"US Army Improving Artillery" Topic

The Army is fast-tracking an emerging program to engineer a longer-range artillery cannon able to out range enemy ground forces by hitting targets at more than twice the distance of existing artillery…

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I saw that too and was concerned and confused by the statement on the towed variant. I'm hoping they are not aiming for fewer tubes because of the longer reach.

The consensus in the pentagon seems to be that our current weapons are out ranged by china and Russian pieces.

@Zoneofcontrol: Most artillery in the US is still towed, only the Heavy Brigades use M109 Paladins. Stryker and Infantry Brigades use towed guns (the M777 in the picture in the article).

This is sounding like a return to 175 or 203mm tubes for the biggest guns (plus rocket and/or ramjet-assisted projectiles), so my guess is that the Artillery Battalion in each Brigade is going to trade one battery of 155s for a battery of the new guns (two batteries of 155s and one battery of the new guns).

These may also replace the MLRS systems, but I doubt it. Different roles.

This is actually from 2016.

The XM907 ERCA Extended Range Common Artillery is the "cannon" and it will go on the M777A2 and the M109A7 SPH.

Fox pooched the description (typical). This article has more accurate information:

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Wyatt

The idea is to be able to replace the current shells with ones that shoot farther. This gives the military the ability to get outside the range of the enemy. Additionally, the current systems can be maintained.