Howitzer progress; New gun on target in testing

MCAS Yuma (USMC Web Site) | Feb. 15, 2002 | Cpl. Kyle Davidson

[LavaDog]

MARINE CORPS AIR STATION YUMA, Ariz.() -- Gen. James L. Jones, Commandant of the Marine Corps, and Sgt. Maj. Alford L. McMichael, Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps, made a brief visit to Yuma Proving Grounds Jan. 28 to check the progress of the XM777 Lightweight 155 mm Howitzer testing.

The Army and Marine Corps are testing several XM777 Howitzers in Yuma, Twentynine Palms, Calif., Aberdeen Test Center, Md., and at Fort Greeley in Alaska for cold weather testing.

According to an article written by the Army, this weapon is expected to be the Marine Corps' sole Howitzer, with the first unit being equipped by fiscal year 2003. Jones stopped by to make sure it was on target for that date.

This low profile gun that can propel a 39-caliber round a maximum range of 18.9 miles, but weighs 7,000 pounds less than the currently used M198 155 mm Howitzer, is undergoing a series of firing and structural tests at YPG.

The current M198 155 mm, weighs a monstrous 16,000 pounds. After all the kinks are worked out, it is estimated the XM777 will weigh roughly 9,500 pounds. The military began testing the design and structure of the Howitzer in 1996. Live fire testing began later that same year.

According to Master Sgt. Jeffrey Altman, part of the joint Marine/Army team testing the Howitzer, other than some minor adjustments that need to be made, this weapon is a sound piece of machinery.

"This gun is going to increase the survivability of our Marines in the mix," said Altman as he led the Commandant and Sergeant Major around the Howitzer, explaining the upgrades and design differences.

"This gun is the lowest profile Howitzer in the world right now," Altman added. The Howitzer has a 27-inch ground clearance and has a maximum height of roughly 20 feet. It still hosts the standard 10-man crew for safety, but if it were to be used during a war situation, it could be operated with half.

British Aerospace is the manufacturer of the Howitzer, using a lightweight titanium metal, which is stronger, yet lighter than the steel used in the M198. The new Howitzer can be easily air lifted by a CH-46 Sea Knight.

Yet, the weight isn't the only difference in the new design. For instance, this new Howitzer has a tow hook near the muzzle so it can be towed by a five-ton truck, being easily connected by only two Marines. The current Howitzer can not be pulled by the muzzle and takes nearly the entire crew to connect.

The Howitzer also has a self digging system. Two forks designed to hold the weapon in place will dig into the ground after the first fire.

But, the major difference is the gun's firing system. A magazine of 10 primers is placed in the gun's primer feed mechanism; once it is fired, the spent primer is ejected and a new one is inserted by operating the PFM handle. This saves Marines time and allows for a maximum fire rate of five rounds per minute.

The weapon still needs a little tuning, but the Commandant seemed impressed with what he saw. "It's always good to come out and speak with the experts," said Jones. "It helps us to make sound decisions back in the office."

[eno_]

Think Wal Mart will have ammo?

[fourdeuce82d]

"The big guns go - Boom Boom, The little guns go - to the eighty second!"

".........." (speechless throw-weight envy from a former 4.2 gunner...)

[SLB]

Please change that Incoming to "outgoing" - thanks.

[FreedomPoster]

The little guns go - to the eighty second

As an Army brat, I got to see a lot of military hardware growing up, and remember those little 105 pack howitzers the 82nd uses (used?). I can't help but think that those 82nd redlegs would've really liked something bigger like this, when they were acting as speed bumps at the Saudi border, waiting for Saddam to come across, before the heavy mech and armor units got there.

On another, related, note, I had a great uncle who jumped into Normandy with the 82nd's arty bn.

[AlaskaErik]

Once again, the Marines have it right. They understand the future battles we will be fighting. The army, on the other hand, still believes in the behemoth Crusader that may have been useful during a Warsaw Pact invasion. Time for the army to face the 21st century and to stop wasting finite dollars on fighting the Cold War. On a different note, did the army's morale get a significant boost after they switched over to black berets?

Semper Fi

[Publius6961]

This may be a good place to make an observation and ask a question.
There are many great and "realistic" simulations for aircraft, cars, trains and maybe even bicycles, but nothing that I know of for realistic large ships (an oil tanker would be awesome), or for artillery in a realistic 3D universe.

Am I wrong? Or does anyone know of such computer simulations?

