Saab to Provide Mid-Life Extension for UK’s Arthur Weapon Systems

The United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence has awarded Saab a 482 million SEK ($51 million) contract to provide mid-life extension and support for Arthur weapon locating system.

Deliveries of the mid-life extension will take place between 2022 and 2023. The support contract covers 2020-2026, the company said in a statement Tuesday.

Saab will carry out the work in Gothenburg, Sweden, with support also taking place at 5th Regiment Royal Artillery’s Marne Barracks in Catterick, UK. Arthur is known in the UK as the Mobile Artillery Monitoring Battlefield (MAMBA) radar.

Arthur protects forces and civilians by providing warning of incoming fire and is also used for tasks including counterbattery missions and fire control. The mid-life extension will represent a major programme of obsolescence management by the insertion of modern technology, ensuring that this critical operational counter-fire capability can be sustained on a cost-effective basis through to its extended out-of-service date.

The UK received the first Arthur systems from Saab in 2003, and the systems have supported operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.