The Army is cooking up a suite of improvements could double the range of the existing M-777 howitzer. Right now the 155-millimeter gun, in service with the Army and Marines, can lob shells at targets up to 18 miles away.
The M-777ER version the Army is working on “will be able to reach out and hit targets … before the targets can reach them,” David Bound, the lead engineer on the project at Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey, told Army reporters. Troops “won’t have to worry about coming into a situation where they are under fire before they can return fire.”
via warisboring.com
URR is always going on about the improvements in tube artillery. Well, this is a big one. The much longer tube means you have more time for powder to burn as the shell begins to move through the tube. And that gives increased acceleration and muzzle velocity, which translates into longer range.
It's also important that the weights aren't going up much, as the M777 was designed to be transported by the CH-47. And it is pretty much on the upper limit of the Chinook's useful payload.
Finally, as the battlespace typically occupied by a Brigade Combat Team is much larger than in the past, the same artillery battalion needs to have much greater range to cover the entire BCT with fires, or it must parcel out tubes in penny packets of platoons or batteries, and lose the ability to mass its fires.
Prototype M777ER- US Army Photo
A long time in coming. The newer 64-ish caliber tube should do nicely in the M777ER and the M109A7 Palladin. Improvements in propellant and ammunition design make 100km ranges very plausible, with accuracy inside of one PEr.
Posted by: ultimaratioregis | 03/30/2016 at 05:29 PM
Ask the French artillery commander at Dien Ben Phu how reverse slope factors and counter battery fire with greater range affects outcome
Posted by: SFC Dunlap 173d RVN | 03/30/2016 at 06:48 PM
@SFC: Piroth didn't say much after that first big fight.
Posted by: ultimaratioregis | 03/31/2016 at 03:01 AM
Once again artillery adds dignity to what would otherwise be a vulgar brawl.
Posted by: Diogenes of NJ | 03/31/2016 at 05:53 AM
Ulti- you're utterly correct!!! The French artillery commander ate a barrel after the first day of artillery exchange. Reading yours and other respondents on this site make me feel so semi-brilliant.
Posted by: SFC Dunlap 173d RVN | 03/31/2016 at 07:06 AM
Say goodbye to the RAP round. Hadn't heard of this. Definitely looks like a great capability if a bit odd looking. Glad the Paladin is getting it, too.
Posted by: Esli | 03/31/2016 at 12:10 PM