France’s Caesar self-propelled guns as aid to Ukraine were seized by Russia and transferred to the Uralvagonzavod weapons factory for research. This information has been confirmed by both France and Russia, and this is probably also the basis for Russian experts to find something useful.

Russia’s Uralvagonzavod Corporation (UVZ) is an enterprise specializing in weapons production. Armata tank and Msta-S self-propelled gun are one of UVZ’s products. The representative of this group sent a sarcastic “thank you” to French President Emmanuel Macron for transferring Caesar to Ukraine.

Paris promised to provide 1/4 of its reserve Caesar self-propelled guns to Kiev, or about 18 guns. These weapons will be transferred to units of the Ukrainian army, including the 55th artillery brigade. The Caesar 155mm self-propelled gun is a product of the French company Nexter – a member of the Franco-German defense group. KNDS. The French army has been equipped with this weapon since 2007, experts highly appreciate the accuracy of this self-propelled gun. Caesar self-propelled guns were built to destroy enemy artillery, fortification systems and other weapons. Caesar’s firing range is from 4.2 to 45km, fire rate is 6 rounds/minute, ammunition reserve is 18 rounds.

Sharing with Vzglyad.ru newspaper reporter, former head of the anti-aircraft missile force of the Russian Air Force Special Command, Colonel Sergey Khatylev said that when disassembling the Caesar artillery system into individual screws, the world Russian experts pay special attention to each individual part and equipment cluster, to the technological design of this weapon, and evaluate which details can be applied to Russian weapons.

For example, to simplify the structure, Caesar’s self-propelled guns applied different technical solutions compared to Russian weapons. The system for determining target coordinates of Western weapons also has many differences compared to Russian weapons.

Russian military expert Yuri Knutov said that the Caesar self-propelled gun is guided and controlled by a touch screen in the cabin, this screen is also arranged in the breech device, from these two positions both can be determined. coordinates of the target. Caesar’s electronic core research can understand the information system of the entire NATO bloc. Information about the target is transmitted through a secret channel, the combat crew just needs to receive and install it into the computer, then the weapon automatically points to the target, the combat crew just needs to press the fire button, everything is done. These operations are highly automated.

Expert Khutov added that Russia has a self-propelled artillery version similar to the French Caesar, which is Koalitsya-SV. Russia did not announce whether the Koalitsya-SV could participate in the war in Ukraine or not, only knowing that the number of these weapons in the Russian army is currently not large. For weapons developers, they are very interested in how their competitors apply technological solutions.

Russian experts pay special attention to the ammunition types of Caesar self-propelled guns. Caesar now uses a new generation of artillery shells. The size of the bullet can be configured in automatic mode to reach a required range. This technology was also discovered in Germany’s Panzerhaubitze self-propelled guns.

For units specializing in developing electronic warfare systems, they are especially interested in secret information exchange channels, to establish corresponding radio jamming systems.

Colonel Khatylev said: the French Caesar self-propelled gun, as well as the American M777, or the German Panzerhaubitze are not super new weapons. Russian experts could not find anything to copy. Russia already has enough high-quality short-, medium- and long-range artillery systems that can solve all different tasks on the battlefield. Russian artillery has all the necessary modern features.

Military expert Khutov concluded: “All of NATO’s weapons aid to Ukraine have important strategic-military significance for Russia.

They help Russia understand weapons development trends in NATO. Only by studying them can we understand that the solutions in our weapons are more technological and more effective.”