Launched by France and the United States in January 2024, the “artillery for Ukraine” coalition is no longer talked about at the moment, except in the retrospectives of the Ministry of the Armed Forces… Moreover, this also applies to the eight other capability coalitions formed within the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, which brings together 54 partner countries of kyiv.
However, deliveries of new artillery pieces to the Ukrainian army continue. This was recently the case with the “Anne of Kyiv” Brigade, which joined the Donbass with eighteen CAESAr [Camions équipés d’un système d’artillerie] additional.
However, in December 2022, Germany announced that it would deliver eighteen copies of the RCH-155 self-propelled howitzer to Ukraine. [pour Remote Controlled Howitzer]which had never been exported until then. And this is in addition to the twenty-five PzH2000 previously taken from the Bundeswehr inventory. An order for thirty-six additional units was notified to KNDS Deutschland in the months that followed. Enough to equip three artillery battalions.
On January 13, two years after the initial announcement made by Berlin, the first RCH-155 was officially handed over to Boris Pistorius, the German Minister of Defense, who transmitted it “directly” and, of course, symbolically , to Oleksii Makeiev, the Ukrainian ambassador to Germany.
“Today's delivery of the first RCH-155 wheeled howitzer to Ukraine is visible proof of what is possible when technological excellence and common will go hand in hand,” said Mr. Pistorius. This delivery “confirms the unwavering German support for kyiv in its struggle for independence” and shows that “Germany is ready to take responsibility for security in Europe,” he added.
-However, there are plans to deliver only six RCH-155s to the Ukrainian army in 2025.
As a reminder, associated with the infantry fighting vehicle [VCI] Artec Boxer, the RCH-155 uses components from the PzH-2000 [comme l’ordinateur de contrôle de tir balistique]. Providing increased protection and mobility for the two gunners required to operate it, it has a range of 40 to 54 km, depending on the type of 155 mm shell used. With a rate of 9 rounds per minute, it has the ability to fire on the move, which reduces its vulnerability to counter-battery fire.
In December 2022, it was predicted that it would take thirty months for KNDS Deutschland to produce the first RCH-155s for the Ukrainian army. According to the daily Die Welt, the industrialist was then waiting for a “clear signal” from the German government to launch production. Since then, the Bundeswehr has announced its intention to order eighty examples in 2025 and the British Army has chosen this artillery system as part of its “Mobile Fires Platform” program. [MFP]. Finally, he was also selected by Switzerland.
