From its design, one unit of self propelled howitzer TRF-1 CAESAR (Camion Equipe 'd'un Syste'me d' ARtillerie) 155 mm, can indeed be inserted into the cargo hold of the C-130 Hercules transport aircraft. Even in very tight conditions, the CAESAR 155 mm can be successfully loaded into the cargo hold of the C-130 Hercules.
And, for the first time, photos have been released showing the loading/unloading process of the Indonesian Army's CAESAR with the Indonesian Air Force's C-130 Hercules.
Quoting from the Air Squadron 31 Instagram account, one unit of SPH CAESAR successfully carried out the loading/unloading stage using the C-130HS A-1319 at Husein Sastranegara Air Base, Bandung. This activity is inseparable from the plan for the Garuda Shield 2022 exercise which will be held on August 1-14, 2022.
The mobility of the CAESAR TRF-1 certainly cannot be separated from its platform, namely the Sherpa 5 truck. For information, the 155 mm CAESAR is installed on the Renault Defense Sherpa 5 truck platform with a 6×6 drive. With the truck platform, both cannon, crew and ammunition can be carried in one unit, so they can be deployed more quickly.
The Sherpa 5 truck has been specially designed with chassis reinforcement, there is even a technology applied to the wheeled vehicle, namely CTIS (Central Tire Inflation Systems) to regulate tire pressure from inside the cabin, so that CAESAR can run on a variety of rough terrain.
In its operations, CAESAR carries a crew of 6, where for cabin matters it is equipped with anti-Nubika protection (nuclear, biological, and chemical). The body layer of this truck has also been made immune to withstand 7.62 mm caliber bullet projectiles and 80 mm caliber mortar shrapnel.
Overall, the weight of one CAESAR 155 mm unit reaches 18.5 tons, so it is still within the payload limit of the C-130 Hercules. If in the future the Airbus A400M Atlas has strengthened the Indonesian Air Force, then in one flight the aircraft can carry two CAESAR units.
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