The Army has assessed that the availability of spares for the L118 Light Gun has been challenged by a combination of obsolescence and supply chain constraints, according to an answer given in Parliament.
Ben Obese-Jecty, the Conservative member for Huntingdon, asked what assessment had been made of the availability of spares for the 105mm gun.
Luke Pollard, the Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry, said: “The Army has assessed that the availability of spares for the L118 Light Gun has been challenged by a combination of obsolescence issues and supply chain constraints.
“Work is underway with industry partners to improve support arrangements, address obsolescence, enhance the efficiency of spares procurement and strengthen long-term supply resilience. These measures are intended to improve the availability of spares and support the continued sustainment of the Light Gun fleet.”
The answer puts no figure on how many guns are affected, gives no measure of current availability and names no industry partner, and it sets no date by which the position is expected to improve.
Obsolescence is the predictable condition of a weapon that entered service in the 1970s. The Light Gun remains the towed artillery piece of the airborne and commando forces, and Britain has also supplied numbers of them to Ukraine, which puts further demand on a spares pipeline the department now describes as constrained.
Catapults/ Slingshots? I know…. bows and arrows.
There’s still quite a lot in store! This gun is plodding along, like the C130 was, good for a niche organisation and taskings, but as an general platform for the RA, way past its sell by date in terms of range, calibre and ability to move.
I agree Airborne, a niche role not worth replacing but worth keeping the existing system as long as possible on existing inventory.
Are there plans to replace soon?
No point. It is a dead end, by this i mean it is not worthwhile to develop a new gun of this calibre since the technology is not mature for a sizeable improvement.
Yes. There’s a plan I’ve read about to replace it with the 120mm Mortar.
Hope not. From what I can tell the 120mm mortar has half the range of the l118 and that’s not exactly great to begin with.
But it’s profoundly more destructive and the question especially for light forces will be what are they using their fires for.. after all 7th RHA batteries are close support batteries to support raiding forces and light deployment
A 105mm does not have the range of a 155mm system that needs range to both stay out of counter battery fire range and provide counter battery fire and gun system being used by airborne or sea-born raiding forces cannot really use that range as it’s never going to have the range of traditional 155mm systems for counter battery fire and deep strike and it’s not going to have the space to deploy well away from the raiding force to protect itself by using depth.
In effect the 105 is the worst of all worlds, it’s not got the range of a modern 155mm system nor the destructive capability of a 120mm mortar.
If you have Airmobile forces that your going to be deploying in depth using strategic air and at brigate level( say a large scale deployment of 16 air assault brigade in Africa for a reason) your better off having a 155mm system you can deploy by airbridge to support that deployment and if it’s a lighter raid ( rotor or drop) you want a light weight easy to deploy and move very destructive system system the 105mm is not optimal for either of these.
Personally I think it’s more sense to give the 16 Air Assault Brigade Combat Team the archers for 7th regiment to form a air mobile 155mm battery for bigger deployments and to also equipped it with 2 batteries of 120mm mortars for parachute and rotor deployed closes support gun batteries for smaller raiding.
At present with the RMs I’m not sure the use of any fires beyond organic fires sculpted to suited to each commandos role offer as the RMs are now not really set up for even a full battalion battle group amphibious landing.
Hi mate, got to say the Archers for 7 while an option, the logistic footprint is a lot larger and are they are unable to be underslung once on the ground, two important considerations for the planners. Also while the 105mm lacks the destructive power of ether the 155mm or the 120mm, it has a secondary direct fire role, which it trains for and has used numerous times. The 105mm shell is also good for targets which require a danger close mission, with the reduction of probable collateral damage. Mt Bro was a Gunnery careers swot with 7 for his career and I have worked in the FSTs with the 7 FOO lads, and understand the importance and appreciation troops have of the 105mm. I’m not saying we should not have more 155mm platforms but we need to keep at least 1 x Regiment with the Light Gun, with 7, as it is still important to have that ability to drop, quickly air land, and undersling, while being confident that the platform is tough, old and reliable. Cheers mate.
I think the general consensus is/was that self-propelled is the future; if you can’t shoot-and-scoot you’re too much at risk of counter fire (and now drones). Hence programs such as DSTL’s Lightweight Fires Platform to provide something below the AS-90/Archer/RCH 155 tier of equipment. Within that context, the L118 was almost certainly seen as getting towards the end of service.
However L118 has served a purpose in Ukraine and I gather been popular with the operators. If you look at the open-source intel around losses (which is obviously not gospel but at least provides some insight), the larger M777 system seems to have been lost at a vastly worse rate than the L118 family. The relative nimbleness of the 105mm L118 has saved it over the longer range of the 115mm M777. It’s telling that Ukraine have only recently acquired a licence to locally manufacture the L118.
The lessons from Ukraine would suggest you still need the mass provided by smaller systems, not just a few boutique options that you’ll get with only RCH105s. But they’ve officially paused the programme to replace the 105mm while they reconsider, so who knows (Project Stokes)
Shoot-and-scoot is now a requirement for most field weapons, especially artillery. Lines of towed field guns, as deployed up to recent times, are now vulnerable to attack even before they can be hitched. From now on, drone development will determine future weapon designs and, for vehicle-mounted systems, how quickly they can move over rough terrain. Fast unmanned vehicle/weapon delivery systems must be the best option going forward.
The Ukrainians seem to be very keen on towed artillery, they find it easier to conceal than SPGs: I would like to know more on their thinking.
Both sides are mostly relying on spotter drones due to insufficient CB radar to cover a 1500Km front line. L118 has worked very well in concealment due to the small footprint (including logistics) and very low muzzle flash. The guns are often well dug-in under dense forest cover, but that’s possible due to the largely static front lines. It wouldn’t work so well for rapid maneuver, in a more sparse landscape, or with a better equipped adversary, so we perhaps need to be a bit careful not to learn the wrong lessons.
Many thanks
I thought these 105mm are currently being made for or under licence for Ukraine? If so why is there then a supply chain issue?
You do have to ask is this really what is needed the tasks it’s going to be given, for larger air mobile deployments, air assault or RM raiding and specialist warfare.
It’s really to small and short range to support a larger air mobile deployment using strategic air, if your don’t a strategic air mobile deployment why not have archer.. its heavy, hard to deploy and not as destructive as a 120mm mortar system, so why not have a 120mm mortar that can parachute in or go on the back of a light vehicle you can sling under a heavy rotor for air assault and will the RM ever be in a position to undertake a amphibious deployment at battle group level ? So would organic fires sculpted to the purpose of each commando be more use.
Agreed, the French riffled mortar makes sense – if it still has range adv. over other 120mm mortars.
Bae selling the factory and the land as usual.
Not a UK company and not.worth our support.