... brings dignity to what would otherwise be a vulgar brawl.


Or something like that.

Pretty impressive- I imagine sustained fire from a battery of these could be pretty devastating on an entrenched enemy or massed armor.

So it's a cannon that shoots missiles?

Someone will be pissed about their 2008 Chevy Suburban, because that will not buff out.

So what happened to Excalibur?

Wow that some awesome fire power.

Warms the heart of a former Army National Guard artillery officer.

quote:

Originally posted by tacfoley:
So what happened to Excalibur?

Excalibur (M982) has a max rage of 36km or 22.5 miles. This round effectively doubles the distance, however cost has not been disclosed. The big deal with Excalibur was the cost per round in 2012 was about $250K, and I think they suggested it would only ever get down to $75K per round.

The M795, which replaced the M107, already has a distance of 19 miles (30km) and costs a scant $6,800 per round (as of 2017). Another words, you can fire 11x M795 rounds for each M982, however accuracy widens from 20 meters on the M982 to ~200 meters on the M795.

quote:

Originally posted by 280nosler:
Someone will be pissed about their 2008 Chevy Suburban, because that will not buff out.

Well the announcement did say "The red zone is for loading and unloading ONLY and is NOT for parking." He knew the risks and ignored them so I say "Let'em blast his Chevy to smithereens. Then make him buy a Ford."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M777_howitzer


I have searched for over an hour to find how they rate this for accuracy , with no success,
is this info top secret ? or somethin

^^^yes accuracy would be secret and not to be distributed.

A lot of things come into play when you are heaving a steel projectile into the air, temperature of the air, temp of the powder in the case, winds, weather, etc...same stuff that affects regular ammo, just on a bigger scale.

We had to program the temp of the ammunition for the last three days just before we shot our guns on the ship, so that the computer could determine where the shot would go.

Navy tried something similar I believe. The cost was unbelievable. The cost for this will be unbelievable. Neat parlor trick though.

quote:

Originally posted by 280nosler:

quote:

Originally posted by tacfoley:
So what happened to Excalibur?

Excalibur (M982) has a max rage of 36km or 22.5 miles. This round effectively doubles the distance, however cost has not been disclosed. The big deal with Excalibur was the cost per round in 2012 was about $250K, and I think they suggested it would only ever get down to $75K per round.

The M795, which replaced the M107, already has a distance of 19 miles (30km) and costs a scant $6,800 per round (as of 2017). Another words, you can fire 11x M795 rounds for each M982, however accuracy widens from 20 meters on the M982 to ~200 meters on the M795.

The unit cost for the Excaliber all-up round was around $65K in FY18. It depends on the order quantity.

IIRC, we got a smidge over 40km out of Excalibur with the 39 caliber cannon tube. Notice in the videos the projectile is approaching the target almost vertically, which helps maximize terminal effects. It's not on a ballistic trajectory.

It's not a new artillery shell hitting targets 40 miles away with precision; it's the same Excalibur projectile, with its precision (independent of range), hitting targets farther with a new 55 caliber cannon tube.

Additionally, the XM1128 HE/Basebleed is indended replace the M795. Accuracy of this and other long-range rounds (e.g., XM1113 RAP) can be enhanced with the addition of the precision guidance kit fuze, resulting in fewer rounds on target to achieve desired results.

Not sure where you got the unit cost figure of $6,800 for a M795 projectile; I calculate it around $825 in FY18 based on the Army's FY20 PAA justification book (page 334) to Congress (to include the pallet and nose plug). That's $157.3M gross weapon system cost/ToA divided by 190,808 LAP'd projectiles.

quote:

Originally posted by pedropcola:
Navy tried something similar I believe. The cost was unbelievable. The cost for this will be unbelievable.

Why? The Navy wanted a new 155mm gun and long-range projectile for its Zumwalt-class ships. All the Army is doing is integrating a 55-caliber cannon tube on existing M777 and M109 howitzers. Now that's not a trivial event, but certainly no where near the Navy's AGS and (canceled) LRLAP programs.

Impressive video, but does cost justify benefit?

quote:

Originally posted by msfzoe:
Impressive video, but does cost justify benefit?

Take a look at the range of threat artillery.

I am an artillery dummy, so please help me understand.

First, this is not just a hunk of steel with explosives in the nose, this actually has propellent to help gain that range, correct?

Second, I also assume this must have guidance electronics on board? And whether programmed to a longitude / latitude or whether guided in by someone / something painting the target with a laser, I assume it has to make course corrections?

Because I do not see how it would be possible to fly 40 miles and hit something the size of a vehicle without course correction? The temp, humidity, wind (which will vary at various altitudes). Heck, you could even have sunlight at the firing location and rain at the target site, that would really throw a monkey wrench into the projections.

quote:

Originally posted by holdem:
I am an artillery dummy, so please help me understand.

First, this is not just a hunk of steel with explosives in the nose, this actually has propellent to help gain that range, correct?

Second, I also assume this must have guidance electronics on board? And whether programmed to a longitude / latitude or whether guided in by someone / something painting the target with a laser, I assume it has to make course corrections?

Because I do not see how it would be possible to fly 40 miles and hit something the size of a vehicle without course correction? The temp, humidity, wind (which will vary at various altitudes). Heck, you could even have sunlight at the firing location and rain at the target site, that would really throw a monkey wrench into the projections.

holdem - you are mostly correct. No propellant. Excalibur has a GPS/INS guidance system that 'flies" it to the target; it is not a ballistic trajectory. The projectile requires programming prior to launch.

quote:

Originally posted by 280nosler:
Someone will be pissed about their 2008 Chevy Suburban, because that will not buff out.

I think Black92LX would have given them his 2015 if they would have asked him...

https://sigforum.com/eve/forums...0601935/m/3060013074