Leonardo DRS, KNDS team up for US Army howitzer offering

AUSA 2025 — Leonardo DRS is partnering with European land defense specialist KNDS to throw their hat in the ring for the US Army’s forthcoming howitzer competition, the company announced.

The two signed a “strategic teaming agreement” to offer the Army the CAESAR self-propelled howitzer, a “combat-proven” system that Leonardo DRS said “addresses the U.S. Army’s need for greater range and improved mobility.” Though KNDS makes the CAESAR, Leonardo DRS, the US arm of Italian parent Leonardo, will be the integrator and prime for the project.

“The ability for soldiers to rapidly and reliably put artillery on target is a crucial mission the U.S. Army is addressing, and we are proud to use our deep experience in integrating best-of-breed capabilities to support this future mission,” Aaron Hankins, senior vice president and general manager of the Leonardo DRS Land Systems business unit, said in the company announcement on Monday.

The US Army’s quest for a new long-range artillery has progressed in fits and starts in recent years, most recently waiting through a months-long pause as the Army was “re-evaluating” its needs under the wide-ranging Army Transformation Initiative. Before the pause, Army officials had embarked on a globe-trotting tour to examine existing self-propelled howitzers, seeing at least five companies’ wares, though KNDS was not listed among them at the time.

But late last month the Army posted a fresh request for information, stating, “Comprehensive analysis has confirmed the importance of 155mm self-propelled artillery system-of-systems to the Army.”

The Leonardo DRS-KNDS team-up will likely face stiff competition from other artillery makers, including the five firms the Army singled out last year for demonstrations: Germany’s Rheinmetall, Israel’s Elbit, Britain’s BAE, South Korea’s Hanwha and America’s General Dynamics. For the foreign companies, however, it appears the Army could require a local partner or facilities.

Though the Army said “the scope and organization of a soldier experiment for self-propelled artillery is still being defined,” the September RFP suggested that the service is primarily looking for US-made and -manufactured solutions.

For example, the RFI directs respondents to “provide a summary of your current supply chain and current suppliers used in the USA, including a map of major supplier locations. Highlight major supplier locations outside of the USA.”