast artillery that it has multiple needs,” Fort said. “If today we think they want to replace the M777, maybe tomorrow they will want to replace the M109 as well.”

The U.S. wants the cannons to be produced domestically by an American company, which is why KNDS partnered with Leonardo DRS , according to Fort. He noted the examples of Elbit America and American Rheinmetall, as well as Hanwha trying to establish itself in the U.S.

Leonardo DRS “is a very large American company that is no less American than any other,” Fort said. “With this partnership with Leonardo DRS, we have the same opportunities as the others.”

He said that for the U.S. Army, the Caesar system including the barrel would be manufactured in the United States.

Unlike in Iraq, where French forces used very long-range fires, many artillery crews in Ukraine use fewer than the maximum number of propellant charges to spare their cannons, as there’s no guarantee they’ll be able to get replacement barrels quickly, according to Fort. That means a Ukrainian Caesar crew may use three or four propellant charges, rather than five or six, he said.

The U.S. is looking at what technical lessons can be learned from Ukraine, rather than tactical ones, as the Americans believe they have their own way of fighting with air assets and air defenses that is different from Ukraine, according to Fort.

“They are currently looking very closely at Ukraine’s technical teachings,” Fort said. “And so they have seen, and we remind them of this too, that in terms of the weapon itself, Iraq was much more demanding.”

Rudy Ruitenberg is a Europe correspondent for Defense News. He started his career at Bloomberg News and has experience reporting on technology, commodity markets and politics.

法国坎茹尔——据负责销售这款车载式 155 毫米火炮的法国-德国陆地武器制造商 KNDS 的一位高管称，该公司认为其凯撒榴弹炮“极有可能”赢得美国陆军的火炮竞标，以取代 M777 榴弹炮。

前法国炮兵上校、现任职于KNDS的奥利维尔·福特周一在法国东南部坎茹尔军事基地的一次射击演习后向记者表示，凯撒炮在美国炮兵部队中享有很高的声誉，他们曾在伊拉克和阿富汗亲眼目睹过这门炮的实战表现。

本月初，KNDS公司宣布与莱昂纳多DRS公司达成协议，向美国提供“凯撒”自行榴弹炮。据福特称，市场观察人士预计，美国陆军将订购约400门自行榴弹炮，以取代现役的M777牵引式榴弹炮。福特周一表示，他尚未看到正式的招标邀请书。

“法军在伊拉克和阿富汗都进行了实战，我们和美军驻扎在同一个基地，凯撒炮在美国炮兵中享有极高的声誉，”福特说。“在伊拉克战争中，我们发射的炮弹中，超远距离射击的比例最高——这对这种武器来说才是真正的挑战。”

据KNDS提供的数据显示，法国凯撒榴弹炮炮组在伊拉克发射了18000发炮弹，其中70%的炮弹使用了五到六发装药。六发装药是52倍径火炮的最大装药量，使这门法国制造的榴弹炮射程达到40公里。

据 Fort 报道，KNDS 已收到来自 14 个国家的 720 多门凯撒榴弹炮订单，其中包括向乌克兰交付的约 120 门车载火炮。

该火炮有安装在六轮或八轮卡车上的版本，该公司正在开发六轮版本的 Mark II 版本，该版本升级了驾驶室装甲并配备了更强大的发动机，将于 2027 年开始交付给法国陆军。

2021 年，KNDS 公司派出其凯撒榴弹炮参加美国陆军组织的火炮射击比赛，参赛选手还包括埃尔比特公司的 Atmos 轮式榴弹炮和 BAE 系统公司的 Archer 榴弹炮。

福特表示，KNDS公司目前拥有一个优势，那就是除了乌克兰国产的“博赫达纳”火炮外，“凯撒”是目前乌克兰唯一部署的车载火炮。这位高管表示，这为公司带来了“相当大的机遇”，因为公司能够根据乌克兰方面的反馈不断改进火炮。

福特表示，即将举行的美国陆军火炮招标规模应该比2021年要小，招标数量也会非常少，不过招标流程经常变化。他指出，埃尔比特系统公司和英国航空航天系统公司仍然是竞标者之一，而德国KNDS公司将携RCH 155型火炮参与竞标。他还表示，莱茵金属公司可能也会参与，或许会与埃尔比特系统公司合作。

“事实上，美国的火炮数量如此庞大，因此存在多种需求，”福特说。“如果今天我们认为他们想更换M777，那么明天他们可能又想更换M109。”

据福特称，美国希望这些大炮由美国公司在国内生产，这就是韩国国防工业公司（KNDS）与莱昂纳多DRS公司合作的原因。他还提到了埃尔比特美国公司、美国莱茵金属公司以及韩华公司等试图在美国市场站稳脚跟的例子。

福特表示：“莱昂纳多DRS是一家规模庞大的美国公司，它与其他任何美国公司一样，都是美国本土企业。通过与莱昂纳多DRS的合作，我们拥有与其他公司相同的机遇。”

他说，对于美国陆军来说，包括枪管在内的凯撒系统将在美国制造。

据福特称，与法军在伊拉克使用超远程火力不同，乌克兰许多炮兵部队为了保护火炮，会减少发射药的使用量，因为他们无法保证能够迅速获得替换炮管。这意味着，乌克兰的凯撒火炮炮组可能只会使用三到四发发射药，而不是五到六发。

据福特称，美国正在研究可以从乌克兰吸取哪些技术经验教训，而不是战术经验教训，因为美国人认为他们有自己独特的空中力量和防空作战方式，这与乌克兰不同。

福特说：“他们目前正在非常仔细地研究乌克兰的技术方案。他们已经看到，我们也提醒他们这一点，就武器本身而言，伊拉克的要求要高得多。”

鲁迪·鲁伊滕贝格是《防务新闻》的欧洲记者。他的职业生涯始于彭博新闻社，拥有报道科技、大宗商品市场和政治方面的经验。