Scottish Gunners aim high with new Archer howitzer on Exercise Dynamic Front

British Army personnel have carried out the first live-firing of the next-generation Archer howitzer amid freezing conditions in one of the largest series of Nato artillery exercises ever conducted in Europe.

As temperatures plummeted to -3 degrees Celsius just outside the Arctic Circle, 350 Army personnel joined soldiers from 28 countries – including Nato’s newest member Finland – on Exercise Dynamic Front 25. 

Members of 19 Royal Artillery are working with US, French and Finnish troops in Lapland on the Rovajarvi Training Area, testing the Archer alongside the Finnish K9 Thunder mobile artillery system.

“Artillery is the most powerful tool of the close quarters of the military units and even a bit further with rocket artillery,” said exercise director Colonel Janne Makitalo.

“From the experience of combat in Ukraine it presents lots of firepower.

“The development of sensors and reconnaissance drones and in lots of other areas concerning ISTAR [intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance] issues everything can be seen at the moment in the battlefield.

“And what can be seen on the battlefield can be targeted.”

The Archer howitzer is capable of striking targets up to 50km away, and the British Army has acquired 14 systems to replace the previous AS90 systems.

The weapon system needs only 30 seconds after receiving an order to be made ready to fire.

The Archer can fire six rounds in less than two minutes and uses both conventional artillery ammunition and precision-guided munitions.

Exercise Dynamic Front is the first time Finland has hosted a major international exercise, with this deployment involving 3,600 soldiers.

Lieutenant Antti-Mattti Puisto, of the Finnish Army’s Karelia Brigade, said: “For the Finnish defence and I think we can talk that is very important for everyone’s defence.

“I think the last statistics from the Ukraine says that the artillery still causes about 60 to 70% of all casualties.

“So, nothing has really changed since the World War One.”