Bofors/Nexter Bonus

The BONUS (Bofors Nutating Shell) or ACED (Anti-Char à Effet Dirigé)  is a 155 mm artillery cluster round co-developed and manufactured by Bofors of Sweden and Nexter of France. It was designed to fulfill a long range, indirect fire, top attack requirement against armoured fighting vehicles.

The BONUS base bleed carrier shell contains two submunitions, which descend over the battlefield on winglets and attack targets with explosively formed penetrator warheads.

Background
The programme was launched in early 1985 as a project study for the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration, with development completion initially expected by 1989 and production by 1990. In 1990, however, development completion was said to have slipped to 1992, the programme suffering delays. In June 1992, a military cooperation protocol was signed between Sweden and France. This partnership took concrete form on March 7 1993 in Stockholm, with the conclusion of a special agreement on the development and production of an "intelligent" munition: the BONUS OBG artillery shell. The French Defense Minister, Pierre Joxe, stated the agreement would "undoubtedly make it possible to combine Swedish and French technologies, which are very advanced in this field". His Swedish counterpart, Anders Björck, meanwhile, emphasized the "historic" nature of this cooperation with France, "which is undoubtedly the most technologically advanced of Sweden's possible partners".

The BONUS was to be a smart anti-tank weapon with a range of over 25 km, which releases two submunitions at an altitude of 1,000 m above the theater of operations, with terminal and precise target guidance. First delivery was scheduled for 1995 at the time of the cooperation agreement but ultimately, the BONUS only entered production 5 years later in 1998 and then, French and Swedish service in 2000.

Design
155 BONUS is a 155 mm NATO artillery round that consists of a 47 kg heavy artillery projectile containing two autonomous, sensor-fused, fire-and-forget submunitions.

After the submunition is released it opens two winglets. While descending, the submunition rotates, scanning the area below with multi-frequency infrared sensors and LiDAR that compares the detected vehicles with a programmable target database. The submunitions each contain a high-penetration EFP warhead for use against even heavy armoured fighting vehicles like main battle tanks.

When fired from a 52-caliber barrel, a BONUS shell can travel up to 35 km.

Operational history
The BONUS shell was first used in operations on December 3, 2018 by the French Wagram artillery detachment in Iraq, as part of French operations against the Islamic State. Four shells destroyed a convoy of eight Islamic State vehicles.

In the context of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, BONUS rounds were supplied by France (and potentially Sweden and Norway) to the latter. Although various analysts and web users speculated a BONUS shell had struck a Russian Pantsir-S1 system on July 5, 2022, it turned out to be a SMArt 155 strike. However, in January 2023, French-produced BONUS shells were visually confirmed to be in Ukrainian service. In July 2024 a BONUS shell was used to destroy a Russian T-90M main battle tank near the village of Robotyne.

Competing systems
The BONUS is similar to the German SMArt 155 system; the SMArt 155 descends on a parachute rather than a system of winglets, and uses a millimeter radar as altimeter instead of LIDAR.

The United States developed the similar M898 SADARM system (which also descended on a ballute to attack the top surfaces of armoured vehicles), but this was discontinued in favor of the GPS guided M982 Excalibur round. US artillery units also largely deploys the M712 Copperhead laser-guided round for the anti-tank role.

Operators

 * 🇫🇷 French Army - since 2000
 * 🇸🇪 Swedish Army - since 2000
 * 🇫🇮 Finnish Army - since 2014
 * 🇺🇸 US Army - being procured
 * 🇳🇴 Norwegian Army
 * 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabian National Guard, since 2012 (1,000 shells ordered in 2011)
 * 🇺🇦 Ukrainian Ground Forces - since 2022
 * British Army - since 2023 - Adopted with Archer self propelled artillery system per UK MoD FOI answer in December 2023.