Marines Set New Record with 22-Mile Shot

Bob J

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GPS guided artillery! [smile]

22-mile-excalibur-shot

A Marine unit broke records by hitting a group of Taliban insurgents with a 22-mile artillery shot, Marine Corps Times reports. And you think you’re a good shot? Pfft – this shot was farther than most people’s commute to work.

Golf Battery, 2nd Battalion, 11th Marines, out of Camp Pendleton, California launched a 155mm M982 Excalibur round on a group of Afghani insurgents. They fired the round out of an M77 howitzer at Forward Operating Base Zeebrugge, in Kajaki, launching the shot 36 kilometers into the neighboring Musa Qala district. The GPS-guided round was able to maintain its accuracy over an incredibly long distance and strike the Taliban insurgents out of the blue.

Not only did this set a record as the longest operational artillery shot in the history of the Marines, but it was also the longest shot with an Excalibur round, according to David Brockway of Raytheon Missile Systems, which is one of the companies involved in the development of Excalibur rounds.

The Excalibur round is specially designed to maintain accuracy up to 37.5 kilometers (23.3 miles) away. The rounds are jam-resistant, capable of being fired in all weather conditions, and can be fired at targets within 500 feet. Basically, anybody planning to take out a howitzer has to brave 20 miles of no-mans-land in order to reach the target.

The Marines ordered over a thousands of these rounds back in 2011, and they’ve been squeezing them off ever since. Evidently, they’re getting more and more accurate.
 
Awesome Shot!

First, this is why the navy should never have decommissioned the 16" battleship guns. Scale this technology up to a 16" shell and watch what it can do.

GPS and Laser Designated artillery shells are the exact reason why the Navy still wants to develop rail-gun technology to deliver a 4" shell at upto mach 8 with an effective range of 150 miles (with controlled glide)

Also, the Excalibur shell can also function with what is refered to as the "mobile mine-field" - a series of sensors that are deployed to an area within range automated mobile artillary. The sensors detect movement and report their position to the artillary to call for a GPS guided shell. The advantage is the sensors can be remotedly disabled or reprogrammed to respond to different threats, so sections of the mine field can be turned off to allow friendly troop movements while still detecting enemy movements (even during an active battle) and the sensors themselves are harmless, so if thousands of them are left behind, you don't have media reports of kids finding them and blowing arms off 25 years later.
 
That's pretty impressive. We couldn't squeeze more than 20 miles out of our M198's, and that was using charge 8 red bag and rocket assisted projectiles. Like Napoleon said, God fights on the side with the best artillery.
 
GPS guided, better be accurate.

Sent from my SPH-P100 using Tapatalk 2

I believe the Excalibur is also a multi-seeker, allowing laser designation to take over at point of impact if desired. So you can GPS guide it into the "area" of the target and then allow local observers to take over final designation, allowing it to engage mobile targets.

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That's pretty impressive. We couldn't squeeze more than 20 miles out of our M198's, and that was using charge 8 red bag and rocket assisted projectiles. Like Napoleon said, God fights on the side with the best artillery.

Ever heard of the Talons of Heaven project?
 
The History Channel did a segment on the Excalibur. It was very cool. In a test shot they aimed the cannon about 15 degrees AWAY from the target. The time of flight was so long (about 90 seconds I think) that after the boom they had time to discuss a dinner bet over how close it would hit, then sit and wait and sweat.

One cool aspect is that it can turn and head straight down making it impossible to hide behind a hill.
 
being a former Firefinder Radar Operator..... this guided stuff sucks ;)

not that in battle we track our own rounds... but if the enemy gets these things.... wouldn't be too good ;)
 
They can't afford them. They are tens of thousands/shot. And how did we make sensitive electronics that can take being kicked in the ass by thousands of Gs anyway?

Solid-state electronics are incredibly shock resistant. The electronics themselves can take tens of thousands of Gs without damage. The failure point is the mounting of the devices to the circuit boards. You either ensure the G-forces drive the components into the board (which is standard for missile applications) or reinforce the mounting with coatings (also standard)
 
Hey Akmed did you hear something . BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM . Awwwww man they said i was gonna get 77 virgins but they didn't tell me they where all gonna be men :(
 
well its about frigin time! Those hellfire missiles are not cheap.

Hellfire missile costs 68k. Current cost of the Excalibur shell is 65k with projections to drop to 50k as production levels increase, so it's not much cheaper than an hellfire.
 
Now, will they upgrade the body of the excalibur with a pre-scored cast aluminum casing like they did the Hellfire for improved anti-personal capabilities?

Or maybe a mission programmable pre-fragmented core like the swiss naval gun's shells so they can use it easily for soft, hard and shielded targets.
 
Oops, that's the M795E (extended range) the standard range version is $333 each based on the last awarded contract - 2003.
 
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Hmmm. I don't know how I feel about that price difference.

If both are kept in the arsenal and the Excalibur is only used when it's needed, I don't have an issue with it.

The M795 has a CPE of 200 meters (50% of shells land within 200m of their intended target) and a 12km range.

The Excalibur has a CPE of 5 meters and a 40km range. The Excalibur is intended for precision engagement of targets for close combat support - engaging targets within 150m of friendly troops, when the M795 can't be safely used and simply isn't an option.
 
If both are kept in the arsenal and the Excalibur is only used when it's needed, I don't have an issue with it.

The M795 has a CPE of 200 meters (50% of shells land within 200m of their intended target) and a 12km range.

The Excalibur has a CPE of 5 meters and a 40km range. The Excalibur is intended for precision engagement of targets for close combat support - engaging targets within 150m of friendly troops, when the M795 can't be safely used and simply isn't an option.

I just never thought of arty for precision strikes. new to me.
 
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