The Swedish army received the last of the ordered Archer Artillery System self-propelled guns. This is reported by Militarnyi with reference to the website of the Swedish Defense Logistics Agency (FMV).

Interestingly, 24 of these systems were originally intended for the Norwegian army. In 2008, Sweden and Norway signed an agreement to jointly develop the Archer system. BAE Systems and Kongsberg Defense & Aerospace were chosen as contractors. It was expected that 24 of the 48 ordered systems would go to Sweden and 24 to Norway. The self-propelled guns were supposed to be put into operation in 2011, but unforeseen technical problems led to a delay in development.

As a result, the Swedish army received the first 155-mm Archer self-propelled guns only in September 2013, and these guns entered service only on February 1, 2016. Norway did not wait for its self-propelled guns and withdrew from the agreement in December 2013, buying South Korean K9 Thunder self-propelled guns instead.

In Sweden, they decided not to cancel the deal and buy these additional 24 Archers. Moreover, they are considering ordering another 24 systems.

As a reminder, in September 2022, information appeared that Sweden is considering the possibility of providing 155-mm Archer self-propelled guns to Ukraine. The Swedish Ministry of Defense analyzed the available reserves on October 25, 2022. It became known that Sweden can allocate as many as 12 Archer Artillery Systems to Ukraine!

“We could allocate 12 units,” says Peter Lidén, Lieutenant Colonel of the Swedish Defense Academy.

The report of the Swedish armed forces is classified, so what weapons and how much Ukraine can get is still unknown. Swedish Defense Minister Paul Jonsson, who has only been in office since October 18, 2022, is currently analyzing the material and will return shortly with a decision. We hope it will be positive.

Unfortunately, Archer Artillery System has not yet entered the latest aid package worth €270 million, which was announced by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sweden Tobias Billström on November 28, 2022 in Kyiv.

As for the further development of the Archer Artillery System, from 2020, BAE Systems Bofors will test the variant of the self-propelled guns on the RMMV HX2 8×8 tactical truck chassis from Germany’s Rheinmetall MAN Military Vehicles. In addition, FMV and BAE Systems signed a contract to develop a prototype of the Archer C next-generation system.

Technical specifications of the Archer Artillery System
Mass – 30 tons
Length – 14.1 m
Width – 3.0 m
Height – 3.9 m
Crew – 2-4 (commander, driver, 1-2 operators)
Armament – 155-mm howitzer FH 77
Length of the barrel – 52 calibers
Secondary armament – remotely controlled Protector module (RWS)
Rate of fire – 20 rounds in 2.5 minutes; 1 round in 7.5 seconds
Effective firing range – 30 km (standard shells); 40 km (base-bleed-shells);
in excess of 50 km (Excalibur-shells)
Chassis – Volvo A30D 6×6
Engine – diesel
Power – 340 hp. (250 kW)
Operational range – 650 km
Maximum speed – 90 km/h