British soldiers have fired a new artillery gun for the first time on a tactical exercise in Finland.
Soldiers from the 19th Regiment Royal Artillery are currently in Lapland as part of Exercise Dynamic Front, the largest Nato artillery joint-fires exercise that Finland has hosted since it joined the organisation in 2023.
The Swedish-made Archer 155mm self-propelled guns have been acquired as an interim replacement for the 32 AS90s which the UK has donated to Ukraine in its conflict with Russia.
The Archer, which is designed and built by BAE Systems Bofors, has double the maximum range of the AS90, greater operational mobility, greater availability and reduced time into action, according to the Ministry of Defence.
Smoke fills the air during live firing of the British Army’s new Archer Mobile Howitzer gun (Ben Birchall/PA)
Major Mortimer, second in command of 19 Rgt RA, said: “This is a fantastic opportunity to showcase our modernised artillery capability in front of all our Nato partners and alongside their guns, like the French Caesar, the Swedish Archer, the Finnish K9 and the American MLRS.”
The 19 Rgt RA (The Scottish Gunners) currently supports 12 Mechanised Brigade in the armoured field artillery role and has fire support teams mounted in Warrior Mechanised Artillery Observation Vehicles equipped with MSTAR (Man-portable Surveillance and Target Requisition Radar).
The regiment’s three gun batteries are equipped with the Archer, and 19 Rgt RA makes up the majority of the 250 British Army troops in Finland, with soldiers from 5 Rgt RA operating the Taipan and 26th Regiment Royal Artillery also in support with the MLRS.
Major Mortimer said the regiment arrived amid a “snowstorm with temperatures as low as minus 15 degrees”.
He added: “It was quite a culture shock to a lot of our personnel to be up here in quite testing conditions.
“Even though it’s warmed up a bit, it’s still been quite challenging, but we addressed those challenges before deploying by completing the cold-weather operator course and some snow and ice driver training.
“Since being out here we’ve been assisted by Arctic warfare instructors, both from the UK and also the Finnish Jaeger Brigade, to help us learn some techniques to survive the cold and we have all our usual cold-weather kit.”
British Army soldiers take part in training with the British Army’s new Archer Mobile Howitzer gun (Ben Birchall/PA)
19 Regt RA is a close-support artillery regiment which can fire long range in support of infantry and cavalry battlegroups and part of the 1st Deep Reconnaissance Strike Brigade Combat Team.
Major Mortimer said: “The Archer represents a switch from a tracked self-propelled gun to a wheeled self-propelled gun and rather than using, what we would call, dumb high-explosive rounds.
“The future is about firing smart munitions which increases our lethality with anti-armour munitions and extended-range munitions.”
“It’s very exciting to be firing Archer for the first time here in Finland, along with the first Taipan live acquisitions here on Exercise Dynamic Front.
“It shows our Nato partners we’re a modernising artillery and continually advancing.
“This is a fantastic opportunity for our regiment for so many reasons, including being more expeditionary and enables us to go through the full deployment process, mounting through the air and ship component.”
Exercise Dynamic Front has been organised by the United States Army’s 56th Artillery Command, but this is Finland’s first time hosting a military training exercise of this size since joining Nato in 2023, with more than 5,000 troops from across 28 allies, all collaborating on joint live fires utilising 130 different weapon systems.