Posted on 07/25/2019 3:14:30 PM PDT by PROCON
U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground conducts developmental testing of multiple facets of the Extended Range Cannon Artillery project, from artillery shells to the longer cannon tube and larger firing chamber the improved howitzer will need to accommodate them on November 18, 2018 (U.S. Army photo)
The future of Army long-range precision officially has a name.
The Army confirmed on Monday that it plan on designating the Extended Range Cannon Artillery (ERCA) program's brand new 155mm self-propelled howitzer as the M1299, Army Recognition reports.
Developed in response to increasing concerns of near-peer adversaries like Russia and China, the ERCA gun nailed targets with pinpoint accuracy at a range of 62 kilometers during testing at the Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona in March, far outstripping the range of both the M109A7 Paladin (30km) and M777 (40km with the M982 Excalibur guided artillery shell) howitzers.
Compared to those systems, the M1299 will receive two "leading-edge technologies," as Army Recognition reports: the experimental new XM1113 rocket-assisted artillery shell, and a longer 58 caliber tube designed to boost the conventional howitzer range from 38km to 70km and, eventually, an eye-popping 100 km "within the forthcoming four years."
Extended Range Cannon Artillery, or ERCA, will be an improvement to the latest version of the Paladin self-propelled howitzer that provides indirect fires for the brigade combat team and division-level fight (U.S. Army photo)
"We know we need the range in order to maintain overmatch," Col. John Rafferty, head of the long-range precision fire cross-functional team, told Defense News. "We need 70 to 80 kilometers because that's the start, and then we will be able to get farther. Right now we are on a path to 70 kilometers with ERCA."
Extended range is only one element of the Army's never-ending pursuit of lethality. The M1299 will incorporate a fully automated ammo loading system to boost the howitzer's rate of fire from 3 rpm to 10rpm, although Defense News reported in March that the Army doesn't plan on fully incorporating the system "beyond the first iteration" until 2024.
Soldier may not need to wait that long to get their hands on the ERCA program's new tech, though: the official M1299 designation comes just weeks after the Army awarded a $45 million contract to BAE Systems to integrate various elements of the ERCA system into the service's existing and future Paladin howitzers.
Anyway, congrats to the M1299 on its induction into the world of alpha-numeric military designations. We hope your upcoming baptism is a baptism by fire.
All the logistics on this weapon must have been insane.
“...I have read that during WWII, more casualties were inflicted by artillery than anything else.” [yarddog, post 41]
Consensus on these numbers isn’t stable.
For decades, most authorities concluded that machine guns killed more soldiers on the Western Front during World War One than any other weapon. Since the 1970s, those estimates have shifted toward artillery being the number one killer in that conflict.
Uncertainties may never go lower, because tens of thousands were killed in action who are still officially missing: bodies dismembered beyond recognition by shelling, buried under rubble from shelling, unrecoverable due to loss of ground, buried in the field in emergency circumstances, ID tags torn off by weapons fire, remains impossible to identify due to decomposition, etc. Cause of death was often impossible to determine.
Bit short on the range if they want to keep “overmatch” - the Russian 2S35 Koalitsiya-SV has been demonstrated to fire out to 40km with legacy projectiles and out to ***80***km with precision guided munitions. This thing is 10-20km short.
70km and 100km are currently vaporware for this thing and relying on a projectile technology that we already decided not to buy for the Navy. The Russians will sell you one that ranges to 80km on the world arms market, today.
See 43.
Words often have several meanings/usages.
Calibers, plural, here means how many bore lengths a field piece has. It is the ratio of inner diameter to length, not the diameter, that matters.
One could have, hypothetically, a 155MM as mortar, as howitzer, and as rifle (gun). The barrel length would determine the classification, and hence use (range and trajectory).
Shotgun bores use a different caliber concept: A 10 Gauge bore would accommodate ten lead balls totalling a pound; a 12 Gauge would need twelve balls; a 20 Gauge would need twenty. (.410 is a rifled weapon caliber designation; it would be about 68 Gauge.)
Automate it heh.
You’re referencing WW1, he’s referencing WW2. Pretty sure that latter one’s not in doubt considering what happened to the Wehrmacht after the Soviets could rearm and they were *properly* introduced to Ivan’s God of Battle. The Germans, characteristically, were rabid about accurate stat keeping and the numbers of German troops that got sliced, diced and pureed by Ivan’s artillery were pretty well documented. Do NOT f**k with Ivan when his artillery is properly set up and ranges on you.
9 minute multiple loop of Ivan sending his greetings via the classic Katyusha batteries in WW2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bWt81vhIyY
I would say “Reason” (Snow Crash reference) but it’s not a gatling or railgun. If it’s as good and as accurate as it promises to be... name it the Sgt. Hathcock.
Twice as far is why you are 2!
On target at 40 miles is pretty impressive. Lots of math involved.
How long is the projectile in the air at that distance?
If my figures are correct a 16 inch 2000 pound shell hitting within 30 feet of the target 20 miles distant in most cases that would be all you need. Every thing not heavily buried and steel reinforced. Would be destroyed.
The Confederate in South Carolina learned That forts built of sand and palm trees fared far better than brick or stone forts.
The sand absorbed the blast
It isn’t enough with modern field fortifications - this is why the GBU-28 was invented.
Twice as good too...
Oh, yeah, what are you trying to start?
You haven’t been around stirring the pot for quite a while!
Been out there stealing kid’s bikes and putting them in the yard’s of other kids? lol
I see you’re going with the “beating swords into plowshares” route. :)
Twice as far is why you are 2!
As I understand it, in lager guns the caliber is the ratio of barrel length to bore. So a 58 caliber gun would have a barrel length 58 times its bore.
Whatever is about to start, we all know it will end with you losing control of your Pooh!
We used tanks so extensively in Iraq that many are worn out and sitting in depot awaiting refurbishment. Field Artillery was present and used extensively in Afghanistan. As one battery commander told me, they moved the dirt out from under the Taliban.
We keep building them and then send them off to remote, dry, desert storage locations.
Where would you get an idea like that?
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.