[Billthedrill]

I simply cannot understand why anyone would want to own a weapon that large. Anyone but me, that is. I mean, you could put out someone's eye with that thing...

We will, of course, be hearing from Josh Sugarmann at the Violence Policy Institute regarding this assault weapon. You can get them at gunshows, dontcha know...

[Free the USA]

Bump List

[nightdriver]

"Wouldn't the barrel be 39 calibers, and not the round?"

That's what I thought too. Thirty nine calibers at 155mm should yield a barrel length of about twenty feet, shouldn't it?

[Drew68]

You can get them at gunshows, dontcha know...

Yeah, where middle-eastern terrorists line up by the dozens to buy them for pocket change!

[RightWhale]

You might tow it around, but what is the cost of one shell, and where will you get the primers?

[FF578]

I worked on one of these when I was in the army.

PALADIN 155MM SELF PROPELLED HOWITZER, USA

Paladin M109A6 is a cannon artillery system developed by the Ground System Division of United Defense L.P. and manufactured at the Paladin Production Operation centre at Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. Paladin was first fielded in 1994 and is operational with the United States Army and the Israeli Army, and has been selected by the Kuwaiti Defence Ministry. In June 1999, the US Army received the last of 950 Paladin M109A6 ordered. However a further 7 systems were ordered in July 2000 for the US Army National Guard.

Paladin is operated by a crew of four, a commander, driver, gunner and loader. Paladin is able to operate independently with no external technical assistance. The crew are able to receive mission data via a secure voice and digital communications system, compute the firing data, automatically unlock the cannon from the travel lock, point the cannon and fire, and move to a new location without external technical assistance. Paladin M109A6 fires the first round from the move in under 60 seconds. The "shoot and scoot" capability protects the crew from counterbattery fire.

ARMAMENT

The 39 calibre 155 mm M284 cannon which is fitted with an M182 gun mount, has a range of 24 km using unassisted rounds or 30 km using assisted rounds. The projectile loading can be carried out using the full stroke hydraulic system, or a semi-automatic loading system is optional. Paladin M109A6 achieves a maximum firing rate of up to 8 rounds per minute or 3 rounds per 15 seconds, and a sustained firing rate of 1 round per three minutes. The gun is operated with an automatic fire control system with ballistic computer, fitted with an optical backup.

The vehicle's inertial positioning and navigation system is integrated with the automatic fire control system.

A 12.7 mm M2 machine gun is mounted on the right hand side of the turret.

SELF-PROTECTION

The crew remains in the vehicle throughout the mission. Protection against nuclear, chemical and biological warfare is installed with individual crew protection systems with temperature controlled (hot and cold) air. The turret is fitted with Kevlar spall suppression lining for additional ballistic protection.

COMMUNICATIONS

The Paladin is equipped with a secure voice and digital communications suite including the VIC-1 Intercom, VRC-89 or the SINCGARS single channel ground and airborne radio subsystem.

PROPULSION

The Paladin vehicle is powered by a 2 cycle diesel, 440 horsepower, DDEC 8V71T engine from Detroit Diesel Corporation, and an Allison ATD-XTG-411-4 transmission with four forward and two reverse gears. The suspension system is based on high strength torsion bars with high capacity shock absorbers. The vehicle has a range of 214 miles with a maximum speed of 40 miles per hour.

The electrical power supply is rated at 650 amps, 24 volts DC.

I can't wait until they finish this:

[Junior]

Pretty darned close (19.8')

[stlrocket]

Are the Dangers of Recoil the safe as they are with other guns?

RECOIL DEMONSTRATION

[rangerX]

I did a study on this when XVIII Airborne Corps Artillery was first looking at this howitzer and the Royal Ordnance howitzer. The light units such as 82nd, 10th Mountain and 101st would not benefit from this howitzer, because it essentially doubles the logistics train, which is already pretty austere in these units. Also, and probably most critical, it can't be lifted by the Blackhawk, which was the original intent for the lightweight 155. Even if they had been able to get the weight down to below the 8,000 lbs that a UH-60L could lift, it still would have taken two birds to lift both the gun and crew, hence no decrease in lift requirements for airmobile raids, and possibly an increase. The study came to the conclusion that it was probably feasible for the Corps Artillery units to use the new 155, but not the Division Artillery units.

[rangerX]

When were you with 1/39th? I was the S3 there in 1991-1992