Ukraine will receive French TRF1 howitzers from France. This is reported by the French media. The French newspaper L’Opinion cited a source in the French defense ministry.
The TRF1 is a French towed howitzer that can, however, move independently. The maximum speed it can reach is 8 km/h. The TRF1 has been withdrawn from the French Army inventory. Before retirement, 105 howitzers were used by French gunners. Sources claim that as of 2016 there are only 12 active units. Effectively, the Caesar self-propelled howitzer replaces the TRF1.
GIAT [Nexter now] was the manufacturer of this type of howitzer. Production lasted nine years – from 1984 to 1993. A few years earlier, in 1979, the TRF1 was officially introduced to the world. This happened at the SATORY arms show.
The howitzer has semi-automatic loading. The crew of the howitzer consists of seven people. The ammunition is transported by a military transport vehicle model Renault TRM 10000. The vehicle can transport up to 48 shells.
The maximum range of the TRF1 is 24 km. It uses a variety of projectiles, mostly of the conventional type. However, if the howitzer fires active-reactive projectiles, the range increases by another six km, i.e. 30 km. The TRF1 can fire up to six rounds per minute, something of a standard in France’s towed howitzers.
In April of this year, France announced that it was supplying Ukraine with 12 Caesar self-propelled wheeled howitzers. According to open sources from Ukraine, howitzers are already actively used in hostilities.
BulgarianMilitary.com wrote earlier in August that Ukraine actively uses the US-supplied M982 Excalibur artillery projectile. A Ukrainian journalist managed to film the entire process of preparation and shooting with this type of projectile. In the video, the Ukrainians are using the M982 Excalibur with a towed M777 howitzer.
The US has delivered at least 1,000 units of the projectile to Ukraine. Canada is also said to have supplied Ukraine with the M982 Excalibur.