The Ministry of National Defence of the Republic of Lithuania Lietuvos Respublikos Krašto Apsaugos Minister) will be repairing Panzerhaubitze 2000 self-propelled howitzers for the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The howitzers will likely be repaired at Lithuania Defense Services (LDS). A 12,000sqm maintenance and logistics center was created in June 2022 by Rheinmetall and Krauss-Maffei Wegmann. The enterprise is capable to service Boxer and PUMA armored vehicles, Bergepanzer armored repair and evacuation vehicles, various versions of Leopard-2 main battle tanks, and 155-mm Panzerhaubitze 2000 self-propelled howitzers.
On 21 June 2022, twelve Panzerhaubitze 2000s were deployed to Ukraine; seven came from Germany and five from the Netherlands. After a couple of weeks of intensive use, the guns required repairs, as they are designed and built to fire no more than 100 shots a day. This came about due to error messages that were being displayed. Ukraine has also fired “special ammunition at too great a distance.” Germany considers 100 shots a day “a high-intensity mission”. Ukraine has constantly exceeded this number. This has stressed the loading mechanism. The German Armed Forces has sent spare parts while a repair facility in Poland is being established to repair the weapons.
In 2015, Lithuania acquired 21 PzH2000s from German Armed Foces stocks, 16 of which are intended for combat, two for gunnery and driving training in addition to three for spare parts cannibalisation. In addition, 26 M557 command post vehicles and six BERGEPANZER 2 armoured recovery vehicles (based on Leopard 1) were procured. The NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) delivered the last overhauled PzH 2000 self-propelled howitzer to the Lithuanian Armed Forces in mid-March. The joint project team from it and the Lithuanian Armed Forces led the procurement project. This included the implementation of a new fire control system as part of the howitzer overhaul
The Panzerhaubitze 2000 abbreviated PzH 2000, is a German 155 mm self-propelled howitzer developed by Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) and Rheinmetall for the German Army. It is capable of a very high rate of fire; in burst mode it can fire three rounds in nine seconds, ten rounds in 56 seconds, and can—depending on barrel heating—fire between 10 and 13 rounds per minute continuously. The PzH 2000 has automatic support for up to five rounds of Multiple Round Simultaneous Impact (MRSI). Two operators can load 60 shells and propelling charges in less than 12 minutes. The PzH 2000 equips the armies of Italy, Ukraine, Netherlands, Greece, Lithuania, Hungary, Qatar and Croatia.
??Lithuania's military support to ??Ukraine continues. Howitzers with battlefield injuries are on their way to Lithuania, where we will organise their repair. At the same time, our M113 armoured personnel carriers continue their journey to the battlefield in??. ????? ?? ????????! pic.twitter.com/c93xCxMdJR
— Lithuanian MOD ?? (@Lithuanian_MoD) September 16, 2022
