PzH 2000, RCH 155, Zuzana 2 and soon also 2S22 Bohdana? There are growing indications that Germany may soon be financing a small number of Ukrainian-made self-propelled artillery systems.
Already back in October 2024, I reported that the German government was considering directly financing Ukrainian-made military equipment and now, some three months later, the people responsible seem to have made a decision.
On the fringes of the first UDCG meeting of 2025 at the Ramstein Air Base, Minister of Defence Boris Pistorius announced that Germany would now finance Ukrainian armaments in the future. “This will enable Ukraine to receive the material more quickly and at the same time we are strengthening their industry” said Pistorius.
According to him, the German Ministry of Defence will first review the funding requested by Ukraine, before approving it, which, however, is certainly part of the standard practice.
Even if the direct financing of Ukrainian-made armaments based on the Danish model is long overdue and a step in the right direction, this does not necessarily indicate the procurement of the 2S22 Bohdana, does it?
Not directly, but an SPIEGEL article published on the same day could indicate this.
Both Minister of Defence Boris Pistorius and Minister of Foreign Affairs Annalena Baerbock are apparently campaigning for an additional budget of approximately €3 billion, which is to be used for the military assistance of Ukraine.
According to SPIEGEL, it is about urgent needs that were not foreseeable in earlier plans by the government. According to my interpretation, this is therefore aimed at financing military assistance, which will be delivered to Ukraine as quickly as possible and not in a few years’ time.
Interestingly, in addition to further air defence systems and ammunition, the Ministry of Defence’s list of needs from the AFU also includes 10 wheeled howitzers!
Various options
Since the exact model is not mentioned, there are of course various options, although conversely, it also means that some systems, i.e. all tracked artillery systems, cannot be meant, which limits the available options.
The most likely candidates are the German RCH 155, the Slovakian Zuzana 2 and of course the Ukrainian 2S22 Bohdana. However, I still don’t believe that additional RCH 155s or Zuzana 2s are meant with that description.
As things stand, Germany has already pledged 54 RCH 155s to Ukraine and only today ceremoniously transferred the first one to Ukrainian ownership, which means that the production lines for the coming years are already full.
A delivery — if further units are ordered — could therefore not take place until 2028 at the earliest. Apart from that, the RCH 155s have so far been announced in three different batches of 18 units each. Taken together, I think it is therefore unlikely that the RCH 155 would be financed with the additional budget.
In the same way, I consider a further procurement of the Zuzana 2 to be very unlikely. Germany, together with Denmark and Norway, already ordered 16 of them from Slovakia for Ukraine back in 2022.
However, the whole project has been extremely delayed. Just two of them have been delivered so far — in 2023! Last year, not a single Zuzana 2 was delivered, which allegedly had to do with the Slovakian government’s pro-Russian stance. In my opinion, it is therefore also very unlikely that additional money will be invested into the procurement of these Slovakian-made howitzers.
I also consider other wheeled self-propelled artillery systems like the Swedish Archer or the French CAESAR to be very unlikely and have therefore ruled them out, as I would see no point in Germany financing these systems given the best alternative — the Ukrainian 2S22 Bohdana.
Everything just seems to add up to me. On the one hand, the procurement of the aforementioned artillery systems in this context makes no sense to me, and on the other hand, Germany’s Minister of Defence announced on the same day that they would directly finance Ukrainian armaments in the future.
After all, the 2S22 Bohdana is a powerful howitzer that can be produced very quickly at a very low price.
It is estimated that around 20 units are now being produced each month, while the price for a single system is only around €2 million to €3 million, which is around half the price of a single Zuzana 2 which Germany, Denmark, and Norway have financed in Slovakia.
The best example of why the procurement would make sense and is honestly the best option was given by Denmark.
Germany’s neighbouring country, which is rightly praised for its support of Ukraine very regularly, ordered 18 of the Ukrainian self-propelled artillery systems in July 2024. The deliveries have completed after just two months, which would be unthinkable with many alternatives.
To summarise, I’m absolutely convinced that in the context of quickly available assistance and that Germany now finances Ukrainian-made armaments, the 10 wheeled howitzers mentioned in the SPIEGEL article can really only refer to the procurement of the 2S22 Bohdana.
In the end, however, this is of course just a theory, just an opinion and not proof. It therefore remains to be seen whether the additional funding of around €3 billion will be approved because only then will we probably get an answer to the question of whether Germany really wants to finance Ukrainian howitzers for the first time ever.
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