None of the existing wheeled self-propelled guns met the requirements of the US military. Yesterday, January 12, the portal thedefensepost.com He reported that the US Army has ordered the development of a new highly mobile artillery system of 155 mm caliber "from scratch".
Archer from BAE Systems, ATMOS Iron Sabre from Elbit Systems of America, Caesar from Nexter, Brutus from AM General and the NORA B-52 M21 system participated in the American testing of wheeled self-propelled guns. None of them could show the required result.
Archer ACS from BAE Systems
Image source: thedefensepost.com
The request of the US Army states that a promising wheeled self-propelled gun should be "more mobile, survivable, long-range and have more ammunition" than all tested samples. In addition, the new artillery system should be able to integrate with digital fire control.
Another unspoken requirement of the US military is the presence of an Extended Range Soft Recoil system ("soft recoil") for less load on the chassis and a potential reduction in its weight. It is assumed that the wheeled ACS will operate together with combat units armed with Stryker armored personnel carriers.