The PzH 2000 equips the armies of Germany, Italy, Ukraine, Netherlands, Greece, Lithuania, Hungary, Qatar, and Croatia, mostly replacing older systems such as the M109 howitzer.

[6] In 1986, Italy, the United Kingdom and Germany agreed to terminate their existing development of the PzH 155-1 (SP70) programme, which had run into reliability problems and had design defects, notably being mounted on a modified tank chassis.

Rheinmetall designed the 155 mm 52-calibre JBMOU compliant rifled gun (60-rifles, right-hand spiral), which is chromium-lined over its entire 8 m length and includes a muzzle brake on the end.

In December 2013, Raytheon and the German Army completed compatibility testing for the M982 Excalibur extended range guided artillery shell with the PzH 2000.

In 2021, Germany and the Netherlands agreed to jointly define & execute a Mid-Life Update to the operational Pzh2000 in their inventories and ensure standardisation and availability.

However, the gun was criticised by the Dutch in Uruzgan province as the NBC system, designed for use in Europe, could not cope with the high level of dust in Afghanistan.

Starting in June 2010 as a result of the Good Friday Battle, German ISAF troops at PRT Kunduz had three PzH 2000s at their disposal.

[12] The PzH 2000 also played a key role during Operation Halmazag in November 2010, when the villages of Isa Khel and Quatliam were retaken from the Taliban by German paratroopers.

[14] After a couple of weeks of intensive use, the guns required repairs, and error messages were being displayed as they are designed and built to fire no more than 100 shots a day.

[22][23] According to the Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger the barrels of the PzH 2000 had an expected lifetime of around 4,500 shots, but to the surprise of the manufacturer they have achieved up to 20,000 in Ukraine.