This decision comes when the Baltic country has decided to increase its defense budget in the light of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and the fears it arouses for its own safety.
Le Monde with AFP
Lithuania has signed a letter of intent with a view to acquiring 18 Caesar French self -propelled cannons, during a meeting between the Defense Ministers of the two countries on Monday, on the sidelines of the Eurosatory Defense Fair, announced the two countries.
“Lithuania will buy 18 Howitzer Caesar Mark II cannons,” said Lithuanian Defense Minister Arvydas Anusauskas, in a tweet accompanied by a photo of the signing of the letter of intent with his French counterpart, Sébastien Lecornu. “They will considerably strengthen the capacities of the Lithuanian army”, he adds, specifying that it is the “most important acquisition project” never passed with France.
🇱🇹 Will Buy 18 Caesar Marktii Howitzers from 🇫🇷. TODAY me and My Colleague Defmin of 🇫🇷 @seblecornu signed a letter… https://t.co/ofdcrg1o6p
This decision comes when the Balte country, a member of the EU and NATO, decided to increase by 300 million euros, bringing it to 1.5 billion, its defense budget for 2022 in The light of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and the fears it arouses for its own safety.
According to the Ministry of French Army, “the links that unite Lithuania and France in terms of defense are very solid and will still be developed in the coming weeks, in the degraded geopolitical context that we know in Europe”.
a system already sold to 300 copies
The conflict in Ukraine recalls the role of artillery in high intensity conflicts, Westerners, in the first place the United States, providing dozens of cannons to Ukrainian forces to contain Russian thrusts. In this context, France delivered, at the end of April, six Caesar cannons in kyiv, as well as thousands of shells.
Produced by Nexter, Caesar is a 155 mm cannon mounted on a truck capable of shooting six shots per minute at a distance of 40 kilometers.
France has 76 copies. The system has also been sold at nearly 300 copies to seven countries (Saudi Arabia, Denmark, Indonesia, Thailand, Czech Republic, Morocco and Belgium).