German Defense Minister Borys Pistorius handed over the first of 54 RCH 155 wheeled self-propelled artillery systems to the Ukrainian ambassador in Kassel.

This was reported by Welt.

The transfer of the artillery system took place on the territory of the KNDS Group company in Kassel, where they are manufactured.

It is not yet known whether this system will be immediately delivered to Ukraine or used to train Ukrainian crews in Germany.

The event was announced on January 9, when German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius told the media that in 2025 Ukraine would receive the first six of the latest 155 mm wheeled RCH 155 self-propelled artillery systems.

In addition, it was noted that the first of those artillery systems would be delivered about a week after the announcement for 2025.

Initially, in 2022, Ukraine planned to purchase 18 units of RCH 155 artillery systems, but later the number of ordered units increased to 36, and later to 54.

The delivery date for the first systems was constantly postponed because KNDS could not start production quickly. In addition to Ukraine, the United Kingdom also became an additional export customer.

Nevertheless, KNDS plans to expand the production of these systems by attracting additional capacity in the United Kingdom, where, in addition to the platform itself, 155mm guns will be manufactured.

The production of barrels for tanks and artillery will take place under the Trinity House intergovernmental agreement signed by the German and British defense ministers on October 23 in London.

According to KNDS, the plant will, among other things, produce barrels for L55A1 120mm smoothbore guns for modernized Challenger 3 tanks, as well as rifled barrels for 155mm artillery systems.

Earlier, Militarnyi reported that Germany planned to order about a hundred of the latest RCH 155 wheeled self-propelled howitzers, the initial customer of which was Ukraine.

According to journalists, after approving the purchase of 105 Leopard 2A8s in addition to 18 previously ordered combat vehicles, the German Ministry of Defense expressed interest in purchasing the same number of Boxer wheeled armored personnel carriers, of which 80 vehicles should be in the RCH 155 version.