There were about 105 units of TRF1 towed howitzers in the arsenal of French army. As French L’Opinion newspaper reports, the howitzers of such a type are no longer in a service (except 12 of them that still works properly in a regiment stationed in Djibouti). Decommissioned TRF1 towed howitzers have been acquired by a broker S2M-Equipment – private French company that Ukrainians have bought the howitzers in. According to L’Opinion, process of restoring and transferring of the howitzers to Ukraine is under control of Ministry of Defense of France.
TRF1 howitzer is a predecessors of CAESAR self-propelled howitzer. This gun have been having high performance characteristics for years. That’s why CAESAR have been partly developed on TRF1 base and chosen for rearmament of French army in 2000’s.
Read more: Ukraine Will Get RAAM System from USA
TRF1 towed 155 mm howitzer has barrel length of 39 caliber, effective firing range of 24 km with high-explosive shells and 30 km with long range ammunition. Rate of fire – 6 rounds per minute, crew members – 7.
Thus this “old” French weapons are better than russian 2A65 Msta-B towed 152.4 mm howitzers. Even though they can handle rate of fire of 7 rounds per minute, maximum firing range of 28 km is far behind.
Read more: Ukraine’s Air Force States Unique Air Defense System Is Created in Ukraine
