AS-90 started in the mid-1980s as a private venture on the gamble that the tri-national
SP70 would fail. When this did occur, the
Ministry of Defence (MoD) issued a cardinal point specification on one page for a new 155 mm self-propelled gun. The MoD was also required to consider the US "Paladin", an upgraded
M109 howitzer. AS-90 was designed and built by the armaments division of
Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering (VSEL). Between 1992 and 1995, VSEL supplied 179 vehicles at a cost of £300 million ($480 million). The AS-90 was first deployed by the British Army in 1993. The AS-90s were acquired to re-equip six of the eight self-propelled field artillery regiments (each of 24 guns) in the
I (BR) Corps, replacing the 105 mm
FV433 Abbot and older
M109 155 mm Self Propelled Gun and
FH70 towed howitzer. In 1999, VSEL became a part of
BAE Systems. In 1999,
Marconi Electronic Systems was contracted to upgrade British Army AS-90s to include a 52 calibre gun in order to increase the range of the artillery. Critical to the programme was a bi-modular charge system from
Somchem of South Africa (selected after extensive trials of ammunition from many suppliers), which offered greatly reduced barrel wear. However, this ammunition failed to meet the requirement for
insensitive munitions and the project was terminated. The MoD undertook
studies in 2006–09 to "up-gun" the Royal Navy's main shipboard gun armament, the
4.5 inch Mark 8 naval gun, to accept 155mm ammunition from the AS-90. This would have introduced a common gun calibre for the British Army and
Royal Navy, helping with ammunition logistics, and encouraging joint Army-Navy development of extended-range and precision-guided shells. The development of this gun for the Royal Navy was stopped due to budget cuts in the
Strategic Defence and Security Review 2010. In 2008 and 2009, a capability enhancement programme primarily upgraded AS-90's electronic system. In 2008, there were 134 AS-90 in service further reduced to 117 by 2015. By April 2016, there were 89 AS-90 in active service. This was how it remained until the beginning of
Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The initial expected out-of-service date for the AS-90 had been 2030, but this was later delayed to 2032 with a replacement planned to enter service in 2029. The
Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 changed these plans. but that was subsequently denied by Defence Secretary
Ben Wallace. On 14 January 2023, British Prime Minister
Rishi Sunak announced that Britain would send 30 AS-90 to Ukraine, amongst other supplies (including 14
Challenger 2 tanks), for use in the ongoing
Russo-Ukrainian War. To fill the gap in British Army artillery left by the donation, the UK government announced they were buying 14
Archer Artillery Systems in March 2023. The deal was negotiated in just eight weeks as part of the
Urgent Operational Requirement procurement process; the first vehicles were planned to be fully operational by April 2024. The purchase was meant to fill a hole in capabilities until a new system would be decided upon as part of the Mobile Fires Platform programme, where Archer was a competitor. On April 23, 2024 the UK government announced that the AS-90 would be replaced by the
RCH 155. In 2025 it was reported in defence news websites that all British AS-90 had been donated to Ukraine and the British Army had ended its usage of AS-90. ==Design==