The British Army is expected to take delivery of its first RCH 155 mobile artillery demonstrator in 2028, the Ministry of Defence has confirmed, as part of a joint UK German programme to evaluate a new generation of wheeled artillery.
In a written parliamentary answer, Defence Minister Luke Pollard said the Early Capability Demonstrator platform is scheduled for delivery in the second quarter of 2028. The system forms part of a £52 million bilateral agreement signed with Germany in December, intended to support assessment and testing of the Boxer-mounted RCH 155. The RCH 155 is designed to provide highly mobile, long-range artillery able to fire while on the move, a capability increasingly prioritised following lessons from the war in Ukraine. Mounted on the Boxer armoured vehicle, the system features an automated turret that allows a reduced crew and rapid “shoot and scoot” operation to improve survivability against counter-battery fire.
The demonstrator will feed directly into the British Army’s Mobile Fires Platform programme, which is intended to deliver a long-term replacement for existing artillery capability. The Army’s current Archer systems were acquired as an interim measure after AS90 guns were transferred to Ukraine. Further details released by the Ministry of Defence indicate that the assessment phase for RCH 155 will extend beyond the initial delivery.
Pollard confirmed that the joint UK German assessment phase is expected to conclude in the fourth quarter of 2029.
He said the department’s aim is to commit to production on a common build standard “as soon as possible”, subject to the receipt of a fully costed proposal. The assessment and demonstration activities will be conducted concurrently, with the intention of accelerating delivery timelines and achieving a Minimum Deployable Capability within this decade. Under the arrangement, the UK and Germany will carry out shared testing and evaluation, allowing both nations to reduce duplication and shorten decision-making timelines. The programme sits under the wider Trinity House Agreement, the bilateral defence cooperation framework established between London and Berlin to support joint procurement, industrial cooperation and interoperability.
Delivery of the first RCH 155 demonstrator in 2028 will mark the earliest point at which the Army can begin formal assessment of the system in UK service conditions, ahead of any decision on the future shape of its artillery force.
Why the rush suddenly?
Glacial pace procurement ….the MOD should seriously consider buying more Archers as a stop gap.
Yes. This.
Am I the only one getting continually caught by the anti spam filter.
Given that the operational units are supposed to come in 2029, what good will a demonstrator in 2028 do? We’ll evaluate it and then what? Cancel it if it’s shit, leaving the massive capability gap that’s already opened up? And I’m not sure I have faith in our ability to evaluate. As politics overrides the assessment of an evaluator, again I ask, what’s the point of the evaluation?
Didnt Sunak sign us up to this system without any thoughts to a competition against anything else? We ‘evaluate’ find out we don’t like it what then?another decade deciding what to do next! Beyond belief🤬
My guess is that the evaluation process feeds information and data into the Land Warfare Center’s work in developing operational practice for the new system. Also, putting the system through it’s paces in a controlled environment will allow it’s strengths and weaknesses to be assessed and, if necessary, modes the to system developed to be retrofitted and included in follow on batches. Spiral development is what it is called I believe and if done properly they will have an on-going ‘evaluation’ process throughout the system’s life span. The RAF have developed their Typhoons pretty well using this approach. The RN is moving a something similar in the way they phase upgrades into the routine maintenance cycles of the fleet, increasing availability of the few ships we have left…
Frankly, anything that breaks the old rigid way of thinking about and doing procurement is a good thing, because the traditional process is no longer fit for purpose that much is clear.
I get your point but this thing has been trundling about for eons as proven by countless videos! So now having to wait till 2028 for a ‘demonstrator’ is taking the piss! Any backup if we don’t like it? In essence we are stuck with it good or bad!
I’m a huge believer in spiral development, but feedback has to come from early operational deployments, not a couple of theoretical tests in “laboratory” conditions. We already know what it’s theoretically capable of and we can run simulations and war games right now without the equipment. What we can’t do is get real troops to use it, and see if it’s up to snuff in the real world and what tweaks will make it better. Perhaps we should buy a few for Ukraine.
Two years later than it should be.
Everything forward and trust in the Lord. Why are we moving so slowly and why is this delivering a long term replacement for existing capacity? Does that mean we will be replacing bugger all with a different bugger all? I do hope Vlad the Mad is not in a rush for world domination, he will just have to wait until we are ready.
Rachel from accounts has looked at all her jars slowly being filled with coins and calculated that by 2028 “Little John H” can have a new Toy to try on approval. But no engine till 2030 so he’ll need to use the pedals and make Brum, Brum noises in the meantime.
Pathetic doesn’t quite cut it really 😖
2028….Aren’t they being used in Ukraine? Or why cant a team just go to Germany and watch a demonstration?
This has beyond funny !!
What are we supposed to do in the meantime. Fire harsh words at them?
Drones, drones, and more drones. We had better buy some then.
Seriously though, we need artillery and drones. It does at least seem we are purchasing thousands of the latter, with industrial capacity increasing too. The 2029+ timeline for RCH155 is just crazy. We could do with another Archer interim buy.
Still no sign of the Defence Investment Plan. The must have meant Autumn 2030.
Rumours are March 2026 or later. They are busy rewriting it, pushing programs further down the road to a time we will supposedly see budget increases to 3%, then 3.5% of GDP. It must also take time to spin the outcome, so they can still claim 10x lethality, or whatever meaningless figure they have put on it recently.
The war is scheduled for 2029…
Someone at the MOD is pocketing huge chques from this for nothing delivered, not even trials FFS. If it were Trials going from 2026 to 2028, maybe, but that’s just not what we’re seeing.
Oh well, we’re sure to find £30 Billion for Welfare tomorrow.
The bean counters reckon that if we order more guns we will need more ammunition. Can’t afford more ammunition so only order one gun to protect ammunition stock. Simple.