The frozen lakes and snow-dusted Scots Pine trees of Rovaniemi are more than a hint this Finnish city lies within the cusp of the Arctic Circle.
Soldiers from 26th Regiment Royal Artillery talk with Finnish troops during a demonstration day on Rovajärvi Training Area during Exercise Dynamic Front.
Troops from 19th Regiment Royal Artillery prepare the Archer Artillery gun during a live fire range on Rovajärvi Training Area, during Exercise Dynamic Front.
The Archer Artillery Gun during a live firing range on Rovajärvi Training Area, during Exercise Dynamic Front.
A vehicle commander lit up by the headlights of a Bulldog during the early hours of the final live fire day at Rovajärvi Training Area on Exercise Dynamic Front.
An Archer Artillery Gun is fired at night by troops from 19th Regiment Royal Artillery, during a live range on Rovajärvi Training Area during Exercise Dynamic Front.
An Archer Artillery Gun is fired by troops from 19th Regiment Royal Artillery, during a live range on Rovajärvi Training Area during Exercise Dynamic Front.
The Archer Artillery Gun during a live firing range on Rovajärvi Training Area, during Exercise Dynamic Front.
But the presence of the Scottish Gunners of 19th Regiment Royal Artillery (19 Regt RA) in Lapland speaks to more of a NATO military gathering in northern Finland than a weather event.
This is Exercise Dynamic Front which presented an opportunity for the British Army to fire the new Archer 155mm artillery gun for the first time on a tactical exercise.
This is a fantastic opportunity to showcase our modernised artillery capability in front of all our NATO partners and alongside their guns, like the French Caesar, the Swedish Archer, the Finnish K9 and the American MLRS.
Additionally, soldiers from 5th Regiment Royal Artillery (5 Regt RA) have employed the new Taipan weapon-locating radar system for the first time, in tandem with the Archer.
Major David Mortimer, Second in Command of 19 Regt RA, said: “This is a fantastic opportunity to showcase our modernised artillery capability in front of all our NATO partners and alongside their guns, like the French Caesar, the Swedish Archer, the Finnish K9 and the American MLRS (multi-launch rocket systems).
“One of the key things we want to try and practise is getting the find and strike elements of Taipan and Archer in sync, which then reduces the time it takes to make an acquisition with the radar and engage with MLRS and Archer.
“This reduces the kill chain, therefore increasing our lethality within our find-and-strike system.
“This is the first time Taipan will be used in this kind of environment and the first time Archer will be fired tactically on an exercise.”
We arrived amid a snowstorm with temperatures as low as minus 15 degrees and it was quite a culture shock to a lot of our personnel to be up here in quite testing conditions.
19 Regt RA (The Scottish Gunners) currently supports 12 Mechanised Brigade in the armoured field artillery role and has fire support teams mounted in Warrior Mechanised Artillery Observation Vehicles equipped with MSTAR (Man-portable Surveillance and Target Requisition Radar).
The regiment's three gun batteries are equipped with the Archer and 19 Regt RA make up the lion’s share of the 250 British Army troops in Finland, with soldiers from 5 Regt RA operating the Taipan and 26th Regiment Royal Artillery also in support with the MLRS.
Major Mortimer said: “We arrived amid a snowstorm with temperatures as low as minus 15 degrees and it was quite a culture shock to a lot of our personnel to be up here in quite testing conditions.
“Even though it’s warmed up a bit, it’s still been quite challenging, but we addressed those challenges before deploying by completing the cold-weather operator course and some snow and ice driver training.
“Since being out here we’ve been assisted by Arctic warfare instructors, both from the UK and also the Finnish Jaeger Brigade, to help us learn some techniques to survive the cold and we have all our usual cold-weather kit and additional Carinthia cold-weather kit.”
The Archer represents a switch from a tracked self-propelled gun to a wheeled self-propelled gun and rather than using, what we would call, dumb high-explosive rounds. The future is about firing smart munitions which increases our lethality with anti-armour munitions and extended-range munitions.
