Rheinmetall and Elbit Systems conduct live-fire demonstration of 10×10…

Rheinmetall and Elbit Systems conducted a live-fire demonstration of an automated 155 mm L52 10×10 SPH in March at the Shivta firing range in southern Israel. (Rheinmetall)

Rheinmetall and Elbit Systems announced in a joint press release on 16 May that they had conducted a live-fire demonstration of an automated 155 mm L52 10×10 self-propelled howitzer (SPH) at the beginning of March at the Shivta firing range in southern Israel. The two companies signed a co-operation agreement to develop, produce, and market a European fully automated wheeled 155 mm howitzer.

The test firing was witnessed by high-level military officials from Germany, whose armed forces are running the Future System, Indirect Fire, Medium-Range (Zukünftiges System Indirektes Feuer – Mittlere Reichweite: ZukSysIndF) programme, and the United Kingdom, which is seeking a Mobile Fires Platform (MFP) to replace its AS90 tracked SPHs. Also witnessing the test firing were high-level officials from the armed forces of the Netherlands and Hungary, which like the Bundeswehr operate the Panzerhaubitze (PzH) 2000 tracked SPH.

Israel is among the countries that have contracted Elbit for fully automated wheeled SPH programmes, according to the press release. Rheinmetall officials said at the company's Berlin Talks press briefings in December 2022 that the Israel Ministry of Defense had contracted the company in 2019 to develop and deliver over 100 fully automatic truck-mounted artillery systems to the Israel Defense Forces.

Rheinmetall and Elbit reported that integration of the German company's L52 155 mm gun into the Israeli company's fully automated artillery turret is in an advanced phase of the verification process and that bilateral technology transfer is under way. Rheinmetall is customising the system so it meets European operational and German regulatory requirements.