thedrifter
08-19-07, 05:12 PM
Corps, Army push for precision artillery
GPS-guided shells put more targets in play
By Kris Osborn - kosborn@militarytimes.com
Posted : August 27, 2007
With Global Positioning System-guided rockets and Excalibur artillery shells improving the precision of soldiers and Marines in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Army wants to speed other munitions programs to the war zone.
A top priority is getting the Precision Guidance Kit by ATK, which converts “dumb” 155mm artillery rounds into GPS-guided weapons, to the field well before the current 2010 in-service date. ATK has a roughly $18 million development contract with the Army to produce up to 20,000 PGKs starting in 2009, the first increment of a contract that would cover some 100,000 kits. The unit cost is projected to be about $3,000, while service officials have said Excalibur shells cost about $30,000 apiece.
Either round is economical, however, because fewer rounds and less propellant are needed to get the job done. PGK is seen as particularly key because it would allow the Army and Marine Corps to modify their massive stockpiles of conventional artillery rounds that are now difficult to employ in combat zones where civilian casualties are a deep concern.
“In the current operations, 155mm artillery with PGK will greatly reduce the restrictions on artillery fire support because of collateral damage concerns,” said Pete Rowland, spokesman for the Army’s Picatinny Arsenal, N.J., which oversees the service’s precision munitions programs. “Currently, many requested artillery missions, even for troops in contact, are denied because of collateral damage concerns.”
Also, Army officials emphasize the cost-saving benefits of the PGK. As a less-expensive precision round, it can be fired more readily as a complement to more expensive rounds such as Excalibur.
Better accuracy without air support
The need to avoid collateral damage from rounds that land off target is why the deployment of Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System missiles by Lockheed Martin and Excalibur rounds by Raytheon have proved so popular with combat commanders.
Historically, artillery has been a relatively imprecise area-denial weapon. For precision strikes, the ground forces have had to rely on aircraft with their laser- or GPS-guided bombs, but even with innovative tactics and cooperation from the Air Force, air power isn’t always available.
This new generation of precision munitions gives ground commanders increased flexibility, whether to precisely strike attacking forces or conduct offensive operations of their own.
“When aircraft are not readily available, the time from target acquisition to delivery can be reduced when you use an organic land system,” said Rickey Smith, director of the Army Capabilities Integration Center, Forward, under Training and Doctrine Command. This capability is shaping new tactics because the precision land weapons allow commanders to quickly destroy enemy targets in close proximity, Smith added.
Iraq, he said, is an asymmetrical conflict in which troops regularly find themselves fighting small groups of insurgents who blend easily into the local population. That demands new tactics, but also weapons that can precisely strike the intended targets.
The PGK has proved successful during recent tests at Yuma Proving Ground, Ariz., with the rounds hitting within 15 meters of their intended target at ranges of up to 30 kilometers.
GPS-guided artillery “has been described as the biggest revolution since the invention of the cannon,” said Jack Cronin, president of ATK Mission Systems. “PGK is, right now, for the folks in the targeting community, a system that has a 15-meter [circular error probable] capability with a unit price of $3,000. We have the ability to shoot targets at a tactical op tempo that has never been seen before.”
New guidance for old rounds
One challenge for engineers is how to convert an unguided round into one that can be steered accurately. The answer is in a new fuse that is screwed into the tip of existing rounds containing a GPS receiver and guidance system and crowned with a small propeller that uses its own spin to control the spin of the round.
“The artillery round turns one direction, the propellers turn another,” Cronin said, adding that their GPS system is jam proof. Increased precision means fewer rounds per target, cutting acquisition and logistics costs, but also protecting troops, Cronin said. The drive for more artillery precision is being spurred by the success of both GMLRS and Excalibur, which were deployed to Iraq earlier this year.
Excalibur became the first GPS-guided artillery round used in combat and is slated to be used by the Non-Line-of-Sight Cannon, one of the armored vehicles being developed under the Army’s Future Combat Systems program. That gun would be fielded around 2010 and have a range of about 30 kilometers.
The Army ordered 165 Excalibur rounds in 2005 for $22 million, 335 rounds in 2006 for $42.7 million and 725 rounds in 2007 for $64.9 million.
GMLRS is also proving its worth in Iraq and Afghanistan, where the weapon has a reliability rate of 98 percent, said Army Col. David Rice, the service’s project manager for precision fires, rockets and missile systems at Redstone Arsenal, Ala. He added that 69 percent of 273 GMLRS firings in Iraq and Afghanistan were in support of soldiers and Marines engaged in close combat, with the remaining 31 percent employed in preplanned strikes.
“The precision that the weapon affords, the range that it affords and the reliability have gained great confidence,” said Leighton Duitsman, deputy product manager at Fort Sill, Okla. “They are not afraid to use it in urban settings when they want to engage a target.”
