Army Fires Shells 40 Miles in Upgraded Cannon Test

The Epoch Times ^ | March 7, 2020 Updated: March 7, 2020 | SIMON VEAZEY

[E. Pluribus Unum]

An outsized and upgraded cannon spat shells a distance of 40 miles over the Arizona desert Friday, reaching almost three times as far as its previous incarnation.

The army is scrambling to boost the range of its missiles and artillery as the number one modernization priority.

That program includes an upgrade to a tank-like howitzer, the Extended Range Cannon Artillery, with three times the range and an autoloader, able to launch one round every 6-10 seconds.

On March 6, the prototype, with its unwieldy-looking gun, successfully fired two different types of artillery 40 miles during a demonstration at the Yuma testing range in Arizona, according to Military.com.

The upgrade to the 57-year-old M109 armored self-propelled howitzer launched a rocket-assisted 155 mm round and an Excalibur precision-guided round.

The Excalibur round also hit a precision target, Brig. Gen. John Rafferty told reporters, according to Breaking Defense, but added no further details.

Rafferty is in charge of the Army’s Long Range Precision Fires program (LRPF), which also includes the development of a monster gun that can fire rounds hundreds of miles.

[Mariner]

It’s not a cannon.

It’s a gun.

[whistleduck]

RIP Bull. He no doubt would have succeeded in a quest to launch suborbital payloads if given the funds.

[Grey182]

The Germans did it, literally.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MONARC

http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNGER_61-52_MONARC_Hamburg_pic.jpg

[fso301]

[Mariner]

“Right now, Russian artillery currently outranges US and NATO artillery by a not small margin.”

That’s because we retired all of our 175mm and 210mm guns.

This precision guided and rocket boosted round is like a fire cracker unless it lands right on you.

There is simply no substitute for heavy artillery.

[Reno89519]

Why? Seems like a bunch of missiles, ground to ground, or whatever would be a lot cheaper in the long run wouldn’t it and a lot easier to move around and protect.

[Spktyr]

Bull did not invent the rocket assist projectile. The Germans were firing them from Sturmtigers in WW2.

What Bull *did* invent (or rather engineer, as others had came up with the idea decades prior) is the multiple firing chamber or “booster” gun.

[Spktyr]

Missiles cost a lot more than artillery rounds (usually).

[doorgunner69]

Believe I read recently about the big battleship 16" guns that the shell reach over 30,000 feet at max range. Some interesting ballistics to those things because of the size.

In a combat situation, there are radio calls about artillery firings stating azimuth and max ord. I heard those for the 155mm and 8" but do not recall how high it was. Way over our puny helos, for sure. When some fly past you on the way up, it gets your attention.

[BenLurkin]

interesting!

[Senator_Blutarski]

Ear protection is suggested.

[Midwesterner53]

The Russians are famous for putting all their artillery wheel to wheel and letting them go all at once for an extended period of time prior to an attack. They are not sophisticated or expensive artillery pieces but they do the job well.

[Spktyr]

The Germans really didn’t like it when the Russians brought the King Of Battle to bear, no.

[yarddog]

I had to look up “Karman Line” and yes it would have been well short of that. It did fly well into the Stratosphere tho.

The Germans figured out that once it got that high, there was very little air resistance which greatly increased the range.

[redlegplanner]

Rule of thumb is 1,000 feet in elevation for every klick in range. Nothing classified. 40 miles = ~ 66 klicks = ~66,000 feet up.

Its mazing how cool the USAF gets with “Big sky, little Bullet” clearance of fires when the enemy rounds are impacting outside their own hooches.

One of the best comments I ever heard on this was when a flyboy was whining about clearance in Korea and the Artilleryman asked him if KJU would also clearing fires with them...

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

It’s not a rocket assist, it’s more like a flare to increase the air pressure at the rear of the projectile.

[Ben Hecks]

In a combat situation, there are radio calls about artillery firings stating azimuth and max ord. I heard those for the 155mm and 8" but do not recall how high it was.

In Vietnam, I think I heard the max ord for a 175 was 33,000 ft. That figure always went through your head when climbing aboard a Huey.

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

That was before Bull’s multi firing superduper long tange cannon.

[Spktyr]

The shell fired as described in the article is a rocket assisted projectile. You’re thinking of a base-bleed shell, which the Swedes engineered - not Bull. Bull bought the rights from the Swedes.

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

[SuperLuminal]

Would like to see them do all the tests fired to the south...