Luxembourg To Finance The Purchase of a CAESAR Self-Propelled Howitzer for Ukraine
The Luxembourg Ministry of Defense has announced that it will contribute 5 million Euros to the Artillery Coalition, which was launched by the United States and France in January to respond to Ukraine’s needs. This commitment, which is small in comparison to other NATO and EU countries but accounts for 1% of Luxembourg’s defense budget, was made official during Luxembourg Defense Minister Yuriko Backes’ visit to Paris on May 29 to meet with her French counterpart Sébastien Lecornu.
Luxembourg and French officials did not say whether the new funds would be used to repair Ukraine’s faulty or damaged Caesar self-propelled howitzers, for ammunition for these systems, or for promised additional purchases. However, the fact that the unit cost of a Caesar self-propelled howitzer is the same as Luxembourg’s military financing raises the possibility that this aid will be used to purchase additional systems for Ukraine.
Since the start of the war, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have received 55 Caesar self-propelled howitzers, including 30 donated by France, 19 by Denmark, and 6 purchased by the Kyiv government. According to the casualty list compiled by open-source intelligence (OSINT) defense analysis site Oryx based on photos and videos from the front lines, Ukraine lost only one of the 8×8 Caesars it received from Denmark and seven of the 6×6 systems it received from France (four were completely destroyed, three were severely damaged). French Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu also promised Ukraine 78 Caesar howitzers and 80,000 155mm rounds as part of the “Artillery Coalition” initiative earlier this year. Apart from Luxembourg, France, Denmark and Ukraine have so far contributed to the financing of the commitment, which is expected to reach Ukraine by the end of this year.
In addition to the Caesar artillery systems that it received from Denmark and France, Ukraine has also received M777 howitzers from the US, Australia and Canada, KRAB self-propelled howitzers from Poland, PzH 2000 155mm self-propelled howitzers from Germany and the Netherlands, AS-90s from the United Kingdom and M109 self-propelled howitzers from Norway and Lithuania, Zuzana wheeled self-propelled howitzers from Slovakia, Archer artillery systems from Sweden, and FH-70 155mm and D-30 122mm howitzers from Estonia. Even though some of the aforementioned systems lack the Caesar’s modern capabilities, they are still critical for Ukrainian artillery brigades in suppressing Russian enemy defensive positions.