Artillery: Thanks to artificial intelligence, CAESAR will fire faster and use half as many shells

In February 2022, Jean Casteaux, then Prime Minister, took advantage of a visit to the Nexter factory in Roane, to announce the notification of a 600 million euro contract for the development of CAESAR (truck equipped with 155 mm artillery of the new generation). system) (also called CASR Mk II).

In detail, this future version of CAESAR must have a better protected cabin, a more powerful engine (460 hp compared to 215), a new chassis and improved fire control software.

Since then, thirty first-generation CAESAr (or Mk I) have been delivered to the Ukrainian military… and, on behalf of the Army, the General Directorate of Armaments has ordered 109 CAESAR NGs from Nexter Systems (KNDS France). About 350 million euros. But this future version will benefit from new contributions that were not announced early in its development.

In late December, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense announced that it needed more CAESAr Mk Is, before clarifying that it intended to improve their capabilities using artificial intelligence (AI). And with this objective “to reduce the use of ammunition to target and hit the target by 30%”.

A month later, at the launch of the “Artillery for Ukraine” coalition co-led by France and the United States, the Minister of Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu, indicated that the Helsing IA group was an expert in AI algorithms. A military application, CAESAR was just commissioned to improve its precision. Other French companies capable of making “disruptive proposals” have since been approached.

However, AI is not the only technology that will improve CAESAR’s capabilities. During a press briefing by the Ministry of the Armed Forces in January, General Jean-Michel Guillotton, appointed head of this “artillery” coalition, explained that efforts will be made in terms of information systems and command, target acquisition, drones and electronic warfare. .

One of the possible uses of AI (which has not been formally confirmed by the Ministry of Armed Forces) could be based on “computer vision”, which allows machines to recognize and “understand” images from a video stream.

In any case, the data collected during the engagement of the Ukrainian CAESARs (or in other circumstances) can be more easily exploited thanks to AI.

Thus, on February 23, on Radio Classic, the CEO of Nexter Systems, Nicolas Chamussi, explained that AI will make it possible to “dig” into the mass of data accumulated over the years to improve the design of its “products”. (including, obviously, CAESAr) and to make maintenance in operational condition (MCO) more effective – and therefore their availability – thanks to predictive maintenance. A third application, he continued, would be to reduce the OODA loop (Observe, Orient, Decide and Act), meaning “the time between when we’ve got something and the moment where we actually fire the cannon.”

As for the accuracy of CAESAR, Mr. Lecornu said a little more about it during a conference organized by the magazine Le Grand Continent on February 20. According to a report by the Institute of Advanced National Defense Studies (IHEDN), the minister hinted that “enhancement of artificial intelligence in CASR” would make it possible to “almost halve the number of ammunition used.”

Less shell consumption implies better precision… and this has other implications, especially on the logistics chain, but also (and above all) on tube wear (less precise, even dangerous, after 10,000 rounds fired), and therefore the MCO