At the MSPO 2026 defense fair in Kielce, Poland, KNDS and the domestic WB Group signed a memorandum of understanding on integrating the light artillery system 105 mm LG with the fire-control system Topaz for the Polish armed forces. KNDS announced this last Friday as “the return of light artillery.” In the past decades, 105 mm artillery guns have increasingly been displaced by capable 120 mm mortars on one hand and lighter 155 mm guns on the other.
The 105 mm LG1 was developed in the 1980s by the then French company Giat (later Nexter, then KNDS) as a lightweight gun for export markets. With a mass of 1,485 to 1,650 kilograms in firing position, it is considered one of the lightest in the world. The barrel is 30 calibers long (3.15 meters), the traverse range on the single-axle split-trail carriage is plus/minus 18 degrees, the elevation range from minus three to plus 70 degrees. For march, the barrel is swung 180 degrees over the trails, reducing the overall length from 6.60 to 5.32 meters.
There is still a niche for 105-mm artillery
With a crew of three to five men, the gun can fire eight to sixteen rounds of 13-kilogram mass per minute (a salvo of six rounds in 15 seconds) up to 15 kilometers, and up to 17 kilometers with base-bleed rounds. This still surpasses the firing range of 120 mm mortars, which, although considerably lighter, fire rounds of a similar mass in the eight-to-thirteen-kilometer range. By contrast, the weight of 155 mm guns with significantly better firing performance, such as the American M777, starts at around four tons.
By contrast, the 105 mm LG can be transported not only under a UH-60 Black Hawk but also under a UH-1 Iroquois as an external load or towed by a 4×4 pickup. In total, around 280 guns were procured by Saudi Arabia (91), Colombia (40), Singapore (39), Thailand (36) and in smaller numbers by Belgium, Indonesia, Canada, Malaysia, Rwanda and Senegal. It was also tested by Australia, France and the United States. Details about its planned use in Poland have not been disclosed to date, but deployment is probably with the 6th Airborne Brigade.
