ATK [ATK] and Raytheon [RTN] last week won initial contracts totaling $20.7 million to begin the Excalibur Increment IB effort.
The Joint Munitions and Lethality Life Cycle Management Command Acquisition Center awarded the two 18-month Phase 1 contracts. During Phase 1, the two contractors must evolve their proposed concepts and then demonstrate the capability in a live-fire event.
The government will select a single contractor to continue to the Qualification and Initial Production phase, the comand said in a statement.
Excalibur Increment IB follows the development and successful fielding of the Excalibur Increment IA precision-guided, extended-range 155mm projectile.
Increment IB requires improved performance over Increment IA, with extended range, higher reliability and significantly lower unit production cost over the current Increment IA projectile.
The Excalibur program is a cooperative effort between the United States and Sweden.
The Excalibur IB projectile will be compatible with the U.S. Artillery Systems and the Swedish Archer Artillery System.
The Excalibur program is overseen by the Office of the Project Manager for Combat Ammunition Systems here. PM-CAS equips Soldiers with all tube-launched, indirect fire munitions and mortar weapons systems for the Army’s current, Stryker and future forces.Under the Single Manager for Conventional Ammunition responsibilities, PM-CAS also procures ammunition for other services.