Germany approves sale of RCH-155 howitzers to Ukraine
The $216 million deal includes 18 RCH-155 howitzers and spare parts for them, manufactured by Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW). First delivery is expected in 2025, as KMW was reluctant to begin production before Berlin confirmed the howitzers could be sold to Ukraine.
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Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov discussed the sale of modern German-made weapons with his German counterpart Christine Lambrecht in July.
Ukraine’s Ambassador to Germany, Andriy Melnyk, announced Germany’s approval of RCH-155 sale on Sept. 16.
“This will be a major contribution to the might of the Ukrainian army,” Melnyk said.
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“I hope the German government will continue along this path.”
According to the ambassador, the deal could potentially expand to include up to 100 of KMW’s howitzers.
RCH-155 is a highly-mobile self-propelled howitzer with the range of 54 kilometers, capable of covering 700 kilometers of distance with the top speed of 100 km/h.
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However, Germany declined supplying Ukraine with Leopard-2 main battle tanks on Sept. 12, since “no country has yet provided modern MBTs to Ukraine.”
Berlin later added it would take a long time to train Ukrainian crews to operate Leopard-2 tanks.
Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
