The U.S Army's Extended Range Cannon Artillery (ERCA) gun fired an Excalibur shell to a range
of 43 miles or 70 km in a test.
As per the U.S Army, the gun now holds the world record for precision strikes.
The Army conducted the test, at Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona.
Brig.
Gen. John Rafferty, who is in charge of the effort, told a small group of reporters in
a teleconference immediately following the test,
“I don’t think our adversaries have the ability to hit a target on the nose at 43
miles”
In this video Defense Updates analyzes how Extended Range Cannon Artillery (ERCA) gun
with Excalibur shell could transform the deep strike capabilities of the U.S Army?
Let's get into the details.
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This has been accomplished using a special gun and an optimized propellant
The ERCA cannon consists of an M109A7 Paladin Integrated Management (PIM) howitzer chassis
with a longer barrel.
The 39-caliber gun tube has been replaced with a 58-caliber, 30-foot or 9-meter one.
Viewers may note that in field artillery, “caliber” refers to the tube of the gun
barrel as opposed to the diameter of the bore.
The 155-millimeter diameter of the barrel is multiplied by 58 to determine the overall
length of the barrel which is equal to 29.49 feet.
A longer barrel permits the expanding gases triggered by the shell powder to act upon
the projectile for a greater period of time.
ERCA uses is a new “supercharged” propellant formulation designed to increase pressure
inside the barrel.
These two combine to provide increased velocity and range.
In this test, the U.S Army took three shots.
Rafferty said that each munition fired during the event had slight design differences to
address how best to design and prepare the round to absorb the high-pressure and force
of being fired at 1,000 meters per second from a gun tube.
The first shot, due to the winds, fell short by roughly 100 meters, which, Rafferty said,
sounds like a lot, but is closer when considering the munition has to travel 70,000 meters.
The U.S Army knew the first shot would come up short due to wind, but wanted to take it
anyway in order to learn from it.
In the second shot, the U.S Army had modified the hardware configuration and experience
a hardware failure.
Specifically, the U.S Army added an isolator for the inertial measurement unit, which is
essentially a shock absorber to counter the pressure spike in the chamber.
Rafferty stated, “We did have some concerns with the survivability of that”
The third shot hit the target and provided the desired outcome.
As per Rafferty, the success proved that the service is getting closer to dialing in on
the right balance between propellant, projectile design and other factors that play into achieving
greater distances.
"What was consistent was the propellant configuration,” he added.
“So we got that propellant configuration, I think dialed in really close down, which
is great.”
Col. Tony Gibbs, the Army’s program manager for combat artillery system, explained that
it took about a year and a half of testing and analysis to determine whether the Excalibur
projectiles could withstand harsher environments.
Gibbs added, “So through a number of tests and analysis,
we determined what muzzle velocity is required, what chamber pressures the projectile can
withstand and so all that came together in today’s test; we fired it at the right propellant
combination to provide the right muzzle velocity to achieve the range"
The M982 Excalibur is a 155 mm extended range guided artillery shell developed during a
collaborative effort between the US Army Research Laboratory (ARL) and the United States Army
Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC).
The Excalibur was manufactured by the prime contractor Raytheon Missile Systems and BAE
Systems AB.
It is a GPS and inertial-guided munition.
A new variant, known as Excalibur S has laser guidance which makes it capable of seeking
& engaging moving targets.
The "S" version has GPS and a semi-active laser seeker to get after mobile land and
maritime targets in GPS-contested environments without a loss in range capability.
Raytheon stated that the Excalibur Increment B projectiles used by U.S Army and U.S Navy
can be upgraded with the S capabilities.
Sam Deneke, Raytheon’s land warfare systems vice president, had said in the statement,
“Using artillery to engage moving targets gives soldiers more flexibility.
Artillery is typically used to hit stationary objects, but Excalibur S expands the capability
of artillery on the battlefield.”
Excalibur is used to minimize collateral damage, for targets beyond the range of standard munitions,
for precise firing within 150 meters (490 ft) of friendly troops, or when firing in
a straight line from the launching cannon is limited by terrain.
It has a multi-function fuze that can be programmed to explode in the air, once it hits a hard
surface, or after it penetrates inside a target.
One Excalibur projectile can accurately hit an intended target that could require the
use of between 10 and 50 unguided artillery rounds.
Though artillery is seemingly old-fashioned, they are and will continue to play an important
role on the battlefield in the foreseeable future.
An artillery barrage will keep the enemy’s heads down and provide opportunities for the
Infantry to advance undercover.
Artillery barrages have also been known to have a physiological impact by demoralizing
the opponent.
It is cheaper and faster than air support and is now way more accurate as compared to
the old days.
ERCA almost doubles the range of existing U.S Army howitzers.
According to the Army, the current M109A7 Paladin self-propelled howitzer can send Excalibur
rounds to 39.3 km or 24.4 miles which has now been extended due to the special gun and
an optimized propellant
The U.S Army is trying to extend artillery ranges so as to counter the adversaries especially
Russia which is developing its own long-range artillery system.
The idea is that the ERCA cannon would be able to fire and take out targets from a position
that will be beyond the strike envelope of enemy systems and this test is a step in the
right direction.