BAE say that the capability will help U.S. Army achieve long range precision strikes beyond 70 kilometres by 2023.
BAE Systems has received a $33 million multi-year contract from the U.S. Army to further develop its Long Range Precision Guidance Kit (LR-PGK) for 155mm artillery shells, enabling the Army to conduct long range precision strikes in challenging electromagnetic environments.
BAE Systems say in a news release:
“LR-PGK is a critical program in the Army’s 155mm Extended Range Cannon Artillery (ERCA) munitions suite, designed to deliver accurate, lethal fires at greater ranges than near-peer adversaries. The BAE Systems solution builds on proven, mature technology, offering greater performance than current guidance kits through increased maneuverability and an incorporated anti-jam capability.
Under the new contract, BAE Systems will produce a series of LR-PGK fuzes for live-fire testing, further validating the solution and demonstrating its accuracy and reliability in challenging battlefield conditions. Prior to the award, BAE Systems successfully demonstrated the LR-PGK capability and performance at Yuma Proving Ground in September 2019. The company committed significant investment to deliver on the Army’s modernization goals by intentionally designing the LR-PGK’s modular architecture for low-cost production and upgradeability.”
In addition to designing and manufacturing the M109 family of Self-Propelled Howitzers, BAE Systems has developed and delivered guidance systems for precision munitions for decades and is a major supplier of artillery round explosives and propellants.
I wonder if the Zumwalt class destroyers mind be adapted to fire these, as the AGS fired 155mm guided shells. Would mean they finally have ammunition to fire.
Just because a weapon has the same calibre it doesnt mean it is similar. The shells for the naval gun are just over twice the weight of both shell and explosive and four times the length as the artillery ones.
Except that the US Navy has previously looked at using the M982 Excalibur artillery shell for use with the Zumwalt’s guns. In fact the laser guided version was designed for use from naval guns.
They looked at it in 2016 but seem to have rejected it, in 2018 during RIMPAC they tested a version of the Zumwalts ammunition designed to be fired from conventional 5″ guns and they have also begun a program to design an upgrade of the excalibur round that has the Zumwalts 60 mile range by adding a ramjet engine to the round. Main limitation of Excalibur seems to be it can only hit stationary GPS co-ordinates hence the program to upgrade with a guidance system that can hit moving targets. Result will be a much more expensive round though, rather… Read more »
Yes yes yes, but you still need to identify the target 100km away. If that’s done with a drone and it’s a moving target then you should use something fired from the drone itself (seeing as it’s there anyway). Something like a Brimstone or a LMM. If it’s a fixed target then you can use a cheaper ramjet GPS shell. Even if you really do want a guidance system that shouldn’t stop something now for the sake of something better later on.
Depends what you are firing at. No reason you cant fire an HE which is lighter than AP, which probably hardly exists these days.
So not for the UK then.