Sci-Fi Awesome’—A U.S. Army Howitzer Just Shot Down A Cruise Missile

[Metal 0-1]

David AxeContributor
Aerospace & Defense

A U.S. Army self-propelled howitzer firing a Mach-5 shell just shot down a cruise missile for the first time.

It’s a big deal. Imagine, in some future war, Army howitzers ringing a strategic air base in the western Pacific, swatting down incoming missiles so the base’s planes can take off and land unmolested.
The shoot-down took place at the White Sands missile range in New Mexico on Wednesday. An M-109A6 Paladin tracked howitzer fired a 155-millimeter-diameter hypervelocity shell at an incoming BQM-167 target drone, blasting it to pieces.

“Tanks shooting down cruise missiles is awesome—video-game, sci-fi awesome,” said Will Roper, the U.S. Air Force’s top scientist.

The cannon-based air-defense was part of a two-day trial of a new command system the Air Force is developing. The Advanced Battle Management System is an artificial intelligence that takes sensor data from a whole bunch of different sources—satellites, stealth fighters, blimps, ground-based radar installations—and combines it.

What results is a digital picture of a whole battlefield. The A.I. then identifies the friendly forces that could destroy a particular target and gives commanders a menu from which to pick a shooter.

ABMS is big, ambitious and controversial. The Air Force wants it—and is willing to give up existing command planes in order to free up the money. Congress is skeptical the new control system will work as well as the Air Force insists it will.

It worked well enough to help a howitzer shoot down a missile.

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An M-109 fires a hypervelocity projectile at a[+]
U.S. ARMY
After neglecting its artillery for decades, the Army lately has been spending billions of dollars to upgrade hundreds of cannons and rocket-launchers. The goal is twofold—one, to out-shoot the Russians in some future land war in Europe; and two, to make Army artillery somehow relevant in an island-hopping campaign against China.

For the China problem, howitzers shooting down missiles could be just the thing. After all, China possesses around 1,300 rockets and cruise missiles that, during a major war, could rain destruction on America’s Pacific bases. The airfields in Okinawa and Guam surely would be the main targets.

The Army keeps Patriot air-defense missiles in Okinawa and longer-range Terminal High-Altitude Area-Defense in Guam. Patriot and THAAD in theory can shoot down incoming ballistic missiles—and Patriot can hit low, slow cruise missiles, too.

But at high cost. A single Patriot missile costs $5 million. A THAAD missile costs $12 million. The Army can afford only so many missiles. It’s not clear the service has enough Patriots and THAADs to shoot down all of the hundreds of missiles the Chinese could fire at Okinawa and Guam.

BAE Systems’ super-aerodynamic, precision-guided hypervelocity projectile changes the math. True, its range is a fraction of the 100 miles or more that a THAAD missile can travel. On the other hand, one Mach-5 shell costs just $86,000. And that cost could drop as the military buys more of the munitions.

The M-109 in the command exercise shot down a slow, low-flying cruise missile. But BAE Systems claims the HVP shell is capable of hitting faster-, higher-flying ballistic missiles, too. It’ll take more testing to prove that out.

Still, that first test is good news for Army air-defenders—and for the Air Force. If America and China go to war and China bombards U.S. air bases, battalions of howitzers could point their guns toward the sky and throw up a protective ring of very fast metal.

‘Sci-Fi Awesome’—A U.S. Army Howitzer Just Shot Down A Cruise Missile

A U. S. Army self-propelled howitzer firing a Mach-five shell just shot down a cruise missile.

www.forbes.com

 

[khansaheeb]

Interesting, must have had some really good tracking raiders , powerful computers and a conveniently placed Howitzer.

 

[CrazyZ]

Whats so amazing? WW2 era anti-aircraft flak canon's were pretty much artillery. They were used as anti tank guns in N. Africa and variants were put into Panzers.

With modern sensors and modern computers.....hitting aircraft that are in range is not difficult.

 

[LeGenD]

Whats so amazing? WW2 era anti-aircraft flak canon's were pretty much artillery. They were used as anti tank guns in N. Africa and variants were put into Panzers.
View attachment 667422

With modern sensors and modern computers.....hitting aircraft that are in range is not difficult.

Flak canons were extremely inaccurate shooting unguided shells in the air and combat aircraft were primitive back in the days of World War II. Advanced combat aircraft and precision munitions made Flak canons and AA guns virtually redundant.

Please tell me which self-propelled howitzer have shot down a cruise missile with a miniaturized hypersonic guided shell, and this in its first attempt? Was this type of precision munition produced before? I do not recall a single case study. Self-propelled howitzer was not conceived for AAD missions to begin with, but this dynamic might change with emerging sensor systems, communication technologies and precision munitions.

This is a breakthrough in defensive applications (miniaturized hypersonic guided shells enabling Main Battle Tanks and Howitzers to intercept cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, and more stuff, passing above) - grave implications for a standing army on the receiving end of American firepower in the future. This development will make desired defensive applications very practical and cost-effective in the long-term.

Ridiculous posts from some members lately. One post removed for being completely misleading.

 

[CrazyZ]

Flak canons were extremely inaccurate shooting unguided shells in the air and combat aircraft were primitive back in the days of World War II. Advanced combat aircraft and precision munitions made Flak canons and AA guns virtually redundant.

Please tell me which self-propelled howitzer have shot down a cruise missile with a miniaturized hypersonic guided shell, and this in its first attempt? Was this type of precision munition produced before? I do not recall a single case study. Self-propelled howitzer was not conceived for AAD missions to begin with, but this dynamic might change with emerging sensor systems, communication technologies and precision munitions.

This is a breakthrough in defensive applications (miniaturized hypersonic guided shells enabling Main Battle Tanks and Howitzers to intercept cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, and more stuff, passing above) - grave implications for a standing army on the receiving end of American firepower in the future. This development will make desired defensive applications very practical and cost-effective in the long-term.

Ridiculous posts from some members lately. One post removed for being completely misleading.

Agree with your points but the article is hyping this..... that my main point. Computers were non existent on the battle field in WW2. Anti-Aircraft-Artillery (AAA) was only good at lower altitudes and ranges. Aircraft got faster and flew higher so AAA become less effective compared to SAM's.

I will say that in the era of cheap drones and stand off munition resurrecting AAA is a good idea. I said after the Balakat incident as a way of countering stand off munitions, placing AAA around high value targets with good sensors and targeting was a counter.