The Swedish defense procurement agency (FMV) is buying new amphibious artillery platforms that will boost the Swedish Armed Forces’ capability to defend the islands in the Swedish archipelago.
FMV says it has already begun the procurement of the artillery systems, as the first in a series of procurements for the amphibious units, with deliveries scheduled to take place between 2025 to 2030.
A significant difference between the artillery platforms for the amphibious battalion and the larger marine platforms, for example the Visby corvettes, is that the corvettes have all necessary functions, i.e. command, sensors and weapons, contained in the platform.
The Amphibious Battalion, which will be set up as part of the project Amfbat 2030, will leverage many smaller functional units, with command, sensor data and operational components distributed on different platforms for indirect fire support.
According to FMV, the desired artillery platforms are expected to be selected by early 2023, with the delivery of first systems taking place between 2024 and 2025. FMV plans to eventually receive 12 artillery platforms between 2025 and 2030.
FMV noted it expects to procure off the shelf systems, with minor adaptations necessary to meet the capability requirements.
“This is not a development project, but we want to buy existing products that with some modification cover the ability requirements. In this and the upcoming procurements, we want to bring the industry with us to develop new combinations of products that are not currently on the market. But also to test the feasibility of the whole so that it works as intended,” says Joakim Drakfors, FMV project manager product definition of Amphibious Battalion 2030.
FMV issued tender documents on October 15 to suppliers with qualifying mobile artillery platforms, i.e. boats with integrated artillery pieces. Interested companies will have until January 15, 2022, to submit their proposals.
