The US Army is purchasing BAE Systems Bofors 155mm BONUS ammunition through a contract with the NSPA (NATO Support and Procurement Agency).
BAE say that BONUS is significantly more capable than traditional munitions because it carries two smart munitions that employ advanced sensors, enabling each to independently seek out and destroy separate targets within a radius of 32,000 square meters.
The company add that because each BONUS shell carries two smart munitions, its mission success per round is significantly better than with traditional ammunition.
“The proven reliability and mission success of BONUS make it an ideal solution for the US Army as it continues to invest in advanced technological capabilities for its forces,” said Lena Gillström, managing director for BAE Systems’ Weapon Systems business in Sweden.
“This contract furthers our position at the forefront of innovation in delivering smart munitions to the current and future battle space. The US Army is now joining a number of international counterparts deploying this munition, as interest in BONUS continues to grow worldwide.”
Developed and produced in cooperation by BAE Systems in Sweden and Nexter in France, BONUS is produced at the BAE Systems facility in Karlskoga, Sweden, with significant component deliveries from Nexter according to BAE’s website.
The NATO Support and Procurement Agency provides integrated multi-national logistics and procurement support solutions under a single organization for NATO allies and partners.
Are these new shells going onto the Zumalt class destroyers and their advanced gun system?
M777 Howitzers.
The Zumwalts guns AGS shells are proprietary hence their prohibitive price.
And the new A7 variant of the M109
which makes them even more hilarious…… they cost that much money, then the rounds got cancelled, not to mention the other budget cuts that effectively made them nowhere near what they were intended to be… although at least their last refit that added all those extra protruding balls reinforces their star wars aesthetic…. after all, all empire ships had all their shield generators on prominently exposed additions… maybe its more advanced than we thought 😉
Elliott wrote:
“The Zumwalts guns AGS shells are proprietary hence their prohibitive price.”
Not really the US Gov (like the British government) has a habit of cutting the numbers of weapons systems in the hope of saving money. The problem is in doing so they actually increase the unit cost price of the remaining system. There was the B1, (104 out of 237) then the B2 (21 out of 132) followed by the F22. (197 out of 750) With the Zumwalts the US navy was going to get 32 ships, now they are getting 3. The costing of each round on 32 ships was $35K, due to that cut of 29 ships the price went up to $1 million a round. The Uk has a similar problem with the 120mm rifled barrel on its Chally 2 tanks as everybody else uses a smooth bore round (other than India) and thus the price and development of future rounds keeps on going up. (especially after our tank fleet has been cut to just over 200 tanks out of 400 odd built)
Just a little more information regards these new 155mm shells :
155 BONUS is a 155 mm NATO artillery round that consists of a 47-kilogram (104 lb) heavy artillery projectile containing two autonomous, sensor-fused, fire-and-forget submunitions. After the submunition is released it opens two winglets. While descending, the submunition rotates, scanning the area below with multi-frequency infra-red sensors that compares the detected vehicles with a programmable target database. The submunitions each contain a high-penetration EFP warhead for use against even heavy armoured fighting vehicles like main battle tanks.
https://www.baesystems.com/en/product/155-bonus
So can AS90 use it?
And if yes, why are we not buying any?
The British army uses a competing product called Smart-155 made by Rheinmetall.