United Kingdom says it's still too early to talk about when the 155mm RCH 155 SPGs will enter service. However, they say they plan to achieve minimum operational capability by the end of the decade.
This was stated by Junior Defence Minister for Veterans Louise Sander-Jones during a parliamentary question session. According to her, the project is still in the assessment phase and hasn't even reached the procurement stage yet.
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The RCH 155 was selected by the United Kingdom as its new main SPG last year, after which an agreement was signed for joint production of the vehicles with Germany. The total program cost is estimated at £3 billion, or $3.95 billion.
However, the procurement stage or signing of any firm contract has not been reached to this day, although the country's defense department confirms the system choice. It’s stated that work is currently underway to refine requirements, pricing, and localization.
Thus, the British are currently left with very limited artillery capabilities, as they transferred all their previous AS-90 155mm SPGs to Ukraine. Swedish Archers are supposed to partially replace them, but this only concerns 14 units, which is insufficient.
It turns out we have a case where even despite a huge gap in the country's arsenal, they continue to deliberate for a long time on how best to procure. Meanwhile, troops continue to remain naked and wait for long construction projects, as with the Challenger 3.
Theoretically, the reason for the absence of a contract is the problem of insufficient funding. It's known that despite many promises and plans, the United Kingdom doesnt have funds for implementation, and in some places even for maintaining what already exists.
Recall that RCH 155s are also supposed to be delivered to Ukraine, and our military are already actively undergoing training. Also recently presented was an updated version of this SPG mounted on a tracked Boxer variant for better stability.
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