Artillery and air defense systems: Germany allocates a new military aid package
16 February, 2024 Panzerhaubitze (PzH) 2000 self-propelled gun. Photo from open sources Germany has allocated a new military aid package for Ukraine worth EUR1.1 billion, which includes howitzers, anti-aircraft systems, and ammunition.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced this during a joint press conference with President Volodymyr Zelenskyi. The German Chancellor said that Germany had provided military aid to Ukraine in the amount of EUR1.7 billion next year and another EUR6 billion in the following years. The announced tranche of EUR1.1 billion should include:
- 36 self-propelled tracked and wheeled howitzers (probably PzH 2000 and RCH 155)
- 120 thousand rounds of artillery ammunition
- 2 Skynex air defense systems
- Missile for IRIS-T SLS air defense systems
Scholz noted that the above-mentioned artillery systems will be transferred from the production stocks of the manufacturing companies.
Since 2022, the Ukrainian troops have been successfully operating several dozen 155-mm PzH 2000 self-propelled howitzers, which were donated by Germany, the Netherlands, and Italy as part of military aid. Ukraine has also signed a contract for 18 RCH 155 self-propelled artillery systems, the first of which are expected to arrive in the Ukrainian military only at the end of 2024.
The delivery is expected to be completed in 2025.
Ukraine is the first customer of RCH 155 self-propelled artillery systems and will be one of the first to receive Skynex short-range air defense systems.
None of the manufacturing companies have stocks of these systems that suggests that most of the announced weapons will be delivered over a long period of time.