As reported in Politico,
two people familiar with the said the U.S. included Excalibur precision-guided munitions
in the Aug. 19 weapons package, even though the administration didn’t publicly announce them.
There are also some indications that
Excalibur has already been used to take out a Russian Zoopark-1 counter-battery radar.
It may be noted that even earlier certain weapons delivered by the US
have been mentioned publicly in an ambiguous way to retain the element of surprise. For example,
HARM missile transfer was designated as providing a counter-radar capability.
In this video Defense Updates analyzes why Russia would be very concerned by the supply of American
Excalibur shells to Ukraine ? Let's get started.
The M982 Excalibur (previously XM982) is a 155 mm extended-range guided artillery shell
developed in a collaborative effort between the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL)
and the United States Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC).
The Excalibur was developed and/or manufactured by the prime contractor Raytheon Missiles & Defense,
BAE Systems AB (BAE Systems Bofors) and other subs and primes in multiple capacities
such as Camber Corporation and Huntington Ingalls Industries.
Excalibur was developed as a longer-range and much
more accurate alternative to conventional artillery shells
Excalibur shell is equipped with GPS guidance making it capable of precision strikes.
In addition to its GPS guidance, the Excalibur also has inertial guidance,
which not only allows the projectile to maintain its ballistic arc, even against
heavy jamming but also allows some guidance capability when GPS is unusable altogether.
Excalibur has a range of approximately 40 to 57 kilometers
(25 to 35 mi) depending on configuration, with a circular error probable (CEP) of 4 m.
The maximum range is thought to be around 70 km or 43.5 miles
The extended range is achieved through the use of folding glide fins,
which allow the projectile to glide from the top of a ballistic arc towards the target.
Excalibur uses different types of munitions depending on the variant. The baseline version
weighs 48 kg or 105 lbs and carries a 22 kg or 48 lbs High Explosive (HE) warhead.
The fuse can be programmed to explode in the air,
on contact with hard surfaces or after it penetrates inside a target.
Initial combat experience with Excalibur in Iraq in the summer of 2007 was highly successful,
with 92% of rounds falling within 4 meters (13 ft) of their targets.
Its performance was so impressive that the U.S. Army planned to
increase production to 150 rounds per month from the previous 18 rounds per month.
The shell is compatible with many platforms.
Self-propelled guns compatible with the Excalibur projectile
include the American M109A6 Paladin and M109A7, British AS-90, German PzH 2000, South African G6,
and Swedish Archer to name a few. Towed guns compatible with
the Excalibur projectile are the American M198 and M777 howitzers.
Russia has overwhelming advantages when it comes to artillery, especially in quantity.
Some reports state that Russia is firing 40-60,000 artillery shells every day.
While Ukraine is not able to match the numbers,
it could potentially get the required effect with a much lesser but very accurate shell.
One Excalibur round can hit a target that would otherwise require between 10
and 15 unguided artillery rounds.
The accuracy also gives it the ability to safely hit targets much closer to friendly
troops or civilian structures than an unguided projectile usually allows for.
In fact, it can be used just 75-150 meters from friendly troops.
Given the characteristics of Excalibur and the ability demonstrated by Ukraine to quickly master
weapons supplied by allies, it is not hard to see that Russian forces are in for a bad time.