Several CAESAR self-propelled guns, which Ukraine received as military aid from France in April 2022, after more than six months of intense fighting, require major repairs.
One of the 18 available self-propelled guns was completely out of order, several more had to be "put on hold" while waiting for maintenance. In many cases, the replacement of the turrets is also required, and the next step is the repair of the barrels, which have also fired their resource, Le Figaro reports.
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It is noted that the problem with the repair of Caesars in the formation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was discussed during the visit of the Minister of Defense of France Francois Lecornu to Kyiv on December 28, 2022. At the same time, the head of the French defense department admitted that "some damage to CAESAR self-propelled guns is becoming serious" And that the need for "maintenance and training of technical personnel becomes an obstacle to fighting."
Le Figaro, referring to the words of the Minister of Defense of Ukraine, Oleksii Reznikov, states that now the Armed Forces of Ukraine can independently provide only two levels of maintenance for their CAESAR SPGs: current repair immediately after the battle and repair of medium complexity, which enterprises in Ukraine have already mastered. If a major overhaul is needed, then the SPG needs to be sent all the way to Poland, where the maintenance actually takes place, and this is expensive not only in terms of money, but also in terms of time.
France insists that in Ukraine it is possible to order components for equipment directly from manufacturers. All the more so because Paris has created a dedicated fund of 200 million euros to finance such supplies. The author of the creation of such a fund, MP Benjamin Haddad, visited Kyiv as part of a government delegation led by Lekornu during a visit on December 28 last year.
In turn, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine would like "more cooperation with French companies to facilitate repairs on the territory of Ukraine." In other words, to close the entire maintenance cycle of CAESAR self-propelled guns in Ukraine.
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