M109A6 test bed for XM907 ERCA

Picatinny Arsenal reveal details of Army’s extended-range artillery system

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The American military research and manufacturing facility Picatinny Arsenal has given further details of the U.S. Army’s extended-range artillery system.
The Picatinny Arsenal’s presentation notes the U.S. Army aspires to field systems capable of accurately firing at targets 100 kilometers away in the next four years, a dramatic increase over the 30 kilometers a currently-fielded 155mm howitzer shell is capable of when fired at the top zone with rocket assistance.
According to the presentation, the Army’s effort is called Extended Range Cannon Artillery (ERCA). Building on mobility upgrades, ERCA will increase the lethality of self-propelled howitzers. ERCA provides a “10x” capability through a combination of an increased range, increased rate of fire, increased lethality, increased reliability and greater survivability.


ERCA will provide integrated cannon artillery technology solutions to maximize performance at a system level and regain lethality overmatch for U.S. Army 155mm indirect fire systems for operations in emerging battlespaces and near/peer environments.
The new artillery system will provide 300% improvement in area coverage for 155mm artillery, in so doing, a burst rate of fire greater than 6-10 rounds per minute and 30% range increase for legacy artillery ammunition.
The new extended-range artillery system will consist of five major components integrated into an M109 platform:

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  • XM907 cannon, and partial autoloader.
  • XM208 Gun Mount.
  • Ammo Handling.
  • XM1113 Next-Generation Rocket Assist Projectile – 70km.
  • Extended Range Propelling Charge (XM654).
The most significant difference is in the round’s much-larger rocket, which pushes out more than twice as much thrust as the legacy system.
Further, the XM1113 is designed to utilize the currently-fielded Precision Guidance Kit (PGK), a fuze that turns conventional artillery round into a semi-guided one.
The XM1113 Insensitive Munition High Explosive Rocket Assisted Projectile is slated to replace the Army’s aging M549A1 rounds. Currently, the M549 rounds can reach about 30 km.
The XM1113 reached 72 km during a demonstration, said Rich Granitzki, Long-Range Precision Fires Science and Technology Advisor for Combat Capabilities Development Command, or CCDC, at Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey.
Also noted that the extended-range artillery system will be able to use future XM1115 ammunition in a GPS denied environment.

defence-blog.com

Picatinny Arsenal reveal details of Army’s extended-range artillery system

The American military research and manufacturing facility Picatinny Arsenal has given further details of the U.S. Army’s extended-range artillery system. The Picatinny Arsenal’s presentation notes the U.S. Army aspires to field systems capable of accurately firing at targets 100 kilometers away...
defence-blog.com defence-blog.com

Ramjet projectile?
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-M109A7 hull.
-Autoloader prototype.

The Extended Range Cannon Artillery (ERCA) Autoloader is being tested for first time at YPG.

The ERCA program has been testing various components of its system for about four years. The newest component undergoing testing is a five-round limited capacity autoloader that holds five projectiles and five propellant charges.

Testing of the limited capacity autoloader is being conducted from a prototype M109A7 which has been modified and integrated with the ERCA Armament System.
Mechanical Engineer Joe Troll, Integration and Demo Hardware Lead for ERCA with Combat Capabilities Development Center-Armament Center, says the integration undertaking is massive. At any time during the one and a half year it has taken to get to this vehicle ready for testing, more than 100 people have worked on this test item.



