Germany: Berlin approves sale of 100 PzH-2000 howitzers to Ukraine for 1.7 billion euros

Having in particular, before the war with Russia, self-propelled howitzers 2S22 Bohdana, the Ukrainian artillery has been significantly reinforced thanks to Western aid, which has enabled it, in recent weeks, to rebalance the balance of power against its Russian counterpart in the Donbass and Kherson regions.

As a reminder, the Ukrainian army is now using M777 guns, M109, AHS Krab and Caesar self-propelled howitzers as well as M270 and M142 HIMARS the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System. And, as of the beginning of this month, it also has twelve PzH-2000 howitzers, seven of which were supplied by Germany and five by the Netherlands.

However, last April, it was reported that Krauss-Maffei Wegmann had offered to sell to Kyiv at least 100 PzH-2000 for an amount of 1.7 billion euros , this sum also covering the support and training of Ukrainian gunners. As a reminder, mounted on tracks, the PzH-2000 has a Rheinmetall 155 mm gun that can fire at a rate of nine to ten rounds per minute. Depending on the ammunition used, its range is approximately 30 to 50 km.

Only, the German industrialist was then not able to deliver these artillery pieces to the Ukrainian army immediately. Hence his suggestion to take some from the inventory of the German armed forces, even if it means replacing them later from 2024. This did not happen without arousing some reluctance within the across the Rhine.

“For deliveries from Bundeswehr stocks, I must honestly say that we have in the meantime reached a limit“, had indeed explained Christine Lambrecht, the German Minister of Defense, before arguing that Germany should “maintain its capacity for action and be able to guarantee its defense as well as that of the Atlantic] Alliance”.

Anyway, and according to information from the weekly Der Spiegel and the Reuters agency, Robert Habeck, the German Minister of Economy, ended up approving this sale of 100 PzH -2000 to Ukraine, on July 13th. However, it is not known whether or not examples will be taken from the Deutches Heer park, or when deliveries will begin. In any case, this order should take several years to be honored in its entirety.

This purchase of PzH-2000 by Ukraine comes on top of the order for around fifty ASH Krab self-propelled howitzers, placed in June with Poland, for approximately 650 million euros.

Image: KMW