Patria has revealed the prototype of the ARVE 155 mm coastal defence artillery system for the Finnish Navy’s mobile short-range coastal defence weaponry.
Patria’s proposal for the Finnish Navy’s short-range coastal defence requirement consists of a truck armed with an L52 155 mm howitzer, which can reuse the current towed howitzers in addition to the production of new ones.
A Patria official speaking to Naval News stated that follow-through ammunition loaders, enhanced fire control systems, and servo controls are also being inspected as optimisations for the mission. Coastal defence artillery should be capable of hitting moving targets with greater efficiency than an army-type conventional howitzer, after all.
The official underlined that affordability is among the focus points of this acquisition.
Coastal defence artillery was not popular after the end of World War II, much credited to the emergence of anti-ship missiles. One example deployment is from Russia, which uses the A-222 Bereg coastal artillery using a 130 mm gun which is paired with a short-range surface searching and tracking radar for targeting.
Other than gun improvements, ARVE might make use of guided ammunition like Excalibur to improve the accuracy as well. This might require additional modifications like GPS updates or the addition of a laser seeker for better efficiency against moving targets. However, such extras would endanger the affordability aforementioned by the officials. How Finland will approach the subject of modern coastal defence artillery remains to be seen in the coming months.
