The upgrade of the C1 howitzer to the C3 was done by a company in the Netherlands called RDM. The process and many of the parts were patented by RDM. Around 2004 RDM went bankrupt. Their intellectual property and tools, spares and service contracts were bought up by a company called Nedefco . . . who promptly went bankrupt not long after. By 2006 we were having several problems, particulalry in the recoil cylinder which was a different and heavier duty one than the original. The IP was by this point in time in complete limbo. By that time roughly 1/3 of our fleet was non operational. Still good for dry training but not live firing.
A roughly concurrent problem was that around this time there was the introduction of the C132 105mm HEER (HE extended range) round. The previous rounds had used a copper-bronze driving band; the new ones had a driving band made of sintered iron. Unfortunately this round's propellant also played havoc on both the LG1 and the C3's progressive rifling wearing barrels out very quickly (as quickly as 600 rds of Zone 2 (high zone) on the LG1). Tests showed the accuracy of the C3 with C132 rounds was dropping fast. Long story short, just as we were getting ready to go to Kandahar we were in a world of hurt for guns.