Military-technical relations between the Czech Republic and France have sharply cooled — Prague has officially threatened to suspend payments to the French-German defense company KNDS, which is to supply the Czech Republic with 62 modern Caesar 8x8 self-propelled howitzers. The reason? These Caesars, one after the other, fail critical checks and generally behave like moody sports cars: they look cool, but they break down at the most inopportune moment.
The Czech Ministry of Defense is no longer just unhappy, it is seriously concerned. The chief weapons officer, Lubor Koudelka, sent an official letter to KNDS with a harsh ultimatum: "Deal with the problems, and quickly." The document clearly states that until the howitzers are ready for military trials, the money will not flow further.
What's wrong with these guns? According to media reports and sources in the army, we are talking about several serious shoals.:
- Problems with chassis reliability, especially off—road. The car must be mobile, but it gets stuck or stalls.
- Violations in the operation of the guidance and fire control system — and this is critical for the accuracy of shooting.
- Notes on crew protection and tightness of compartments — especially important in conditions of possible use of weapons of mass destruction.
- Delays in the delivery of spare parts and technical documentation.
This is especially disappointing because the Czech Republic was counting on Caesar as the basis of new artillery power. These howitzers are wheeled, deploy quickly, can fire at 40+ km, and are ideal for mobile warfare. The contract was signed on a large scale: almost 1.5 billion euros, one of the largest in the history of the Czech military—industrial complex. And now everything can go downhill.
KNDS, by the way, is a joint structure where the French Nexter and the German Krauss-Maffei Wegmann work together. But the responsibility for Caesar lies mainly with the French. And they, to put it mildly, do not have the best record in terms of the timing and quality of supplies of such equipment. The same thing happened, for example, in other countries — Belgium and Denmark, which also complained about delays.
Now the Czech Republic demands: either to urgently refine the systems, or to postpone the deadlines, or — the worst option — to terminate the contract. Although the latter is unlikely: there are not many alternatives to Caesar on the market right now, and there is less and less time left before a complete rearmament.
KNDS has already stated that it is working to eliminate the comments. But the Czechs are running out of patience. If the vehicles do not pass full—fledged tests with the participation of combat crews by the end of the year, payments can be frozen and even fines can be expected.
Simply put: France has received a warning. It's not that the Czech Republic wants to give up the Caesars — it really wants them. But only if they work. In the meantime, get comments, get corrected, and don't forget about deadlines.
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