M982 Excalibur

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M982 Excalibur

XM982 Excalibur inert.jpg

General Information
Type guided artillery shell
Manufacturer Raytheon , BAE Systems
development 1992-2005
Commissioning September 2005
Unit price $ 39,000- $ 80,000
Technical specifications
diameter 155 mm
Combat weight 48 kg
drive Solid (base bleed)
Range around 50 km
Furnishing
Target location GPS
Warhead Block I: Multipurpose
Block II: 64 clusters or 2 SADARM
Block III: unspecified
Detonator Direct hit, airburst, delay detonator
Weapon platforms NLOS-C , M109 , M777
Lists on the subject

The M982 Excalibur is a 155mm guided artillery projectile developed by Raytheon and Bofors . It is currently (as of 2016) used by the United States Army .

overview

M982 Excalibur shortly before the impact on a building in Iraq where insurgents were suspected

This guided ammunition can achieve a range of up to 50 kilometers with an accuracy of 5 to 10 meters. This range, which is 25 km longer than the conventional unguided projectile, is achieved by the fact that a gas generator in the rear of the projectile burns down during the flight, which prevents turbulence behind the floor of the projectile and thus reduces the loss of speed due to suction resistance (" base bleed projectile ") ). In addition, the projectile has trapezoidal gliding wings (canards) at the front end, which not only increase the range (gliding instead of purely ballistic flight), but also make the projectile steerable. The projectile folds out its canards when it reaches the apogee of the trajectory (greatest height) and thus approaches a GPS position programmed before launch .

Sweden contributed 55.1 million US dollars to the development of the ammunition . The acquisition costs for an artillery projectile are very high: when applied to the individual unit, the program costs are over 250,000 US dollars.

After the positive combat experience in Iraq in the summer of 2007, where 92% of the projectiles fired fell within a 4-meter radius of the target point, the US Army decided to increase production from 18 projectiles per month to 150.

Versions

There are three versions in planning, referred to as "block":

  • Excalibur Block I with a monoblock warhead
    • Excalibur Block Ia-1: Accelerated development, therefore reduced range. In service since 2007.
    • Excalibur Block Ia-2: With base bleed .
    • Excalibur Block Ib: Full performance and reduced costs.
  • Excalibur Block II Carries 64 DPICM or two SADARM - submunitions .
  • Excalibur Block III Not yet fully specified, but should be able to recognize targets itself.
  • Excalibur S version with combined GPS and laser target search .
  • Excalibur N version with 127 mm caliber for ship artillery

commitment

The M982 was first used in Iraq in the summer of 2007 . In the war on terrorism in Afghanistan and Iraq, 760 M982s were fired by the end of 2014.

user

See also

Commons : M982 Excalibur  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ "GAO-15-342SP DEFENSE ACQUISITIONS Assessments of Selected Weapon Programs" (PDF). US Government Accountability Office. March 2015. p. 79. Accessed February 4, 2016. The program costs a total of $ 1,934.1 million (FY15), of which $ 790.4 million is for the procurement of 7,474 units for the US Army attack. This corresponds to an average unit price of $ 105,753.
  2. ^ Sydney J. Freedberg Jr .: Excalibur Goes To Sea: Raytheon Smart Artillery Shoots Back. In: breakingdefense.com. Breaking Defense, January 12, 2016, accessed February 21, 2017 .
  3. ↑ Armada International, Issue 2, April-May 2015: Compendium Artillery. 2015, p. 18.
  4. ↑ European Security & Technology: Excalibur projectiles for the Dutch army

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