By B.C. Kessner
The mobility and reach of the Army and Marine Corps’ BAE Systems M777 Lightweight 155mm howitzer (LW155) is enabling troops to provide longer and more accurate artillery support in areas virtually unreachable with previous systems, program officials said Monday.
“It’s an important system that is in the fight right now,” Jim Shields, LW155 joint program manager, told Defense Daily during a telephone interview. “The triple-seven is about 7,000 pounds lighter [than the M198 Medium Towed Howitzer] so it’s air transportable under V-22 and CH-46, and it is positioned throughout Afghanistan in Forward Operating Bases (FOB), giving the commander on the ground a much, much greater area of performance in that arena.”
LW155 is a joint Marine Corps and Army program that has developed, built and delivered M777 to both services as a replacement for the M198. Incorporating high-strength titanium alloy and extensive hydraulics in the system’s breech, load tray and wheel arms, M777 is lighter, more mobile, and sustainable than its predecessor.
It is also a lot more accurate, especially in its upgraded form.
The M777A2 adds a digital fire-control system (FCS) using GPS, an inertial Navigation Unit, and a Vehicle Motion Sensor to accurately locate and orient the weapon to deliver greater accuracy, responsiveness and reliability. The system also integrates radios for voice and digital communications and a mission data display that can be decoupled from the weapon for mounting in the cab of its prime mover as a navigation aid when mobile.
With the digital FCS, the A2 can fire the Raytheon [RTN] Excalibur precision-guided munition. While the current range of the Excalibur round is about 19 miles, an extended range version has recently been qualified and deliveries will begin in FY ’10.
The new round will increase the range to about 25 miles with greater than 10-meter Circular Error Probable (CEP) accuracy, in some cases half that, or about five meters, Keith Gooding, LW155 deputy program manager Lightweight 155, said.
Gooding said that Army Infantry Brigade Combat Teams normally equipped with 105mm howitzers have deployed and will continue to deploy with M777A2. “They’re not taking their M119 light guns…and we’re jumping through hoops to train them and equip them with M777,” he said. “They want to get this into theater because it can reach 30 kilometers. It can fire a 100-pound projectile instead of a 30-pound projectile so you can put a lot more steel on target,” he added.
The precision capability is the key, especially in Afghanistan where high-probabilities of collateral damage and saturation artillery strikes are self-defeating.
“If you have the bad guys holed up in a village, you can target a specific building and with one round take out that building with very little collateral damage to adjacent buildings,” Gooding said.
The M777 fires unassisted projectiles to a range of about 15 miles and assisted projectiles to 19 miles. This includes the whole suite of 155mm rounds, including illumination and smoke rounds, that help gun operators provide 360-degree coverage and FOB support to those distances as designed, Shields said.
Gooding said, that while capable, the systems are not “shooting and scooting” so much, but where in the past there were six-gun batteries, there now only have to be two M777s supporting the FOB. This allows forces to spread out more, deploying a battalion’s worth of guns across a larger frontier if required, while providing greater and more accurate support than ever before.
In FY ’10, the Marine Corps is buying 18 additional systems and the Army 53, Shields said. Picatinny Arsenal, N.J., recently delivered the 500th M777 to U.S. forces and total orders exceed 736.
Canada has purchased 12 M777s and is using the system in Afghanistan. A second Foreign Military Sales (FMS) deal has been approved for 25 additional guns that are scheduled to start delivery in the next 18 months.
Australia now has a recently approved FMS case and a contract is expected to be signed in March for 35 M777 systems to that country, with deliveries beginning in the next 12-18 months.
There have been letters expressing interest from at least eight other countries, including India, which is looking at purchasing up to 145 systems, Gooding added.