Swedish Defense Minister Ann Linde announced on Twitter that Sweden has officially agreed to consider providing Archer self-propelled artillery guns to Ukraine.
“The Government of Sweden presents 7th military package to to the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine with SEK 500 million worth of artillery ammunition. This is not the last package. The Defense Materiel Administration and the Swedish Armed Forces will evaluate the possibility of providing the Swedish artillery Archer, air-defense RBS70 & more. Sweden stands with Ukraine,” the message says.
Of course, the most interesting thing in this message is the Archer 155-mm self-propelled gun, which the Ukrainian military has been dreaming of getting since the very beginning of the hot phase of the war. An incredible self-propelled howitzer, which in just 1 minute and 15 seconds can deploy from a retreating position to a combat position, fire 3 rounds and leave the position even before the first shell hits the target.
And Archer can fire at a frantic pace of 8-9 rounds per minute, drive even with all punctured wheels, use high-precision projectiles M982 Excalibur and 155 mm shells.
The first serial Archer self-propelled gun entered the ranks of the Swedish Armed Forces only on February 1, 2016, which means that it is one of the newest systems on the market. Sweden is still the only country in the world that operates this amazing weapon (48 self-propelled guns in the 9th Artillery Regiment), but the USA and Switzerland are interested in Archer. This is not a cheap SpG – the cost of the unit is $4.5 million.
As for the RBS 70 that Ms. Linde mentions, it is a short-range MANPADS (target height up to 5 km, range up to 9 km) with supersonic missiles that accelerate to a speed of Mach 2 (2450 km/h), leaving no time for the target to react. Guidance is carried out by a laser beam.
Well, let’s hope the Swedish government is well aware of what is at stake, and the Armed Forces will finally get the coveted Archer! So let’s see which of the modern systems will show itself better in the conditions of real combat use!
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