The Excalibur Merged Thread

[tomahawk6]

The potential for this round is tremendous.

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/03/dfnGPSartillery070310/

 

[tabernac]

Link doesn't seem to work...

 

[zanshin]

Well, the link works OK from the middle of the desert...  maybe you should try it from here...  ;D

When the time is right, I'll check with the chain of command here and see when and if I can send back some pics of it deployed with us. </taliban confuser>that is, if it ever is, or if it even exists...</end taliban confuser>  :blotto:

Mark

 

[GUNS]

I am curious as to how they corrected the problem the shell had with cold weather operations.

Up to Nov. last year their best suggestion for a temporary fix was to cover the shells with some sort of warm covering.

 

[tomahawk6]

GPS-guided artillery shell fielded in Kuwait
By Kris Osborn - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Mar 10, 2007 6:40:04 EST

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- The Excalibur, a first-of-its-kind Global Positioning System-guided artillery shell, is on its way to Kuwait for deployment in Iraq, according to U.S. Army officials with Picatinny Arsenal, N.J.

Under development for eight years by Raytheon and three years by Raytheon and BAE Systems, Excalibur will be deployed after official results from recent final-stage testing.

In a late November U.S. Army test at Yuma Proving Ground, Ariz., 13 of 14 Excalibur rounds fired up to 24 kilometers away hit within 10 meters of their targets — an unprecedented circular error probable for cannon artillery, Raytheon program official Everett Tackett said here at the Association of the United States Army’s Institute of Land Warfare Winter Symposium. Conventional artillery has a CEP of about 70 to 100 meters at 10 kilometers, 200 to 300 meters at 30 kilometers.

Tackett said the shells were fired from gun barrels pointed as much as 15 degrees away from the target, testing their ability to steer themselves in flight.

“The rounds totally changed course, adjusting their ballistic trajectory toward the target,” he said.

The Army will fire Excalibur Block 1a-1 rounds from its 155mm howitzer and the new XM 777 lightweight 155mm howitzer, which was first fielded in October with the Army’s 2nd Battalion, 11th Field Artillery at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii.

“I don’t know of any land-based system that has comparable capability,” said retired Army Gen. William Nash, who commanded troops in Iraq, Bosnia and Kosovo, and is now a Council on Foreign Relations senior fellow.

 

[GUNS]

The Excalibur will truly add support to the " Long Range Sniper" name tag used to call "The Guns".

When Canada gets their share of this new projectile, I would hope that they don't rely on the Excalibur 100% .

If the shell looses its GPS signal, then you better make sure the unguided shell does not fall among friendlies.

 

[Petard]

I am curious as to how they corrected the problem the shell had with cold weather operations.

Up to Nov. last year their best suggestion for a temporary fix was to cover the shells with some sort of warm covering.

If the shell looses its GPS signal, then you better make sure the unguided shell does not fall among friendlies.

That has since been solved, a bit of delay required to get the juice flowing, the fuse is set once, a pause, then again and there has not been any problems since for cold Ops.

I set the first Cdn one in Yuma just a little while go, everything worked fine.

 

[GUNS]

What about the possibility of jamming the GPS signal?

 

[Petard]

It has been already tested against this.

The round has the means to contend with this, since jammers are ground located once active they are easy to detect and deal with, one way or another.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

I am curious as to how they corrected the problem the shell had with cold weather operations.

Up to Nov. last year their best suggestion for a temporary fix was to cover the shells with some sort of warm covering.

"Gunner Bloggins’s it’s your turn to sleep with the ammo! Now off with your clothes and into the sleeping bag!"  ;D

 

[GUNS]

;D

 

[Geeky Gunner]

It's done! The first Excalibur has been fired in theatre. I don't have all the details yet but it has been successful.

 

[McG]

What about the possibility of jamming the GPS signal?

It is a risk, but the round will still achieve what we want from it.

The round has the means to contend with this, since jammers are ground located once active they are easy to detect and deal with, one way or another.

Your description is a few steps more sophisticated than what I've heard the Excaliber design engineers have explain happens.  However, the end state is the same & the round does what we want.

 

[Spencer100]

It's done! The first Excalibur has been fired in theatre. I don't have all the details yet but it has been successful.

By Canadians or US?

 

[Mike Baker]

Good news!

 

[McG]

By Canadians or US?

I suspect that post was about Canadians.  However, the US have also put a few down range in Iraq (not through M777 though).

 

[Geeky Gunner]

Sorry, I should have been clearer. I meant Canadians.

 

[Grimmy]

If the shell looses its GPS signal, then you better make sure the unguided shell does not fall among friendlies.

The way that it has been explained to me is that the FOO will first send down the grid for the target.  Then they will pick out a safe area in close proximity to the actual target and that grid will be used to compute firing data for the Guns.  If by chance the round fails to function properly it will impact harmlessly in the field or section of desert that the FOO has chosen.

 

[Geeky Gunner]

If by chance the round fails to function properly it will impact harmlessly in the field or section of desert that the FOO has chosen.

You are basically right. A Ballistic Impact Point or Points (BIP) is/are chosen by the FOO or higher HQ and entered in IFCCS in the FSCM page. IFCCS will then choose the best BIP (if more than one) for this mission and compute the firing data to hit this point. If the Excalibur fails to acquire the GPS signal it will not armed and land in the BIP as a dud burying itself in the ground.  Another interesting safety feature is that, if, after acquiring the GPS signal. the round  realizes it will miss the target by more than 10 meters, it will not detonate and will again bury itself into the ground therefore reducing the risk to close-by friendlies (unless one is standing exactly where the rounds lands  :crybaby

 

[GUNS]

I do believe this new addition to the ammo inventory will greatly assist our boys in their endeavour to stomp on the bad guys. The Excalibur's starting price tag of $80,000( it may be lower by now ), does not lend itself to being a dude.  As to burying itself into the ground, hope the Taliban don't get their hands on a Canadian Tire catalogue. Metal detectors are on sale. ;D