Ukraine, however, is to receive shorter-range gmlrs rockets. The m142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, known as himars, can fire a munition called atacms a staggering 300km. On May 31st America announced it would send Ukraine guided rocket systems. Nexter plans to introduce one such in 2025.Ī far more expensive approach is to put rocket engines on shells. Some shells are also designed with pop-out fins large enough to provide a “gliding phase” of flight. That reduces drag-inducing turbulence enough to add several kilometres to a projectile’s range. In flight, this gizmo releases compressed gas that fills what would otherwise be a trailing area of low pressure. For long shots, a ring-shaped “base bleed” device is often screwed onto the bottom of a shell. And to give shells more time to gain speed, a caesar’s gun barrel is, at just over eight metres, about two metres longer than the trf1’s. (The recipe for this is closely guarded.) To stop energy from the blast escaping through the barrel’s rifling grooves, shells are fitted with a ring of softer metal that creates a tight seal. To contain this propellant’s explosion, the chamber is made of a stronger steel alloy than is used in the trf1. At 23 litres, it is roughly four litres larger than the trf1’s chamber and can thus be packed with about 30kg of propellant. The secret of caesar’s range is its detonation chamber-the part of the gun where the propulsive charge explodes. So far, France has anted-up five or six of a promised dozen caesar howitzers, enabling Ukrainian crews to smash targets 50% farther away than they could manage just a few weeks ago. This can hurl shells about 40km, which is 16km farther than the firm’s previous model, the trf1, could manage. Top of the list at the moment is the French caesar system (pictured above), made by Nexter, a firm in Versailles. And Ukraine is pinning many of its hopes of doing so on the sophisticated guns and ammunition it is receiving from well-wishers in the West. Whoever wins this duel will therefore probably win the war.

Calibre software weather maker