19 Regt RA is a close-support artillery regiment which can fire long range in support of infantry and cavalry battlegroups and part of the 1st Deep Reconnaissance Strike Brigade Combat Team.
Major Mortimer added:
“The Archer represents a switch from a tracked self-propelled gun to a wheeled self-propelled gun and rather than using, what we would call, dumb high-explosive rounds.
“The future is about firing smart munitions which increases our lethality with anti-armour munitions and extended-range munitions.”
“It’s very exciting to be firing Archer for the first time here in Finland, along with the first Taipan live acquisitions here on Exercise Dynamic Front.
“It shows our NATO partners we’re a modernising artillery and continually advancing.
“This is a fantastic opportunity for our regiment for so many reasons, including being more expeditionary and enables us to go through the full deployment process, mounting through the air and ship component.
Following the granting-in-kind of 32 AS90 self-propelled guns to Ukraine, Archer was procured from the Swedish Government as an interim solution for the gap created in the Army’s 155mm Close Support capability.
“Archer has been introduced very quickly,” said Major Mortimer.
“Our first train the trainer instructors were deployed out to Sweden in late 2023 to learn and then cascade their knowledge to our batteries in the first half of 2024 and it’s incredible that, alongside that training progress, we’re now ready to put this equipment into use so quickly.”
We are very eager to learn through this exercise and it’s the first time we’ve had these kinds of assets here, including the Archer and the Taipan, so it’s very interesting to see how they connect and then direct the fire.
Exercise Dynamic Front has been organised by the United States Army’s 56th Artillery Command, but this is Finland’s first time hosting a military training exercise of this size since joining NATO in 2023, with more than 5,000 troops from across 28 allies, all collaborating on joint live fires utilising 130 different weapon systems.
Colonel Janne Makitalo, the Finnish Exercise Director: “We are very eager to learn through this exercise and it’s the first time we’ve had these kinds of assets here, including the Archer and the Taipan, so it’s very interesting to see how they connect and then direct the fire.
“The Archer is very impressive and can change firing positions in a very fast manner and the range of the cannon is very good.
“This obviously adds much more firepower on the Finnish terrain, which is not very well known to foreign units and it offers a terrific experience.
“Our soldiers very much enjoy engaging with our allies and it’s not just about using English, because every soldier here is an artillery expert and there’s a common understanding within that alone.
“There is much interest in comparing our skills. The British fire units usually exercise in much different surroundings, so the Rovajarvi terrain provides a very special learning experience.
“We’re a little bit north of the Arctic Circle and this training area is about 1,200sq km, which is our biggest in Finland.
“The shape of our range allows us to change the firing positions and exercise artillery tactics and we have lots of target areas. We are very proud to host this exercise.
We come from the south east of France, in Grenoble, near the Alps, and we are a specialised mountain regiment dedicated to intervene in harsh conditions.
“When we are very close to zero it’s very difficult to keep your feet dry, so it’s better to be minus 20 degrees.”
The British Army troops share the same base location in Finland as the French Army’s 93rd Mountain Artillery Regiment (93 MAR).
Lieutenant-Colonel Guillarme Faivre, Chief of Staff and Acting Commander of 93 MAR, said: “We come from the south east of France, in Grenoble, near the Alps, and we are a specialised mountain regiment dedicated to intervene in harsh conditions.
“Our Caesar is very similar to the Archer and allows us to synchronise the way we work through our procedures in order to support each other.
Our goals have been to deal with the logistic challenge, then it’s about operating together in very harsh conditions with a different type of ground and landscape.
“We’re used to working with the Brits and have worked together on Operation Cabrit before and we enjoy our strong relationship and the professionalism between our nations.
“Our goals have been to deal with the logistic challenge, then it’s about operating together in very harsh conditions with a different type of ground and landscape.
“We are stronger together and work to our common values and goals. We don’t speak the same language everyday, but we love our freedom and our values.”
