The currently best howitzer in Ukraine (on both sides) is the French CAESAR.
The reason is that the CAESAR arrived with its fire control system (FCS) intact and working.
It's FCS enables the CAESAR to stop, emplace via GPS, fire, and depart in under 3 minutes.
1/n
Modern FCS tie into an army's artillery command and control (C2) system to receive target information.
Some of NATO's artillery C2 systems are:
🇺🇸 AFATDS
🇩🇪 ADLER II
🇵🇱 TOPAZ
🇫🇷 ATLAS
🇮🇹 SIF (photo)
russia would love to gain access & hack these systems. 2/n
Therefore FCS systems are classified as secret.
Some of the older howitzers delivered to Ukraine didn't have an integrated FCS and therefore were delivered to Ukraine quickly: i.e. Norwegian M109A3GN and Italian FH70.
Ukraine now uses its own GIS Arta C2 system to calculate 3/n
the fire missions for these systems.
The US, Australia & Canada use the M777A2, which unlike the M777, has a FCS that allows for quickly emplacing the gun, receiving target information, & correcting fire.
Photo: a Marine gun chief looks at the targeting data for his M777A2.
3/n
All of the A2 components were removed from the M777 donated to Ukraine to ensure russia would not capture one.
This is also the reason the German Army reprogrammed the PzH 2000 software from connecting to ADLER II to connecting to GIS Arta. 4/n
However the CAESAR arrived with its FCS suite intact. In a short video released by the Ukrainian Military we can see that the Ukrainian CAESAR use the newest touch screen FCS version.
This confirms that these CAESAR were originally destined for Morocco, which ordered 36x of
5/n
the newest version, but without the integration of ATLAS.
And as Nexter had to translate the FCS into English for the US Army's currently ongoing wheeled howitzer competition I assume that Ukrainians use the English software version.
6/n
The inclusion of the complete FCS, the semi-automatic loading, the automatic ramming, the GPS-aided emplacing, the longest barrel (52 calibers) and the largest charge chamber make the CAESAR the fastest, most accurate, and furthest firing howitzer on both sides...
7/n
until the even better German PzH 2000 arrives, which will then have to compete with the Slovak Zuzana 2 for the crown of best artillery system in Ukraine.
8/n
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Gripen fans continue to spam my mention with claims how fantastic Sweden's Bas 90 and Gripen combination is... and that it would work for Canada's North too...
Ok, let's quickly compare Canada's three northern territories (Yukon, Northwest, Nunavut) and Sweden... ... 1/6
Land area:
🇸🇪 450,295 km2 (173,860 sq mi)
🇨🇦 terr.: 3,593,589 km2 (173,860 sq mi)
The land area of just the three territories (without Canada's 10 provinces) is already 8 times bigger than all of Sweden...
(In total Canada's land area is 9,984,670 km2
2/6
(3,855,100 sq mi) or 22 times Sweden).
Population:
🇸🇪 10.61 million
🇨🇦 terr.: 0.13 million
Sweden's population is 81.6 times bigger than that of the three territories... and if you look at population density:
🇸🇪 23,6/km2
🇨🇦 terr.: 0,013/km2
3/6
Saab loooves to tout the claim that the Gripen can "operate from dispersed air bases".
They do that, because they know no one of you knows what it means. And every time I see someone regurgite "dispersed air bases" (or "road runways" or "short runways") I know I am dealing
1/36
with someone, who knows absolutely nothing about the topic.
So allow me to take you on a deep dive into what "operating from dispersed air bases" actually means.
Let's start with Såtenäs Air Base in Southern Sweden - the most important Swedish air base. 2/n
When the Viggen entered service, Såtenäs received it first.
When the Gripen entered service, Såtenäs received it first.
When the Gripen E entered service, Såtenäs received it first.
In the 1950s Sweden developed the Bas 60 system, which would have dispersed the Swedish 3/n
The 11th Airborne Division is the least likely to be used to invade #Greenland.
The division's deputy commander is Canadian. He is responsible for Operations. The 11th would have to arrest part of their own officers, before being able to plan a Greenland invasion.
Also
1/6
there are just 8 C-17 Globemaster aircraft at Elmendorf Air Force Base. The USAF would need to fly a dozen more up to Alaska, which of course Canada would notice. Then to reach Greenland the C-17 would have to cross Canada's North, which NORAD's Canadian officers would report
2/6
to the Canadian and Danish governments.
It is much more likely the US will inform allies that a brigade of the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg will fly to the Middle East, which means the air route will take them right over Greenland. And at Fort Bragg you also have the
3/6
This is a typical clown tweet by someone, who knows nothing about WWII.
3 years before D-Day, the Soviets & nazis were in a love-feast, while the US had not entered the war; & when it did it had to cross an ocean full of nazi submarines to stage troops & materiel for D-Day.
1/14
And unlike the warmongering Soviets, which in June 1941 fielded 304 divisions, the US Army fielded just 37 divisions when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor (+ two Marine Corps divisions).
Before any D-Day the US Army had to start forming new divisions (38 in 1942 and 17 in 1943) &
2/n
then ship those divisions across the Atlantic, which was teeming with German subs, while the Soviets just used trains to bring troops and materiel to the front (& if the Soviet had had to ship troops across an ocean, they would have just accepted that a third of their troops
3/n
The @RoyalAirForce - once the strongest air force in Western Europe... but now...
7 Eurofighter Typhoon squadrons are expected to fulfill the tasks, for which 35 years ago the RAF fielded 40 squadrons (31 active & 4 reserve + 5 shadow squadrons, which would have been formed
1/27
from the personnel & fighters of the RAF's operational conversion units).
At the end of the Cold War these 40 squadrons were assigned to 4 commands, each with a specific mission & enough aircraft to fulfill their mission.
No. 1 Group was tasked with striking Soviet forces
2/27
in Northern Germany, including with WE.177 tactical nukes.
The Group fielded 8 active, 4 reserve and 2 shadow squadrons, which flew Tornado GR1, Jaguar GR1A, and Harrier GR5 fighters (the reserve squadrons flew Hawk T1A). The group also included the RAF's 3 aerial
3/27
Since there are still people claiming the Gripen is the "ideal fighter for Canada"... here are the refueling stops the Gripen C/D needed to get from Ronneby in Sweden to Eielson Air Base in Alaska.
So of course this is an "ideal fighter" for Canada... as it will have to stop 1/5
at every Canadian airfield to refuel...
For the curious ones:
On 13 July 2006 five Gripen C and two Gripen D left
their base in Ronneby Sweden. They refueled at RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland, then flew to NAS Keflavik in Iceland, where they refueled and stayed overnight.
2/5
On 14 July the Gripens flew to Sondre Stromfjord in Greenland for another refueling, then proceeded to RCAF Iqualuit in Canada for refueling and the night.
On 15 July the Gripens flew to Churchill, refuelled and then flew to RCAF Cold Lake, where they spent 16 July to rest.
3/5