British Army Fires Off Next-Gen Howitzer For NATO Live-Fire in Finland

by Julian Nettlefold,

21 Nov 24. British Army completes first live firing of next-generation howitzer in Finland. The British Army has completed the first live firing of a next-generation howitzer in Finland in one of the largest series of NATO artillery exercises ever conducted in Europe.

The Archer Mobile Howitzer. MOD Crown Copyright.

• The British Army demonstrated the Archer Mobile Howitzer – an artillery system with fully automated gun designed for rapid deployment.
• The first in the series of Exercise Dynamic Front 25 involved 5,000 soldiers, including 350 deployed by the British Army.
• This is the first time Finland has hosted a major international military exercise since becoming a NATO member in April 2023.

British Army personnel have demonstrated a first live firing of a next-generation howitzer amidst 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.

During the 12 days of training, which began on the 14 November, the Army demonstrated its capability by conducting its first live firing on exercise with the Archer Mobile Howitzer – an artillery system with fully automated gun designed for rapid deployment. The system, which can fire more than eight rounds a minute at a range of 50km, was procured at speed from Sweden last year.

Also demonstrated in training were the enemy artillery detection radar, TAIPAN, and the UK’s Multiple Launch Rocket System, which can fire up to 12 rockets or missiles in less than a minute.

The training is the first in a wider NATO Dynamic Front 25 series, which takes place across four more countries in the coming months and aims to coordinate live fire artillery capabilities between allied nations from the Arctic Circle to the Black Sea. The exercise reinforces the government’s ‘NATO first’ defence strategy which has seen it set European security as its defence priority and commit to spending 2.5% of GDP on defence.