The Federal Government of Germany agreed to the sale to Ukraine of 18 RCH-155 self-propelled artillery units, which Kyiv requested two months ago. This is stated in the information published in the publication from Germany, Welt am Sonntag.
According to the German publication, the contract for the supply of 18 wheeled howitzers with Krauss-Maffei Wegmann is valued at EUR 216 million. It was discussed by the heads of defense authorities of Ukraine and Germany, Oleksii Reznikov and Christine Lambrecht, back in mid-July.
As sources from the Ukrainian side informed Welt am Sonntag, the issue of the sale of the RCH-155 was raised several times in the dialogue between Kyiv and Berlin, but the latter did not give any answer for weeks.
On Friday, Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany Andrii Melnyk confirmed that the German government had given the green light to the sale of the RCH-155.
“This will be a significant contribution to strengthening the effectiveness of the Ukrainian military. I hope that the federal government will continue to consistently follow this path,” the diplomat said, adding that he hoped for the approval of further similar contracts.
It is expected that deliveries of the RCH-155 will be ready no earlier than 30 months after the conclusion of the contract – that is, as early as 2025. The manufacturer did not want to start the production of self-propelled guns before obtaining the government’s consent.
As the “Militarnyi” portal clarifies, the RCH-155 is a wheeled self-propelled artillery systems. It has an L52 gun with a claimed range of up to 54 kilometers with high-precision V-LAP rounds at a rate of nine rounds per minute.
The 39-ton self-propelled vehicle can reach speeds of up to 100 km/h and provide up to 700 kilometers of mileage on one refueling.