Ellie
GPS-guided shells put more targets in play
By Kris Osborn - kosborn@militarytimes.com
Posted : August 27, 2007
With Global Positioning System-guided rockets and Excalibur artillery shells improving the precision of soldiers and Marines in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Army wants to speed other munitions programs to the war zone.
A top priority is getting the Precision Guidance Kit by ATK, which converts “dumb” 155mm artillery rounds into GPS-guided weapons, to the field well before the current 2010 in-service date. ATK has a roughly $18 million development contract with the Army to produce up to 20,000 PGKs starting in 2009, the first increment of a contract that would cover some 100,000 kits. The unit cost is projected to be about $3,000, while service officials have said Excalibur shells cost about $30,000 apiece.
Either round is economical, however, because fewer rounds and less propellant are needed to get the job done. PGK is seen as particularly key because it would allow the Army and Marine Corps to modify their massive stockpiles of conventional artillery rounds that are now difficult to employ in combat zones where civilian casualties are a deep concern.
“In the current operations, 155mm artillery with PGK will greatly reduce the restrictions on artillery fire support because of collateral damage concerns,” said Pete Rowland, spokesman for the Army’s Picatinny Arsenal, N.J., which oversees the service’s precision munitions programs. “Currently, many requested artillery missions, even for troops in contact, are denied because of collateral damage concerns.”
Also, Army officials emphasize the cost-saving benefits of the PGK. As a less-expensive precision round, it can be fired more readily as a complement to more expensive rounds such as Excalibur.
Better accuracy without air support
The need to avoid collateral damage from rounds that land off target is why the deployment of Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System missiles by Lockheed Martin and Excalibur rounds by Raytheon have proved so popular with combat commanders.
Historically, artillery has been a relatively imprecise area-denial weapon. For precision strikes, the ground forces have had to rely on aircraft with their laser- or GPS-guided bombs, but even with innovative tactics and cooperation from the Air Force, air power isn’t always available.
This new generation of precision munitions gives ground commanders increased flexibility, whether to precisely strike attacking forces or conduct offensive operations of their own.
“When aircraft are not readily available, the time from target acquisition to delivery can be reduced when you use an organic land system,” said Rickey Smith, director of the Army Capabilities Integration Center, Forward, under Training and Doctrine Command. This capability is shaping new tactics because the precision land weapons allow commanders to quickly destroy enemy targets in close proximity, Smith added.
Iraq, he said, is an asymmetrical conflict in which troops regularly find themselves fighting small groups of insurgents who blend easily into the local population. That demands new tactics, but also weapons that can precisely strike the intended targets.
The PGK has proved successful during recent tests at Yuma Proving Ground, Ariz., with the rounds hitting within 15 meters of their intended target at ranges of up to 30 kilometers.
GPS-guided artillery “has been described as the biggest revolution since the invention of the cannon,” said Jack Cronin, president of ATK Mission Systems. “PGK is, right now, for the folks in the targeting community, a system that has a 15-meter [circular error probable] capability with a unit price of $3,000. We have the ability to shoot targets at a tactical op tempo that has never been seen before.”
New guidance for old rounds
One challenge for engineers is how to convert an unguided round into one that can be steered accurately. The answer is in a new fuse that is screwed into the tip of existing rounds containing a GPS receiver and guidance system and crowned with a small propeller that uses its own spin to control the spin of the round.
“The artillery round turns one direction, the propellers turn another,” Cronin said, adding that their GPS system is jam proof. Increased precision means fewer rounds per target, cutting acquisition and logistics costs, but also protecting troops, Cronin said. The drive for more artillery precision is being spurred by the success of both GMLRS and Excalibur, which were deployed to Iraq earlier this year.
Excalibur became the first GPS-guided artillery round used in combat and is slated to be used by the Non-Line-of-Sight Cannon, one of the armored vehicles being developed under the Army’s Future Combat Systems program. That gun would be fielded around 2010 and have a range of about 30 kilometers.
The Army ordered 165 Excalibur rounds in 2005 for $22 million, 335 rounds in 2006 for $42.7 million and 725 rounds in 2007 for $64.9 million.
GMLRS is also proving its worth in Iraq and Afghanistan, where the weapon has a reliability rate of 98 percent, said Army Col. David Rice, the service’s project manager for precision fires, rockets and missile systems at Redstone Arsenal, Ala. He added that 69 percent of 273 GMLRS firings in Iraq and Afghanistan were in support of soldiers and Marines engaged in close combat, with the remaining 31 percent employed in preplanned strikes.
“The precision that the weapon affords, the range that it affords and the reliability have gained great confidence,” said Leighton Duitsman, deputy product manager at Fort Sill, Okla. “They are not afraid to use it in urban settings when they want to engage a target.”
Ellie