BAE Systems, Babcock International Group and Rheinmetall BAE Systems Land (RBSL) are joining forces to offer the Archer wheeled self-propelled howitzer (SPH) to the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) for its 155 mm Mobile Fires Platform (MFP) requirement, the companies announced on 11 December 2023.
Under their teaming, named the Archer Artillery Alliance, BAE Systems will provide the weapon and gun control system, as well as setting up and managing an assembly, integration and test facility; Babcock will hold responsibility for the consolidation of the superstructure and ammunition resupply system; and RBSL will be the UK lead for providing the SPH’s RMMV HX 8×8 truck chassis and preparing the cabin for integration with the Archer artillery system.
As an interim MFP solution the UK MoD agreed in March 2023 to buy 14 ex-Swedish Archers, which use a Volvo 6×6 all-terrain chassis but have been upgraded to a UK specification by BAE Systems Bofors. It was announced on 6 October that the first of these had been delivered to the British Army.
However, prior to that the longer-term MFP programme called for a full operating capability of 116 SPHs by 2032. Despite its interim Archer acquisition, the British Army has not stipulated whether its ultimate MFP platform should be tracked or wheeled. Also in contention for the requirement, for example, are the South Korean Hanwha K9 Thunder tracked SPH and the KMW Remote Controlled Howitzer 155 (RCH 155) mounted on the rear of the Artec Boxer 8×8 multi-role armoured vehicle, which has already been selected as the British Army’s future Mechanised Infantry Vehicle.
The MFP requirement will replace the British Army’s fleet of tracked AS90 155 mm SPHs. There were around 89 of these in the British Army inventory, but in January 2023 the UK government said 20 battle-ready AS90s, plus 12 lower-readiness vehicles to provide spares, were to be gifted to Ukraine. It is not known how many remaining UK AS90s remain operational.
Making the pitch for its teaming arrangement, BAE Systems stated in a press release that the Archer Artillery Alliance “presents the lowest-risk solution for the Mobile Fires Platform (MFP) programme”, given that the three companies each have “a well-established supply chain in the UK”.
BAE Systems, which recently secured a contract for an additional 48 Archer systems for the Swedish Army, stated that it plans to transfer technology from its existing production line in Sweden to the UK to establish a UK-based MFP production line, claiming that the work across the Alliance and its supply chain would create more than 350 new highly skilled jobs in the UK.
As part of its bid BAE Systems plans to re-establish sovereign barrel manufacturing in the UK, which would provide an opportunity to generate operational independence and security of supply through a sovereign artillery manufacturing solution.
“Working with our strategic partners in the UK, we believe that an Archer-based solution would allow the British Army to significantly accelerate the delivery of the Mobile Fires Platform programme,” John Borton, managing director of BAE Systems Weapon Systems UK, was quoted as saying. “Our aim is to deliver a long-term homegrown artillery solution for the UK, which will safeguard, sustain and grow a critical, specialised British industrial capability and an opportunity for exports.”
As well as being selected by Sweden and as the UK’s interim solution, Switzerland recently downselected Archer for the country’s procurement of new artillery. Sweden has also donated a number of systems for use by the Ukrainian armed forces.
