Posted on 01/25/2019 9:55:01 AM PST by Red Badger
The U.S. Army is continuing development of a so-called “super gun” artillery piece capable of sending projectiles 1,000 miles downrange, or more than far enough to be free of counterbattery fire from existing enemy guns.
Top service officials say the new gun, when fully developed and deployed, would be able to attack targets in and around China, including Beijing’s bases on the South China Sea islands, well out of range of Chinese defenses.
“You can imagine a scenario where the Navy feels that it cannot get into the South China Sea because of Chinese naval vessels, or whatever,” Army Secretary Mark Esper said during a media roundtable earlier this week.
“We can – from a fixed location, on an island or some other place – engage enemy targets, naval targets, at great distances and maintain our standoff and yet open the door, if you will, for naval assets or Marine assets,” he added.
Testing with extended-range artillery is part of the service’s aim to incorporate hypersonic technology into new weapons systems in which the Pentagon chose some years ago not to weaponize. That’s changing now as near-peer competitors like China and Russia develop and field their own hypersonic delivery systems for both conventional and nuclear warheads.
Task & Purpose asked Esper why the Army believes it needs artillery pieces that can fire shells up to 1,000 miles; he responded by saying that the military has a mission requirement to outrage enemy guns.
“You want to be outside the range that they can hit you,” Esper said.
“Why was the spear developed? Because the other guy had a sword. A spear gives you range,” he said. “Why was the sling developed? Because the spear closed off the range of the sword. You want to always have standoff where you can strike without being struck back. That’s what extended-range cannon artillery gives us, case in point vis-à-vis the Russians.”
In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee in April 2016, U.S. Army Chief of Staff General Mark Milley was asked if the U.S. military was outranged or outgunned by any potential adversary.
“Yes … the ones in Europe, really Russia. We don’t like it, we don’t want it, but yes, technically [we are] outranged, outgunned on the ground,” he said.
Last year, reports noted that the Army was developing a new prototype Extended Ranger Cannon Artillery weapon that had a larger-caliber tube and new grooves designed to hang weights for gravity adjustments, really just a modified M777A2 mobile gun.
Officials noted that the modifications increased the weapon’s range from about 30 km (18 miles) to about 70 km (43 miles).
That said, a senior Army official told Warrior Maven, “Just because I can shoot farther, that does not mean I solve the issue. I have to acquire the right target. We want to be able to hit moving targets and targets obscured by uneven terrain.”
Easy to say now, but the US Government cut funding to zero based on political, not scientific considerations.
It was a great loss.
RAP round ?
Mutually exclusive terms.
Just curious, what is the distance from South Florida to San Francisco?
I knew Israel had them but didn’t know we have them. I understand the problem is that there are more artillery shells and rockets than Iron Dome missiles so they system would be overwhelmed.
Rods from GOD, oh yeah—bring it!!!!!!!!!!!!!
the US Government cut funding to zero based on political, not scientific considerations
That was an act of colossal stupidity. We should have kept him working for us so he wouldn't go work for bad guys, if for no other reason.
” the military has a mission requirement to outrage enemy guns.””
Where is outrage guy when you need him?
That looks like something out of a Steam-Punk dream!...................
They pretty much get everything from us.
Well no wonder that bullet is angry. The primer has been struck, but he is still wearing his shell casing.
Iron dome works against incoming rockets, not artillery. And can be overwhelmed,
Farther ,it’s on the Moon ,LOL
Attempted building a long range cannon for Iraq. Mossad whacked him. It was just like Hitler’s big gun.
There’s a movie about it.
A big gun is a big target. The Chinese have missiles, too.
Gerald Bull https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Bull
I think we call this a missile.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.