It was time ! According to an article by Michel Cabirol in La Tribune , the Minister of the Armed Forces will soon validate in the interministerial investment committee the acquisition of 54 2 mm 2R120M automatic mortars built by Thales. These systems will equip dedicated Griffon VBMRs, in order to benefit from the protection and mobility offered by the new French armored vehicle, while offering exceptional speed for setting up, firing and departure of vehicles.
It should be remembered that today, the French armies have fewer than 120 artillery “tubes”, including only 77 CAESAR self-propelled guns, the rest being represented by 120mm mortars towed by VAB and a few Unitary Rocket Launchers. In essence, this is the lowest number of artillery systems in service in the French armies since the fall of the old regime, while artillery has always been one of the areas of excellence of the French armies. This year again, the Caesars of Task Force Wagram brought capabilities envied by all the allies present in Iraq and Syria, before being withdrawn from the theater of operation, after having fired more than 18.000 shells during 2400 missions.
Even if the LPM 2019-2025 recorded an order for 32 CAESARs in heavy version to replace the AUF1 self-propelled guns which have been unfit for combat for several years, the number of tubes will remain limited for the Army, with 107 CAESARs, 13 LRUs and 54 Mortar Griffons, i.e. a ratio of 1 self-propelled tube per 450 men belonging to the FOT, where Russia lines up more than 1 for 200, China 1 for 300 and the US Army 1 for 260, each of these countries employing , in addition, as many towed systems.