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https://www.facebook.com/USAYPG/posts/2755833621111132
 
bobbymike said:
www.popularmechanics.com

The U.S. Army Is Creating Artillery Rounds Guided By AI

C-DAEM will allow artillery units dozens of miles away to destroy moving tanks.
www.popularmechanics.com www.popularmechanics.com
Click to expand...

contractor likely BAE Systems

www.armyrecognition.com

US Army Selects BAE Systems to Develop New Artillery Guidance Kits | January 2018 Global Defense Security army news industry | Defense Security global news industry army 2018 | Archive News year

US Army Selects BAE Systems to Develop New Artillery Guidance Kits
www.armyrecognition.com www.armyrecognition.com
 
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Raytheon Missiles & Defense, TNO unveil new ramjet-powered artillery round

TUCSON, Ariz., (May 11, 2020) – Raytheon Missiles & Defense, a business of Raytheon Technologies, has begun the first phase of developing the XM1155 Extended-Range Artillery Projectile under a $7.9 million U.S. Army other transaction agreement (OTA) through the Combat Capabilities Development Command Armaments Center at Picatinny Arsenal, N.J. The new, cannon-launched, ramjet-powered artillery round will double the U.S. military’s range to greater than 100 kilometers, delivering precision strikes in all terrain and weather conditions.

Raytheon Missiles & Defense is teamed with Nederlandse Organisatie voor Toegepast Natuurwetenschappelijk Onderzoek, or TNO, an organization based in the Netherlands that will design the ramjet engine. Raytheon Missiles & Defense will integrate the engine with the system’s airframe, seeker, warhead and other components.

“The ramjet-powered artillery round will allow our nation’s military to strike farther and faster than anything our adversaries have in their arsenals,” said Tom Laliberty, vice president of Land Warfare & Air Defense.

The tactical 155mm XM1155 will be able to strike moving and stationary high-value targets on land and at sea. The maneuverable, extended-range airframe will be compatible with legacy and future 155mm artillery systems.

The XM1155 builds on Raytheon Missiles & Defense’s experience with guided projectiles, including the Excalibur® munition, an extended-range weapon that can engage targets precisely at all ranges and in adverse weather.

This effort was sponsored by the U.S. government under the DoD Ordnance Technology Consortium OTA (W15QKN-18-9-1008) with the National Armaments Consortium. The U.S. government is authorized to reproduce and distribute reprints for government purposes notwithstanding any copyright notation herein.
Click to expand...
 
Quick question: Is the M109 a gun or a howitzer?


This source seems to suggest that anything bigger than 27 calibers is a gun rather than a howitzer. The most recent versions of the M109 have been 39 and 58 caliber weapons, a/c to wikipedia.

OTOH, the G5 155mm weapon is still described by wiki as a howitzer, even though its barrel is six meters long.
 
I always understood that a Howitzer had an elevation greater than 45 degrees while a Gun did not. Nothing to do with length of the piece at all.
 
Kadija_Man said:
I always understood that a Howitzer had an elevation greater than 45 degrees while a Gun did not. Nothing to do with length of the piece at all.
Click to expand...

Yes, but the old 175mm gun was described as a gun even with an elevation greater than 45 degrees.
 
Gun vs howitzer is pretty much an obsolete question. The US 155mm is called a howitzer mainly because you can trace a direct line of evolution in 155mm artillery back to the WW1 M1918 howitzer, when the distinction mattered. Today, we use the 155mm more like "guns" were used historically. But since we don't even bother with two separate categories of tube artillery, it doesn't really matter what we call it. (Plus, if you offered any modern army a tube artillery piece with a sub-30 caliber barrel, you'd be laughed out of the room. There's no point to such short tubes anymore.)
 
TomS said:
(Plus, if you offered any modern army a tube artillery piece with a sub-30 caliber barrel, you'd be laughed out of the room. There's no point to such short tubes anymore.)
Click to expand...
Cries in 2S4.
 
Doesn't sound like they've reached the point of free-flight testing. Baby steps...
 
