{"id":71313,"date":"2025-10-14T18:41:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T18:41:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2025\/10\/14\/leonardo-drs-knds-team-up-on-caesar-bid-for-army-cannon\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T01:27:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T01:27:10","slug":"leonardo-drs-knds-team-up-on-caesar-bid-for-army-cannon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/land\/2025\/10\/14\/leonardo-drs-knds-team-up-on-caesar-bid-for-army-cannon\/","title":{"rendered":"Leonardo DRS, KNDS team up on Caesar bid for Army cannon"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Leonardo DRS and KNDS have shaken hands on a strategic teaming agreement to offer the CAESAR Self-Propelled Howitzer to the U.S. Army as a possible Mobile Tactical Cannon<\/a> as the service continues to evaluate what it wants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe team intends to present the U.S. Army with the CAESAR Self-Propelled Howitzer, a combat-proven and reliable system that addresses the U.S. Army\u2019s needs for greater range and improved mobility,\u201d the company announced in a statement at the Association of the U.S. Army\u2019s annual conference<\/a>. \u201cIt is a powerful and combat-proven system built for accuracy, adaptability and rapid worldwide deployment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leonardo DRS, with its deep experience in platform integration, will be the prime contractor, and KNDS will provide its mobile artillery systems experience and range of ammunition, the statement notes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Army has not been clear about whether it plans to pursue a mobile, long-range artillery capability, but it continues to comb industry worldwide for possible options. It even recently invited companies to submit systems the service could consider providing to soldiers in operational units as a part of ongoing evaluations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the service has been slow to move out, the requirement to improve mobile artillery capability in the Army still exists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe ability for soldiers to rapidly and reliably put artillery on target is a crucial mission the U.S. Army is addressing, and we are proud to use our deep experience in integrating best-of-breed capabilities to support this future mission,\u201d Aaron Hankins, senior vice president and general manager of the Leonardo DRS Land Systems business unit, said in the statement. \u201cBy teaming with KNDS, we are offering the service a mature, accurate, and high-performing solution.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The CAESAR howitzer is \u201cparticularly suited to address the challenges that warfighters will face in the coming decades,\u201d said Olivier Travert, chief sales officer of KNDS France.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company\u2019s 52-caliber ordnance \u201chas a superb, demonstrated safety record in combat conditions, in all climates, after firing hundreds of thousands of rounds,\u201d Travert added. \u201cThe lessons learned in three years of combat in Ukraine \u2014 where 120 CAESAR are now deployed, provides us an outstanding position to offer the United States Army a state-of-the-art weapon which can be integrated on a U.S. tactical truck.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The service has been evaluating options for nearly five years. It held demonstrations for self-propelled howitzers in 2021 at Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona, but decided to prioritize an investment in the development of its Extended Range Cannon Artillery, or ERCA, system, which it canceled in 2024<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\t