Emmanuel Macron mentioned the delivery of 18 new Caesars (truck equipped with an artillery system) to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, at a time when “everything that was available has already been given“, according to General Olivier Kempf, associate researcher at the Foundation for Strategic Research, Friday, October 7 on franceinfo. While noting the major advantages of Nexter’s artillery system, he remarks that France “can’t go beyond“from what it has already punctured in its own army, and that the process of manufacturing these high-tech weapons is long.
franceinfo: Does Ukraine still need weapons?
General Olivier Kempf: Ukraine has needed weapons from the start. The subject here is rather that it takes a long time to manufacture the weapons in question. Those that were in stock or in excess have already been passed on, and it takes a long time to manufacture new ones, especially since European weapons are of a high technological level. The whole difficulty that Ukraine is facing now is that it has already received a lot of American and European weapons, but it delivers a lot less today because everything that was available has already been given .
Can we try even harder?
We have already delivered 18 Caesars, almost a quarter of what the French artillery had (76 pieces). We cannot go further because the French army also has an army model to defend which must remain consistent. We have already gone very far, which is also why we are looking to take on other orders, such as those from the Danes for example. But the Danes will suffer from the same problem as us: they can’t get too thin either.
What is the advantage of Caesar?
Caesar cannons can fire several dozen kilometers and are above all extremely precise and mobile. They are on wheels, can fire a salvo of 6 shells and be gone before the first shot hits its target. they are therefore unlikely to suffer hits from “counter-battery”, that is to say the opposing artillery which locates the origin of a strike in order to fire on it. They therefore have the advantage of discretion in addition. It is part of the very precise and mobile high technologies which are of an advanced generation compared to the Russian artillery and the Ukrainian artillery before, which are much more static. The Russian military can try to spot Caesar trucks with drones or satellite imagery before they hit, but it’s difficult.
Emmanuel Macron mentioned the creation of a European fund for Ukraine, so that it can buy its weapons. Is this a sign that the war will last?
I think the European Union is well aware that the war will last a long time. VShas It has already been going on for seven months and we have understood that Vladimir Putin, on the basis of his declarations of September 30, has no intention of giving in and is determined to continue beyond the winter. It is therefore still a matter of several months, or even beyond.