The French division of KNDS, also known as Nexter, can increase the production of Caesar self-propelled howitzers to 12 units per month.

Forces Operations Blog reported on this.

Until 2022, Nexter had been producing 2 Caesar self-propelled howitzers per month. However, since the beginning of the Russian invasion, the company has managed to increase production up to 6 vehicles with the prospect of further increasing up to 8 vehicles per month.

However, due to the growing number of European customers and Ukraine’s urgent needs, the company said it would be able to increase production by 100% and increase the rate of production of self-propelled howitzers up to 12 units per month.

According to the plans, the new production rates should be reached “within the next 12 months”.

Increasing the capacity

The company said that such a large-scale increase in production was planned to be achieved by increasing the workforce and increasing the supply of spare parts and components from contractors.

In addition, Nexter is investing heavily in production equipment: last year, the Bourget gun factory purchased a new machine for machining gun barrels. The new equipment will enable the company to shorten the production cycle of barrels to five months, compared to six today and nine by February 2022.

In addition, the new equipment will enable the company to produce 62-caliber artillery barrels in the future, which will allow future developments to fire at a greater distance.

It is emphasized that the pace of deliveries applied only to the artillery part of the self-propelled howitzers, which also included the chassis supplied by Arquus for Caesar 6×6 in Mk.1 and Mk.2 versions.

Interestingly, the aforementioned contract for the production of 78 self-propelled howitzers for Ukraine was postponed to 2025, although plans to complete production by the end of this year were previously announced.

The company said that in addition to the 78 units ordered for Ukraine, the company was also fulfilling a contract to manufacture another 217 self-propelled howitzers for France, Belgium, Lithuania and the Czech Republic.

At the beginning of the month it became known that Ukraine’s arms industry is building eight Bohdana self-propelled howitzers each month.