The Budget Committee of the German federal parliament (Bundestag) has approved the purchase of ten PzH 2000 self-propelled howitzers. This is the first step in replacing the vehicles given to Ukraine. The order value for the new Panzerhaubitzen 2000 is 184 million euros, which is why Parliament has to approve the investment. All procurement contracts that have an order value of more than 25 million euros must be submitted to the Budget Committee for approval. The new self-propelled howitzers are financed via the individual plan 60 of the federal budget. This is where the funds for the upgrading initiative are located.The new howitzers are to be delivered to the troops in 2025 and 2026.
Together with Sweden – as the lead project partner – a further 227 vehicles are to be procured as part of the “New generation over-snow vehicle/Collaborative All-Terrain Vehicle” (CATV) project. The costs amount to around 919 million euros. The first copies are to be delivered from November 2025. All vehicles should be there by 2030. The procurement is financed via the special fund for the German Armed Forces. The vehicles are to be part of a cooperation between Sweden, Germany and the United Kingdom are procured. This cooperation is based on an international agreement – also known as a memorandum of understanding – on multinational cooperation on off-road vehicles dated March 5, 2020.
The Panzerhaubitze 2000 (PzH 2000), is a German 155 mm self-propelled howitzer developed by Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) and Rheinmetall in the 1980s and 1990s 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. Rheinmetall designed the 155 mm 52-calibre JBMOU compliant rifled gun (60-rifles, right-hand spiral), Wegmann supplied both the chassis, sharing some components with the Leopard 2, and the turret for the gun.
The BvS10 (Bandvagn Skyddad 10) is a tracked articulated amphibious all-terrain armoured vehicle produced by BAE Systems Land Systems Hägglunds of Sweden. The BvS10 is similar to Hägglunds earlier Bandvagn 206 or Bv 206S. It is a much larger vehicle based upon the characteristic twin-cab typical of Hägglunds all-terrain vehicles. On 23 November 2022, Sweden gave notice on the direct award of a £600m framework order for an initial 436 units of an improved BV410 model with higher mine protection and load capacity for use as troop transport, logistics and communication. It will be procured in five national variants 236 on behalf of Sweden, 140 for Germany and 60 for the United Kingdom with the option to extend the contract to include further countries or orders.
