Picatinny Arsenal news release (Sept. 27, 2005): troops could have new Picatinny-developed smart artillery munition by March.PICATINNY ARSENAL, N.J. -- U.S. military troops in Iraq and Afghanistan could have a significantly more accurate howitzer-fired munition by March, following successful demonstration of the Army's first fully autonomous guided projectile projectile something thrown forward. projectile syringe see blow dart. projectile vomiting forceful vomiting, usually without preceding retching, in which the vomitus is thrown well forward. , Excalibur, at Yuma Proving Ground The U.S. Army's Yuma Proving Ground is one of the largest military installations in the world. Situated in southwestern La Paz County and western Yuma County in southwestern Arizona, U.S. , Ariz., on Sept. 15. Officials from the Army Project Manager for Combat Ammunition Systems located at Picatinny say the 155mm guided Excalibur round, known as the XM982, is more accurate than any currently available. A total of 165 Excalibur rounds have been contracted for $23 million. A special team headquartered here is managing the development effort. The demonstration brings the program a step closer to fulfilling an urgent request to put Excalibur in soldiers' hands by early 2006. The projectile's accuracy is better than 10 meters, officials said, a figure that represents a huge improvement over existing munitions mu·ni·tion n. War materiel, especially weapons and ammunition. Often used in the plural. tr.v. mu·ni·tioned, mu·ni·tion·ing, mu·ni·tions To supply with munitions. . Excalibur will be used in Army and Marine Corps howitzers, to include the M109A6 Paladin, the M777 Lightweight 155 Howitzer, and the Future Combat Systems Non-Line-Of-Sight Cannon The BAE Systems Land and Armaments Non-Line-of-Sight Cannon (NLOS Cannon) is a 155 mm cannon intended to provide improved responsiveness and lethality to the "Unit of Action" (UA) commander as part of the US Army's Future Combat Systems project. . "Excalibur will reduce collateral damage, increase survivability sur·viv·a·ble adj. 1. Capable of surviving: survivable organisms in a hostile environment. 2. That can be survived: a survivable, but very serious, illness. of friendly troops, and accomplish the mission more efficiently," according to Col. Ole Knudson, the project manager who oversees Army combat ammunition development programs. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Knudsen called the Sept. 15 demonstration "a tremendous success." "Excalibur has been proven at the system level to meet its precision and lethality objectives," he said. The demonstration consisted of firing an Excalibur projectile from a Paladin 155mm self-propelled howitzer at a target 15 kilometers away. Eyewitnesses said the munition detonated successfully within seven meters of the target. The round was set to activate in "height of burst" mode using an enhanced portable inductive artillery fuze fuze n. & v. Variant of fuse1. Noun 1. fuze - any igniter that is used to initiate the burning of a propellant fuse, primer, priming, fuzee, fusee setter. During flight, the projectile "de-rolled" successfully, deployed canards, acquired GPS signals, calculated the navigation solution, and maneuvered itself to the target, which it then destroyed. A cooperative effort between the United States and Sweden, the program is managed by the Program Executive Office for Ammunition with the support of the U.S. Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center. Raytheon Missile Systems Raytheon Missile Systems Company is a subsidiary of Raytheon Company. Headquartered in Tucson, Arizona, its president is Louise Francesconi. Formerly, known as Hughes Missile Systems Company before acquired by Raytheon Company The division's products include: Subcontractors include General Dynamics. Honeywell, KDI KDI Knowledge and Distributed Intelligence (NSF) KDI Korean Development Institute KDI Kernel Debug Interface KDI Kernel Downloadable Image (LynxOS) KDI Kosovo Democratic Institute Precision Products, Interstate Electronics Corporation, and EaglePicher Technologies. For more information, contact Frank Misurelli at fmisure@pica.army.mil. |
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