Its purpose is counter-battery warfare, the destruction of “fat” targets, such as hostile artillery installations.
What the Archer self-propelled artillery installation is, how it works and why it is better than its analogues – in a new story ” Ukrainian witness.”
“Archers” are huge in size. Only the wheels can be the size of a man. The installation's drum includes 21 projectiles, which the machine fires in 3 minutes. The firing range is up to 60 kilometers, the purpose of the “Archer” is counter-battery warfare, the destruction of “fat” targets, such as hostile artillery installations. The Armed Forces of Ukraine are armed with 8 such vehicles.
The guys from its crew spoke in more detail about the self-propelled gun: the “Raven” weapons operator, the “Drone” driver and the commander with the call sign “Hans”. They learned to operate this installation for several months in Sweden.
“Archer a class higher than other Western models, as well as the domestic Bogdan self-propelled gun,” says “Hans.” The task is to control these processes. During work, we are always in the car, we indicate the goal on the go.”
Another feature of this self-propelled gun is that it can hit one target with several projectiles moving along different trajectories. “We load 3-4 shells and they reach the target at the same time,” says the commander. “And we can also program the machine so that it hits several different targets sequentially: press a button, and the gun itself fires at one target and aims at another.”
In addition to long range and automation, the advantage of Archers is their mobility. “I worked quickly and left quickly,” says the Raven weapons operator. — Trailed self-propelled guns are also good, but they are stationary. And mobility is life.”
Self-propelled gun “Archer”
- Sweden decided to transfer the self-propelled gun “Archer” in January last year. Military analysts assumed that Ukraine would receive 12 units of this artillery system. The same figure was announced Swedish Ministry of Defense in October 2022.
- In November 2023, eight units had already arrived in Ukraine.
- Archer self-propelled gun is a Swedish 155-mm self-propelled artillery unit based on the Volvo A30D 6 chassis ×6. Its firing range is 30-60 km. It can fire 20 shots in 2.5 minutes and move at a speed of 65 km/h. Its range is 650 km.
At the beginning of this year, the Armed Forces of Ukraine showed the operation of the Archer self-propelled gun. in the Donetsk region.