According to the reference news network quoted by the Spanish "Le Monde" website news reported on May 2, with the arrival of a number of batches of NATO military aid, will make the overall strength of the Ukrainian army turn back. This move will not only block the rapid offensive of the Russian army in the Donbass region, but also help the Ukrainian army to launch a counter-offensive and then recover the lost territory, at that time, it will make the cost of the Russian army's offensive on the whole front rise sharply. In addition, before Germany announced the supply of "Cheetah" self-propelled anti-aircraft guns to Ukraine, French President Macron also decided to provide 12 "Caesar" vehicle-mounted howitzers to Ukraine.
At present, Ukraine receives 112 T-72M1 main battle tanks from the Czech Republic and Poland, 100 M777 howitzers from the United States, 300 M113s and Humvee armored personnel carriers. It will also receive 20 AS90 155 mm self-propelled howitzers from the United Kingdom, 120 Spartan and Husky armored vehicles, and 56 Czech PVB infantry fighting vehicles.
Poland, or the United States, can be said to spare no effort in the matter of aid to the Ukrainian army, so the heavy equipment provided, whether it is performance or quality, can be described as a lot of benefit to the current Ukrainian army. As for the Czech Republic, it is a poor family, and it is already doing its best to save these heavy equipment. As for Britain, France, Germany and other countries, the former seems to spare no effort, but in fact, it is a lot of thoughts, such as the AS90 self-propelled howitzers in this batch of heavy equipment, the "Spartans" and the "Husky" armored vehicles, which are all products of the times, and the overall performance is worrying, although no amount is helpful.
In contrast, France and Germany, after providing the Cheetah self-propelled anti-aircraft gun, also included the PZH 2000 self-propelled gun and the Leopard 1 main battle tank in the aid list. As for France, it provided the main force of its own artillery, that is, the beginning of the modern truck gun - the "Caesar" 155 mm vehicle-mounted howitzer, although the number was only 12, but compared with the British, it can be described as a high judgment.
The "Caesar" 155 mm vehicle-mounted howitzer is the world's first large-caliber vehicle-mounted howitzer in the standard sense and the ancestor of modern truck guns. In the 1980s, France proposed to develop a lightweight 155 mm self-propelled howitzer with a military truck as the chassis, requiring the weight of the vehicle to be controlled and deployed remotely using a C-130 transport aircraft. It was successfully developed in 1994 by the French Ground Weapons Industry Group (GIAT).
It is worth mentioning that according to the concept of GIAT, it is intended to be built into an "innovative equipment" in addition to the towed gun and the self-propelled anti-aircraft gun. But the French Army's need was very simple, to improve the overall rapid response capability of the artillery, but the time turned to 2004, with the massive reduction of conventional forces. In addition to the above functions, the real positioning of the "Caesar" is actually to replace the TRF-1 towed howitzer that has been in service for a long time.
The "Caesar" 155 mm truck gun creatively mounted a 52 caliber long-barrel 155 howitzer on the chassis of a 6×6 medium truck. Withstand most of the recoil of the artillery fire with a large integrated design of the station hoe plate, firing ultra-long-range grenades with a maximum range of 45 kilometers. It is one of the most advanced vehicle-mounted howitzers in the world today.
The "Caesar" can be regarded as an "upgraded version of the towed gun", although it is the undisputed ancestor of the modern truck gun. However, in the eyes of the French Army, it is still regarded as a highly maneuverable and howitzer, so the on-board system should control the cost as much as possible, in addition to being mature and reliable.
The overall layout of the "Caesar" 155 mm vehicle-mounted howitzer is from front to back, in order of crew cockpit, ammunition compartment and artillery, with a total of 6 crew members. In terms of maneuverability, the mass production version of the "Caesar" finally chose the chassis of the "Shepa" 6×6 truck developed by Renault, which has a total combat weight of 17.7 tons, a total length of 10 meters, a width of 2.55 meters and a height of 3.7 meters. Its maximum road speed of 100 km/h, maximum off-road speed of 50 km/h, maximum range of 600 km, and the tires are equipped with an automatic inflation and deflation system, which makes it more adaptable to complex terrain.
Thanks to its light weight, the Caissa can be carried by air by C-130 medium transport aircraft, as well as short-haul hoisting by CH-53 heavy helicopter in emergency hours.
