US Army's New Huge Barrel Packing 155mm Howitzer Doubles Range To 40 Miles In Tests

[F-22Raptor]

Driven by concerns about its artillery units getting outranged in large-scale conflicts against “great power” opponents, such as Russia and China, the U.S. Army has been steadily pushing to extend the range of its self-propelled and towed 155mm howitzers. The service has already doubled the range of those weapons to 40 miles using advanced rocket-assisted ammunition, but is now looking to find ways for them to hit targets up to 80 miles away.

U.S. Army Colonel John Rafferty, the director of the Long Range Precision Fires (LRPF) Cross-Functional Team (CFT), part of the Army’s new Futures Command, explained the new range goal to reporters on Oct. 10, 2018, at the Association of the U.S. Army’s (AUSA) annual exhibition in Washington, D.C. When the service first created the LRPF CFT to coordinate all advanced artillery developments in 2017, the plan was to increase the range of 155mm howitzers to more than 60 miles.

"I think there are a couple of technologies out there that allow us to get to 120-130 [km; approximately 75 to 80 miles],” Rafferty said on Oct. 10, 2018. “I think that's entirely doable.”


The 155mm howitzer related efforts are all grouped together into a program known as Extended Range Cannon Artillery (ECRA), which has been ongoing since 2016. The project’s most visible product so far has been the XM907 howitzer cannon. This new barrel is longer and more robust to handle more powerful ammunition and propelling charges. It is hundreds of pounds heavier and six feet longer than the barrels in use today on the Army’s M777 towed howitzers and M109A6 and A7 self-propelled types.

“We just doubled the range of our artillery at Yuma Proving Ground,” U.S. Army General John Murray, the head of Futures Command, said in separate remarks at the AUSA gathering regarding the XM907. During the test, a howitzer with the new barrel was able to hit a target approximately 40 miles away.

Murray did not say what ammunition soldiers used during this experiment, but it seems most likely that round in question was one of the new XM1113 rocket-assisted shells coupled with the XM654 “supercharge” propellant, both of which are other development efforts within the ERCA program. Norwegian defense contractor Nammo is building the rounds for the Army and also says they have a maximum range of around 40 miles.

http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zon...m-howitzer-doubles-range-to-40-miles-in-tests

 

[Oldman1]

Read they may add another 3 feet to the barrel which is already long as hell! And considering this would out-range Russa's and China's self propelled artillery.

 

[F-22Raptor]

Read they may add another 3 feet to the barrel which is already long as hell! And considering this would out-range Russa's and China's self propelled artillery.

Here's the ranges US artillery are extending to...