A long epic was resolved with the 155-mm/52 CAESAR self-propelled howitzers ordered by Denmark back in 2017 from the French Nexter Systems group on the Tatra T815 (8×8) wheeled chassis, which eventually did not reach the Danish army. On January 19, 2023, Danish Defense Minister Jacob Ellemann-Jensen announced that the Danish government had decided to transfer all 19 CAESAR self-propelled howitzers ordered to Ukraine as military assistance. According to the Minister, the deadline for receiving these ACS by Denmark was the first half of 2023, and that their delivery to Ukraine is expected within six months.
Firing ranges of one of the 155 mm/52 Nexter CAESAR self-propelled howitzers manufactured for Denmark on a Tatra T815 (8×8) wheeled chassis (c) Ministry of Defense of DenmarkAt the same time, Jacob Ellemann-Jensen admitted that the CAESAR self-propelled guns ordered by Denmark on the Tatra T815 chassis still have design defects: "This is not a solution that is completely trouble-free.
This is a system that has some defects, and we have made this very clear to Ukrainians. They still want to get these weapons. This means that defects have to be fixed before we can deliver it, but we also expect it to happen relatively quickly." The minister also said that "we are working hard on acquiring new equipment" for the Danish army to replace the CAESAR self-propelled guns transferred to Ukraine (however, it can be assumed that these will no longer be CAESAR).
Recall that for the first time the question of the possibility of Denmark transferring "from six to 12" of the 19 CAESAR self-propelled guns ordered by it on the Tatra T815 chassis to Ukraine began to be discussed back in October, and eventually led Denmark to the decision to completely get rid of the systems for this problematic order. During 2022, Ukraine received from France 18 CAESAR self-propelled howitzers in standard design on a Renault (Arquus) Sherpa 5 (6×6) automobile chassis, but since the French army had only 58 of these systems left after that, further transfers by France became unrealistic.
The Danish Defense Procurement Agency FMI (Forsvarsministeriets Materiel- og Indkøbsstyrelse) in May 2017, following an international tender, signed a contract with Nexter Systems group worth $53 million for the purchase of 15 self-propelled CAESAR howitzers of 155 mm/52 caliber on a Tatra T815 (8×8) wheeled chassis, with an option for six more guns, becoming the first customer of this modification, the prototype of which was first presented in 2015. In November 2019, Denmark partially implemented the option by signing a contract for four more ACS, bringing the total number of systems ordered to 19. The total cost of the entire purchase, taking into account related costs and ammunition, is estimated at $ 130 million.
Unlike the basic modification for the French army, the CAESAR self-propelled gun on the Tatra T815 chassis is equipped with an automated gun loading system and an armored cabin. The calculation was reduced from five to 3-4 people, and the ammunition carried was increased from 18 to 30 shots, but the gross weight increased from 18 to 32 tons. The system is equipped with a Tatra V8 diesel engine with a capacity of 410 hp.
The start of deliveries of the CAESAR ACS to Denmark was originally planned no later than 24 months after the signing of the contract, that is, in May 2019, however, it encountered technical problems, and as a result, the program turned into a long-term construction. The first two serial self-propelled guns were presented to Denmark in 2019, but their fine-tuning and testing were seriously delayed, with repeated firing ranges in France and Denmark. In June 2020, Nexter Systems notified the Danish military of the forced suspension of further deliveries. In the future, the delivery dates of the first ordered 15 systems repeatedly shifted "to the right".
As a colleague andrej_kraft reported, the main reasons for the delays were the need to integrate a new gearbox and general design adjustments. In addition, during the factory tests, technical problems with the barrels of the guns were revealed. And all this against the background of the Covid-19 pandemic, which caused significant delays in the supply of a number of components, an increase in the production time of the supplier and its subcontractors due to periods of forced downtime.
At the end of June 2022, FMI again announced another postponement of the transfer of the ACS due to the occurrence of a number of technical errors identified during the final tests of the artillery systems in March 2022. And finally, during the tests in 2022, one of the machines received such significant mechanical damage that it is subject to complete replacement, that is, assembly from scratch. According to the official statement, the supplier has committed to eliminate the shortcomings by the end of October 2022 and hand over to the customer 14 ACS of the main order at the end of 2022. The delivery of the newly assembled 15th car was expected in the first quarter of 2023. However, as a result, the deadline for Denmark to receive all 19 self-propelled guns has moved back to the first half of 2023, and, apparently, some of the defects have not yet been eliminated. As a result, the Danish Ministry of Defense has now considered it good to fuse all 19 guns to Ukraine.
In September 2021, the contract for the purchase of 52 CAESAR self-propelled howitzers on a Tatra T815 (8×8) wheeled chassis was also signed by the Czech Ministry of Defense, their delivery is scheduled for 2024-2026 with partial assembly in the Czech Republic. In addition, in 2019, it was reported that Nexter Systems allegedly has an undisclosed order from an undisclosed customer for another 97 CAESAR systems on the Tatra T815 chassis with a delivery plan in 2022-2024 - presumably, this customer is the ground forces of Saudi Arabia. However, there is no information about its implementation.