BAE Systems announced during DSEI 2023 on 13 September that it had signed a contract worth around USD 500 M (EUR 468 M) with the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration to supply 48 new Archer wheeled 155 mm artillery systems for the Swedish Army.
The Archer system is designed and produced by BAE Systems Bofors in Sweden. Although the Swedish Army had previously ordered two batches of 24 Archer systems in 2009 and 2016, only half of these were put into service, with 14 systems sold to the UK in March this year and eight transferred to the Ukrainian armed forces. Thus, this latest order for 48 systems will triple the number of Archer systems the Swedish Army has in service.
The Swedish Army’s new Archer systems will be mounted on Rheinmetall MAN Military Vehicles (RMMV) HX2 8×8 trucks, rather than the Volvo A30 6×6 articulated haulers on which the previously ordered systems are mounted.
“This important milestone establishes Archer as the basis of the Swedish Army’s new divisional artillery forces,” Lena Gillström, president of BAE Systems Bofors, was quoted as saying in a company press release. “It is also critical to BAE Systems Bofors’ work in jointly developing the Archer with Sweden, to confirm it as the most advanced wheeled 155 mm howitzer in operation today.”
The Archer system can fire the BONUS anti-armour munition out to a range of 35 km, conventional munitions out to 40 km, and precision-guided Excalibur rounds to in excess of 50 km. Its automated magazines can hold a mix of different ammunition types and modular charges needed to support any particular fire mission.
As well as the systems donated to Ukraine and sold to the United Kingdom to address its interim artillery requirement, the Archer system has also been down-selected in Switzerland’s latest artillery programme.
Peter Felstead
