Sweden commits to buying more Archer 155mm howitzers

PARIS — Sweden has dedicated to purchasing extra Archer 155mm cellular howitzers from BAE Techniques, having signed a letter of intent on the Paris-based protection exhibition Eurosatory this week.

The Swedish Defence Materiel Administration and BAE Techniques Bofors took step one to ascertain a further artillery battalion according to Sweden’s protection technique, which runs by way of 2025.

Mikael Frisell, head of the Swedish administration, and Lena Gillström, managing director on the BAE group, signed the letter in entrance of the Archer automobile on show on the firm’s stand.

Sweden is the primary buyer to purchase the Archer, and BAE just lately completed delivering the primary 48 Archer automobiles to the Swedish Military. The system has been fielded for 5 years.

In the meantime, the Archer was chosen as considered one of two contenders in a contest for a brand new cellular howitzer in Switzerland final week. The opposite contender was not made public. The nation is seeking to change its getting old howitzer, which relies on the M109 platform.

The U.S. Military additionally evaluated the Archer a yr in the past at Yuma Proving Floor, New Mexico, in an effort to establish off-the-shelf 155mm cellular howitzers to deal with an pressing operational want out of Europe.

The service additionally regarded Nexter’s six-wheel drive Caesar howitzer, Elbit Techniques of America’s Autonomous Truck Mounted Ordnance System Iron Sabre and a system from Serbia’s Yugoimport.

Following the analysis, the Military is claimed to have downselected to 2 programs from that pool, however hit pause on the hassle because it continues to guage what mixture of modernized artillery it might like as a part of the long run power. The service has no funding utilized to a program to accumulate 155mm cellular howitzers at the moment and is targeted on the event and fielding of an extended-range cannon artillery system as a precedence.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, BAE Techniques has seen a rise in inquiries of the Archer system over the previous a number of months, in line with Mark Signorelli, the corporate’s vp of platforms and providers.