In terms of firepower, the "Caesar" was equipped with a 155 mm 52 caliber barrel gun, but the upper part of the gun mount was still based on cost and technical considerations, and the TRF-1 towed howitzer assembly was still used. The volume of the drug room is 23 liters, which meets NATO ballistic standards and can be equipped with a variety of charges, such as standard drug pack charges, combustible drug packages and modular charges.
Carrying 18 rounds of ammunition, the maximum range of NATO standard grenades is 35 kilometers, the maximum range of the bottom-row extended-range grenade is 40 kilometers, and the maximum range of the newly developed V-LAP long-range grenade is 58 kilometers, in addition, "Caesar" can also launch the American "Excalibur" satellite guided shell, with a maximum range of 46 kilometers. Its explosive rate of fire is 3 rounds/15 seconds, the rate of continuous fire is 6 rounds per minute, and it has the ability to simultaneously bounce 3 rounds.
In terms of automation, the "Kaiser" 155 mm vehicle-mounted howitzer is equipped with the "Sigma" 30 type three-coordinate inertial navigation and positioning system, PR4G type VHF radio station, automatic data transmission system, CS2002-G type fire control computer system, etc. This allows Caesar to obtain position and target information autonomously, and can carry out strike missions without relying on ground survey detachments.
Caesar's fire control computer can exchange information with the ATLAS artillery command and control system using a PR4G VHF radio station, or it can exchange data with the fast-Hit tactical control system of the superior. The automatic data transmission system can receive information from higher-level fire units, gun position calibration radars and reconnaissance aircraft. The CS2002-G fire control computer controls the hydraulically driven automatic aiming system, receives information from the RBD4 initial velocity measurement radar, and is capable of identifying friend or foe.
Thanks to a high degree of automation, the "Caesar" 155 mm vehicle-mounted howitzer can be transferred from the marching state to the fire call in as fast as 3 minutes, the firing elements are calculated, and then 6 shells are fired and then transferred to the marching state.
In 2015, after the reorganization of GIAT, The Nest Group launched the second generation of the "Caesar" 155mm vehicle-mounted howitzer, which is a big change compared to the first generation. Its on-board chassis adopts the Tetara T815 8×8 military off-road truck chassis, and the ammunition carrying capacity has increased from the previous 18 rounds to 30 rounds.
A generation of "Kaiser" used a semi-automatic reloader in the ammunition loading system, with warheads assisted in loading and propellants manually loaded. On the second generation of "Caesar", it realizes fully automatic any-angle loading, and in addition, the propellant can also be automatically delivered, although it is not a fully automatic design, but it greatly reduces the manpower burden. In addition, the problem of weak protection performance of the first generation of "Caesar", the second generation of "Caesar" has also improved this, so that its total weight has been increased to the current 30 tons.
This howitzer is extremely automated, through a mechanical arm to achieve rapid delivery, even shell launcher and bottom fire insertion are also automated, can achieve 3 shells fired in 15 seconds of the explosive rate of fire, continuous rate of fire of 6 rounds / min. The only drawback of this gun is that after the automatic loading system of the robotic arm is broken, manual loading will be very laborious and basically abandoned.
Whether it is the German "Cheetah" self-propelled anti-aircraft gun or the legal "Caesar" vehicle-mounted howitzer, their arrival has indeed increased the overall strength of the Ukrainian army a lot. But at the same time, they also have to face inevitable compatibility problems, such as adaptive ammunition, personnel operation training, combat power generation, coordinated operations, etc. Only after the above supporting factors are generated or put in place in the short term can they pose a certain threat to the Russian army. As for the Western media reported, that is, to block the Russian army's military front and even the counterattack, from now on, it is only a good expectation.
After all, it is indeed too arbitrary to rely only on the transportation of a large amount of heavy equipment, thereby ignoring the essential strength gap between the Russian and Ukrainian armies. It is certain that the arrival of a large number of heavy equipment will indeed increase the cost of the Russian army's strike a lot, but the so-called ass determines the head, which is also caused by the Western media's own vision. If you raise it to Russia's geostrategic and national security perspective, these rising strike costs are not worth mentioning. No matter how difficult the situation is, the Russian army must create a strategic foreshadow through strike operations, and as for its cost and cost, the Russian side has long known it in advance!
If the Ukrainian army obtained the "Caesar" 155 mm truck gun, it was likely to have the upper hand in the battle against the Russian artillery. At this time, it depends on whether the bombs of the Russian Air Force are accurate or not?