There is no current requirement for the procurement of new 105mm artillery barrels for the Light Gun, and consequently no plans to restore domestic production capacity or to deliver British-designed barrels from Sheffield, according to an answer given in Parliament.
Ben Obese-Jecty, the Conservative member for Huntingdon, asked by when the Secretary of State will have restored domestic production capacity and the delivery of British-designed 105mm artillery barrels from Sheffield.
Luke Pollard said: “There is no current Ministry of Defence requirement for the procurement of new 105mm artillery barrels for the Light Gun. Consequently, there are no plans to restore domestic production capacity or deliver British-designed 105mm artillery barrels from Sheffield.”
The L118 Light Gun has been in British service since 1975 and remains the towed artillery piece of 7th Parachute Regiment Royal Horse Artillery and 29 Commando Regiment Royal Artillery, the units whose role requires a gun that can be lifted by helicopter or dropped by parachute. The design was exported widely and the American M119 is a licensed version of it.
Barrel forging in Britain has been the subject of a deliberate rebuild over the past two years, and this publication has covered the work to rebuild the ability to manufacture large calibre guns and the point at which the first British made artillery barrels headed to Ukraine. That programme runs on 155mm, the calibre used by the AS90 and by the Archer system bought to replace it.
That could mean we have sufficient spare barrels or they are just getting by with what we already have until out of service.
Aren’t Ukraine manufacturing the light guns?? Or going to?
With our small inventory perhaps cheaper to just buy as required…
AA
Yes, they have really taken to the L118/9. I must admit I was one of the 105 has seen its day advocates. It worked really well in austere asymmetric conflicts like Afghan. When used from a fire base or transported via Chinook to a fire point to support an operation. But my thoughts along with a significant number of others, was when facing a peer opponent its effective range is too short. Especially when the opposition has decent artillery detection kit and plenty of surveillance drones. However, Ukraine has turned this completely around.
The standard “light” infantry gun used by Russian forces is the D30 122mm. It has a comparable range to the L118/9, but fires a heavier shell. It is significantly heavier than the L118/9, meaning it needs a decent truck to pull it. Whereas the L118/9 can be towed by a 4×4. Ukraine have also been very good at camouflaging hides and firing points. Oryx the online site, say out of 54 guns delivered to Ukraine, they have so far lost 11. Whereas Oryx says 225 D30 guns have been lost by Russia since the start of the war in 2022, though Russia did start with over 1000 of these guns.
Add 4 Royal Artillery, Regiments in the Army Reserve,
a Battery in the HAC, and some LG in Gibraltar.
LG I assume is also found in the training assets of 14RA at Larkhill.
And also multiple regular RA and RHA regiments after they lost AS90.
Yes, which was a farce at the time, but no longer, they’ve all long converted further, bar 4 RA.
4 RA and 3 RHA were both AS90 Regiments, and both converted to Light Gun, a joke, Regiments aligned to planned Strike Brigades with 105mm as supprt!
There was another, the Regiment which supported 19 Mechanized Bde pre 2005, but whom I forget, they would have also changed to Light Gun as the Brigade went Light, but long ago now and that Bde has long dropped off the regular ORBAT.
4 RA remains on Light Gun.
26 is now a MLRS Regiment, a sneaky cut as they could have just kept 39RA rather than splitting its 3 Fire Batteries amongst the 3 remaining AS90 Regiments, 1,19,26, only to reverse that set up years later.
As it was, cut an Armoured Brigade, another chance to get rid of heavy armour and guns, so 26 lost it’s AS90s.
The other ex AS90 Regiment, 3 RHA, is now also an MLRS Regiment.
Which leaves 29RA, 7 RHA, and 4 RA, and the other elements I listed.
Whether either of 1 RHA or 19RA have Batteries on Light Gun alongside the Archers I don’t know.
For completeness, the KGA is using Light Gun in training but that’s going to be a composite Regiment with its Batteries spilt amongst the other Regiments.
If there are other units of the Royal Artillery on Light Gun I’d like to know, there aren’t many Gun Regiments left!
I believe 101 Regiment RA Reserve are still in existence. That was a Geordie Regiment. They binned 100 Reserve Regiment years ago, which was based in East Anglia.
Yes, both still about mate, but not LG Regiments.
101 is the Reserve MLRS Regiment, while 100 RA is a sort of rebranded RA Specialist pool, with TAC Parties, Watch keepers, and other specialists rather than a deployable Regiment.
Thank you for that. At one point (long ago) I believe 100 became some sort of Air Defence outfit.
No idea, way before my time mate.
Of course not, planning ahead and having spares is just not something the MOD does, such fanciful thinking is for competent civil servants, not our plucky utterly useless MOD.
The US army is planning to replace their L118 derivative, because they say it is too vulnerable to counter’bsttery fire, as it tales too long to limber-up and re-locate. The MOD’s current field artillery emphasis is getting the Sunak Boxer RCH 155 into service, then I assume they will tackle the L118 successor.