They are getting there. I believe additional testing is budgeted in the FY21 request. Also, this effort seems to also be focusing on seeker development for this long range projectile.
 
bring_it_on said:
They are getting there. I believe additional testing is budgeted in the FY21 request. Also, this effort seems to also be focusing on seeker development for this long range projectile.
Click to expand...
Apologize for my engineering ignorance but based on the picture how does the technology work coming out of a cannon tube?
 
bobbymike said:
bring_it_on said:
They are getting there. I believe additional testing is budgeted in the FY21 request. Also, this effort seems to also be focusing on seeker development for this long range projectile.
Click to expand...
Apologize for my engineering ignorance but based on the picture how does the technology work coming out of a cannon tube?
Click to expand...
Typically the SFRJ fuel is designed to autoignite at a short distance from the muzzle vs. a RAP round which ignites
with some delay. Steady state, the SFRJ fuel grains (ideally 100% fuel and no oxidizer) are gasified by ablation due to
the hot air flow at typical artillery speed/altitudes and combusted in chamber.

SFRJs self-throttle by virtue of the airflow/air temperature varying at altitudes e.g. higher air temps/flow at lower
altitudes produce greater thrust which offsets the greater drag.
 
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Army demonstrates ERCA autoloader | InsideDefense.com

PICATINNY ARSENAL, NJ -- An autoloader for the Extended Range Cannon Artillery simulated a three-round burst at a rate of eight rounds per minute during a Feb. 26 demonstration here.
insidedefense.com insidedefense.com

PICATINNY ARSENAL, NJ -- An autoloader for the Extended Range Cannon Artillery simulated a three-round burst at a rate of eight rounds per minute during a Feb. 26 demonstration here. Gen. Joseph Martin, the Army's vice chief of staff, had traveled to Picatinny for the day and was in attendance for the demonstration, along with multiple other general officers. The autoloader should be included in the second increment of the ERCA, according to a briefing Martin received from scientists
Click to expand...
 
Will the ERCA have fewer crews due to the autoloader? This article also talks about an optional unmanned configuration, although I don't know if it refers to the cannon alone, or to the whole vehicle that moves remotely controlled as for the replacement of the Bradley.
defence-blog.com

U.S. Army begins testing key component of its newest self-propelled howitzer

The U.S. Army has taken another important step towards obtaining a new artillery system by beginning testing of Extended Range Cannon Artillery (ERCA) autoloader at Picatinny Arsenal. On Thursday, the Picatinny Arsenal press release said that the development of the ERCA autoloader capability is...
defence-blog.com defence-blog.com
 
Crusader cannon have a range of 40 to 50 kilometers, a maximum rate of fire of 10 to 12 rounds per minute for 3 to 5 minutes, and the ability to rearm the howitzer with 60 complete rounds in less than 12 minutes
 
So,

Q3 CY 2023 - Field the first 18 prototypes for 12-month of testing+training
CY 2025 - Field the first production systems to the first division

Though they aren't putting a date on the final piece of the program (autloader) it is likely to show up in the 2026-2027 production deliveries if all goes to plan.

Daily News | InsideDefense.com

insidedefense.com insidedefense.com
 
Isn't that a little short of 23 round, if that's its maximum carrying capacity?
 
I get the impression the issue was overall system weight and complexity. In any case, the limiting factor at the rate of fire is going the be barrel heating, not ammunition storage. I doubt the system can maintain a high rate of fire for more than a minute, and I suspect the intent is to move out even before that. The ERCA system along with the new M1113 RAP round and precision INS/GPS fuses looks intended to deliver destructive, not suppressive, fires. I believe the plan is to operate them in independent artillery brigades much as the new MLRS units forming up in Germany. As such I think RoF and reliability are prioritized over sustainable fire. The GPS guidance kit is sub $10,000; at that point you can cost effectively target individual armored vehicles.

EDIT TO ADD: though another question I would have is how long the reload time is - is it roughly equivalent to the barrel cool down time after a fire mission of eight rounds/minute? If so, good enough.
 
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Does anyone know how US army howitzers are currently organized? Is it six gun batteries, three batteries to a battalion as it was in the cold war? I believe now adays batteries are sub divided into platoons that have their own fire direction vehicle, is this the case?
 

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