The Caesar truck-mounted artillery system is a 155mm 52-calibre
self-propelled gun developed by Nexter Systems (formerly Giat), based in
Versailles, in cooperation with Lohr Industrie of Hangenbieten, France.
An initial five systems were ordered by the French Army and were
delivered in June 2003 for technical and operational evaluation. In
December 2004, Giat was awarded a contract for 72 Caesar systems to
equip eight land artillery batteries of the French Army, to replace
towed TRF1 systems.
Caesar entered production in June 2006. The first vehicle was
delivered to the French Army in April 2007 for extensive firing trials.
The first production Caesar system was delivered to the French Army
in July 2008. Seven further systems were delivered by the end of 2008
and deliveries are scheduled to complete in 2011. The system has also
been demonstrated in Malaysia and in the US.
In April 2006, Thailand placed an order for six Caesar systems for
the Thai Army, the first export order for the system. Deliveries were
completed in 2010.
In July 2006, an order for 80 systems was placed by the Saudi Arabian
National Guard (SANG). These will be mounted on a Unimog 6x6 chassis.
In March 2010, the SANG received first four Caesar 155mm self-propelled
artillery systems. The remaining deliveries are scheduled to complete in
2011.
Systems for the French Army and the Thai Army are mounted on the Sherpa 5 6x6 truck chassis from Renault Trucks Defense.
Caesar artillery system development
The Caesar artillery system evolved from the earlier 155 AM F3 automotive gun, which used the chassis of the AMX-13 light tank.
Caesar is equipped with all the systems needed for independent
operation, a cabin to protect the six man gun crew against shell
fragments and small arms fire, an initial ammunition supply of 16
complete rounds and instrumentation for navigation, aiming, ballistic
calculations and command aids. The system was specifically designed to
meet the fire support requirements of rapid deployment forces.
In March 2004, Giat entered an agreement with United Defense (now BAE
Systems Land and Armaments) for that company to market Caesar in the
USA.
In September 2004, Giat signed a teaming agreement with ADI of
Australia to offer Caesar to the Australian Army for its Land 17
artillery replacement programme.
Caesar 155mm, 52-calibre barrel
Caesar is equipped with a 155mm, 52-calibre barrel and can maintain a
firing rate of six to eight rounds a minute in sustained fire, or three
rounds in 15 seconds in rapid fire.
"A unit of eight Caesar self-propelled artillery vehicles can dispense more than 1t of projectiles in one minute."
The FAST-Hit computerised fire management system, developed jointly
by Nexter and EADS Defense Electronics, an Intertechnique ROB4 muzzle
velocity radar system and a SAGEM Sigma 30 navigation system and global
positioning system (GPS) are fitted so there is no requirement for
topographical teams and goniometers.
The weapon has an automatic hydraulic laying system and the loading system is semi-automatic.
The gun can be set into and out of action in under a minute. The
weapon system configuration and the provision of hydraulic drives give a
time of approximately 30 seconds to take the Caesar out of battery.
A unit of eight Caesar self-propelled artillery vehicles can
dispense, in less than one minute, more than 1t of projectiles, 1,500
bomblets or 48 smart anti-tank munitions on targets at ranges up to
40km.
Fire control
In the French Army, Caesar is integrated with the Thales Land and
Joint Systems Atlas artillery C4I (command, control, communications and
intelligence) system. The system provides onboard terminals for
communications and real-time firing sequence management including
fowarding of fire-support requests and transmission of firing orders
according to target type, ammunition type and gun availability.
Munitions
Caesar is capable of using a wide range of ammunition for deployment
against protected and unprotected targets, to create counter-mobility
obstacles to block the manoeuvres of enemy armoured forces and to
obscure or illuminate an area.
Caesar can fire conventional high-explosive (HE) or new-generation
cargo rounds, which provide increased accuracy and terminal
effectiveness.
The Ogre shell, which is in series production for the French Army, is
an anti-tank and fragmentation bomblet dispensing round for use against
relatively unprotected area targets such as command posts, artillery
batteries, light armoured vehicles or logistic sites.
Ogre dispenses 63 bomblets, each fitted with a self-destruct
mechanism. The bomblets are capable of penetrating more than 90mm of
armour. A salvo of six Ogre shells releases 378 bomblets to saturate an
area of 3ha at a range of 35km.
Bonus rounds with smart submunitions can be launched against tanks
and other types of medium and heavy armoured vehicles. Bonus rounds have
been developed by Nexter Ammunition and Intertechnique of France, and
Bofors of Sweden.
"Caesar has an unrefuelled travel range of 600km and maximum speed of 100km/h."
The Bonus round carries two smart anti-tank submunitions to a range
of 34km. A top-attack flight profile delivers the explosively formed
penetrator (EFP) warhead to the roof of the tank which is generally more
vulnerable than the heavily armour-protected sides and front.
Base bleed shells provide a considerably increased range by filling
the vacuum and reducing the turbulence behind the projectile without any
loss of accuracy.
The maximum ranges are up to 42km for extended range full bore – base bleed (ERFB-BB) rounds.
Self-propelled artillery system
Prototypes of Caesar used the Daimler-Benz Unimog 6x6 series chassis,
which has been ordered by Saudi Arabia Production systems for France
and Thailand are mounted on the Renault Trucks Defense Sherpa 5 6x6.
Sherpa 5 has a 5t payload capacity.
Caesar has an unrefuelled travel range of 600km and maximum speed of
100km/h. A centralised ground pressure distribution system gives speeds
of 50km/h on hardened tracks. It has a six-cylinder diesel engine,
developing 240hp and a power-to-weight ratio of 13.6hp/t.
Excluding its crew and ready ammunition supply, Caesar can be carried in a single load of a C-130 Hercules transporter.
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