Sweden, Norway to Cooperate on Archer Artillery Project

Sweden, Norway to Cooperate on Archer Artillery Project (NSI News Source Info) November 6, 2008: BAE Systems Bofors’ Archer is a light, air-portable, and highly automated 155/52 light mobile artillery system that can hit targets with great accuracy at ranges up to 50km/ 30 miles. Automation ensures that the crew can fire the gun within 30 seconds of arriving in position, and without leaving the cabin. Archer belongs in the same class as Nexter’s Caesar (France), Denel’s G6 (South Africa), and Soltam’s Atmos-2000 and Rascal (Israel).

Bofors Archer System

To this point, Archer has been a Swedish project, administered by their FMV procurement agency. Funding has been provided for system development and some initial production, but the project’s future has been shadowed by anemic Swedish defense budgets. In May 2007, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed with Norway’s FLO procurement agency. Now, it has evolved into joint development of the Archer artillery system, and an agreement to add the popular Kongsberg M151 Protector RWS as Archer’s close-in surveillance and defense system… The intensified cooperation agreements were signed at the end of October by FMV’s Hakan Espmark and the FLO’s Asle Kjelsberg. Sweden’s FMV adds that additional joint agreements are in the pipeline for 2009: one for Archer procurement, one regarding a joint control and management system for indirect fire, one for joint maintenance approaches, and one in the field of artillery ammunition. Archer is designed to fire the Excalibur GPS-guided shell, as well as Bofors and Nexter’s BONUS anti-tank submunitions. System Design and Development is scheduled to continue until until 2010, with the first serial delivery planned for autumn 2011. FMV and FLO will begin joint negotiations with BAE Systems Bofors on the assignment to complete development and delivery. FMV release.