On March 16, 2023, the Swedish government announced the conclusion of an agreement with the UK on "strategic cooperation in support of Ukraine", under which Sweden will transfer eight 155 mm/52 Archer self-propelled howitzers on a wheeled chassis to Ukraine from the presence of its armed forces (including two "for maintenance" - apparently as a source spare parts), and will also sell 14 more Archer self-propelled howitzers to the UK from the availability, which, in turn, will allow the British side to transfer 32 155-mm/39 AS90 self-propelled howitzers from the British Army to Ukraine. The Swedish and British sides will organize joint provision and maintenance of Archer self-propelled guns supplied to the UK and Ukraine.
155 mm/52 self-propelled howitzer BAE Systems Archer of the Swedish Army (c) Swedish Armed ForcesThe eight Archer self-propelled howitzers transferred to Ukraine are part of a new package of Swedish military assistance to Ukraine, which will also include 10 Strv 122 tanks (Leopard 2S, a variant of the Leopard 2A5 tank) transferred from the presence of the Swedish Ministry of Defense, an unnamed number of medium-range Rb 97 anti-aircraft missile systems (American I-HAWK air defense system) and other property.
Regarding the Rb 97 SAM, it is known that for 2020 Sweden had six firing platoons of this complex (each with three launchers and one PE-541/M HPI guidance radar and Giraffe AMB 3D detection radar). According to the relevant amendments to the state budget submitted by the Swedish government to Parliament, the total cost of weapons and property transferred to Ukraine under this package is estimated at 6.622 billion Swedish kronor (577.68 million dollars), and the total amount charged to cover the costs of this package is 6.5245 billion kronor (621.73 million dollars). The planned sale of 14 Archer ACS to the UK will cost 2.5728 billion kronor ($245 million).
According to the statement of the Swedish government, taking into account the new package, the total cost of Swedish military assistance to Ukraine in the sum of 11 packages amounted to 16.9 billion kronor ($ 1.61 billion).
The British Ministry of Defense in a press release on March 16 confirmed the acquisition of 14 Archer self-propelled howitzers in Sweden, the plans of the British army to purchase a small batch of Archer self-propelled howitzers in Sweden were first reported by British resources a little earlier. According to the statement of the British Ministry of Defense, these ACS should not only compensate for the planned transfer to Ukraine from the British army 32 self-propelled howitzers AS90 caliber 155 mm / 39, but also act as a "temporary transitional solution" in the long-lasting long-term British acquisition of a promising long-range 155 mm self-propelled howitzer Mobile Fires Platform (MFP), where Archer is one of the candidates. A final decision on the MFP is now expected only by the end of the decade.
According to a British press release, the contract for the purchase of 14 Archer self-propelled guns will be signed "in the near future", and the howitzers will arrive from the storage of the Swedish army. These Archer systems "will be transferred to the ownership of the British Army this month and will be fully operational by April next year",
Regarding the Swedish 155-mm Archer self-propelled howitzers, we recall that in 2009, the Swedish defense procurement agency FMV concluded, in the interests of the governments of Sweden and Norway, a joint contract for the supply by BAE Systems Bofors to the armed forces of each of both countries of 24 BAE Systems Bofors Archer self-propelled systems (FH77BW L52, Swedish military designation Artillery System 08). However, at the end of 2013, Norway refused to purchase its 24 Archer self-propelled guns, citing "delays in the program and problems with the characteristics of the system."
Initially, under the terms of the contract, all 24 Archer self-propelled guns ordered for the Swedish army were supposed to arrive in 2011-2012. However, due to the delay in working out and eliminating system defects and difficulties with production from a number of subcontractors BAE Systems Bofors, the delivery of Archer ACS was far behind schedule. As a result, the first battery of four pre-production Archer artillery systems was transferred to the Swedish army only in September 2013, and 20 serial installations - from October 2015 to the end of 2017, making up the material part of the only remaining artillery unit of the Swedish army by that time - the 9th Artillery Regiment stationed in Boden in northern Sweden (Artilleriregementet A 9), consisting of two divisions of 12 systems.
In 2016, the Swedish Ministry of Defense contracted the remaining 24 Archer self-propelled guns, originally ordered by Norway. At the same time, it was initially planned that none of these 24 guns would be introduced into the deployed units - it was assumed that 12 self-propelled guns would be transferred to permanent storage as a part of the third reserve (collapsed in peacetime) artillery division of the 8th Artillery Regiment, and the other 12 self-propelled guns would be offered for sale abroad. In fact, deliveries of the "Norwegian" 24 guns of the Swedish army were made in 2021-2022, while 12 of these self-propelled guns were received to man one division of the 9th Artillery Regiment of the Swedish army restored in 2022, and 12 others, apparently, were deposited, from where they may now be transferred to the UK. In 2020, the Swedish government announced a decision to purchase another 24 Archer self-propelled guns, signing a preliminary agreement in 2022, but an order for them has not yet been issued.
In October 2022, Swedish media reported that the Swedish Ministry of Defense submitted to the government a secret report on the possibility of transferring weapons and property to Ukraine from the presence of the Swedish armed forces, including some of the 48 self-propelled Archer howitzers received, and, according to unofficial data, it could be about transferring 12 systems to Ukraine. In January 2023, the Swedish government decided to transfer the Archer ACS to Ukraine, which is now being implemented.
