France to send new “Caesar’” self-propelled guns to Ukraine

France is cancelling the delivery of some Caesar self-propelled artillery mounts (ACS) ordered by Denmark for supplying them to Ukraine instead.

France can give Kyiv from 6 to 12 howitzers out of 15 originally ordered by Denmark, TASS reports, citing the French newspaper Le Monde.

The corresponding tripartite talks were held with the participation of French President Emmanuel Macron, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.

The Danish government is claimed to agree for conceding the self-propelled guns requested by Ukraine. At the same time, according to the newspaper, Macron firmly refused to transfer 15 self-propelled howitzers Caesar from the reserves of the French army to Ukraine.

The corresponding order was adopted by Denmark in 2017, and in 2019 it ordered four more samples. The Danish version of the equipment is a heavier version of the combat vehicle: the cargo platform on which the gun is located has 16 instead of 12 wheels and its weight is 32 tonnes instead of 18 for the standard version. The ammo capacity has been increased from 18 to 36 rounds, and the cockpit has been equipped with additional armour.