According to information published by the "Opex 360" website on February 12, 2022, the chief of staff of Iraqi land forces, General Qasim al-Muhammadi has announced that Iraq is interested to acquire French artillery systems that could be the CAESAR, a wheeled 6x6 155mm self-propelled howitzer designed and manufactured by the French company Nexter Systems.
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French soldiers, assigned to Task Force Wagram, fire a French Ceasar in support of Operation Roundup, in Al Quim, Iraq, May 16, 2018. (Picture source U.S. DoD)
The CAESAR is a 6x6 155mm self-propelled howitzer that was was developed in the 1990s as a technology demonstrator by the French state-owned company GIAT Industries, which is now Nexter Systems. I was delivered to the French army in June 2003 to conduct trial tests and in December 2004, the French army has ordered 72 CAESAR to replace the TRF1 155mm towed howitzer in service with the French army since 1990.
The CAESAR is a combat-proven artillery system and it has already been deployed in numerous military operations. It was deployed in Lebanon as part of the UNIFIL peacekeeping force, during Operation Serval in Mali.
From October 2016 to July 2017, four CAESAR were deployed to Iraq for the Battle of Mosul, where French forces supported the Iraqi Army's operation to reclaim Mosul from ISIL. Recently, CAESAR from the French army was deployed to Iraq on the border with Syria from 8 November 2018 to April 2019 to support the Syrian Democratic Forces in the Battle of Baghuz Fawqani.
The CAESAR in 6x6 and 8x8 configurations are now used by six countries including France, Indonesia, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, and Denmark. It will enter also into service with Morocco, the Czech Republic, and Belgium.
The CAESAR is available in 6x6 and 8x8 configurations using the same artillery gun system which consists of one 155 mm 52 caliber cannon mounted at the rear of a truck chassis. It is equipped with an automatic hydraulic laying system and the loading system is semi-automatic.
The CAESAR has a firing range from 4.5 to 40 km and a high level of accuracy with the LU family ammunition. In direct firing mode, the maximum range is 2 km. Recently, the CAESAR has reached a distance of more than 46 km using Raytheon Excalibur extended-range artillery projectiles.
