The Army has a new cannon
 

that can hit a target 43 miles away.

<iframe width="1135" height="638" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/RO6U_VihDuQ" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Funny you should mention this.

Development was through the CFT team at Ft Sill. Next step is an auto loader for 10 rounds a minute. Lawton is setting up a FISTA program to bring the various developers togethers in one place. The reason the city is buying the local mall.

https://www.kswo.com/2020/03/06/fort-sills-long-range-precision-fires-cft-tests-new-weapon-system/

That’s cool as hell. In a past job I won some actuator work on the PIM program.

Paladin?

Video is gone already.

EDIT:

New link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO6U_VihDuQ&feature=emb_err_woyt

Is isn't gone...they just want it watched on YouTube.

I imagine that the cost differential between this and a drone strike is significant. I realize a drone can reach places the tank can't but this is an amazing weapon. If it can target a vehicle imagine what it could do to the mouth of a cave.

How far do the big guns on a battleship shoot? As I remember they were over the horizon distances with a VW bug sized projectile. Of course you need a battleship to move them around and they are not gonna work 100 miles from the coast.

That is a cool gun. I have been at Ft Sill long ago when they had a demonstration day and fired some big guns. It is one of the places in Oklahoma that has been there long before there was an Oklahoma. Founded in 1869, it was not in a friendly environment when founded.

Battleship can fire about 20 to 25 miles. I think the M777 howitzer has a range of 15 to 20 miles. I hear them pounding all the time.

A few years back I was camping at the refuge and Sill was having a night fire exercise. We could see the horizon light up when they fired to our west. Hear the shells fly by to our south. And then the impacts to the east. It went on for about an hour. A least a 100 rounds. A minimum of 10 miles.

On another time I was driving out the the refuge on highway 115. 115 divides the Sill firing range.

About halfway there the MP's stopped us. They told us they were about to fire several racks of MLRS across the road. The MLRS were set up about 100 yards off the road. After a couple of minutes they unloaded. We had ringside seats.

Every month or so they launch just north of my house and I can hear the WHOOSH as they fire north towards Elgin.

Against drones, there are counter-measures. With artillery....not so much. Once the projectile has left the barrel, nothing can stop it. Also, artillery can be remarkably accurate.

They will target the cannon with UAS 0r manned platforms.

Not true at all. Flying IED's that scare the crap out of all the services. I have worked on numerous counter UAS programs.

I'll post some stuff I am doing with the Army on Missile Launched UAS Swarms. We are under contract so I'll need to ask.

It is self propelled so they will use it like MLRS. Launch and then haul ass before the rounds even land.

PIM is the latest and greatest version, it’s for Paladin Integrated Management. I made some visits to BAE Systems which was pretty cool.

IIRC when I was a surveyor/mapmaker in the USMC in 1970 our 175 mm guns could hit a 55 gallon drum 23 miles away, using only maps, survey transits and weather ballons to figure out where we were and where the target was. That was 50 years ago.

VW bug weight, not size.


Although, size would be awesome. :eek:

Cool? I'd surmise that depends on whether you're on the delivering or receiving end. :rolleyes:

How much of the 43 miles is the self propelled/guided missile vs the initial thrust from the cannon?

Here's some PIM data. They have been working on it a few years.

https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/1019512.pdf

Also used to work in the long range weaponry field. We were already reliably and repeatedly hitting 45 miles (73km) in the late nineties, and later even 60 miles, though the laws of physics made that not so repeatable. There is something truly awesome about being able to reach out and "touch" an enemy from a clear blue sky at that range!

https://military.wikia.org/wiki/G6_howitzer

Block of salt and all:

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/19460/u-s-army-forges-ahead-with-its-railgun-as-navys-commitment-to-the-tech-is-questioned

I think that's the only thing i miss about sill. Constant artillery. Buildings shaking. Barracks shaking. Was fun.

[QUOTE=Seahawk;11156814Flying IED's that scare the crap out of all the services. I have worked on numerous counter UAS programs. [/QUOTE]

They're coming around, but the last time I did any venue vulnerability stuff for one obscure, unglamorous but very important corner of DOD they artificially constrained UAS to be observation assets.

I understand that they have constraints, and some of them _have_ to pass their design-basis-threat requirements, but it seemed a little naive.

Artillery's still cool of course!

Artillary is cool.

Here is an article based on a recent battle.

https://news.yahoo.com/us-army-faces-threat-air-211221928.html

We are on contract with the Army to put small UAS in a LMCO missile the Army uses. We will get the UAS Swarm down range at mach.

They also want to be able to target multiple TOI.

I worked very closely with the Army UAS folks in Huntsville and I am still friends with a bunch of them.

The next wave is here.

There is a lot of development going on with regards to anti drone systems.

Fortem has their Skydome system that has been in test mode. They utilize a radar system tied into a control system that sends out a drone that uses a "net" to knock down the incoming drone. I am sure there are a bunch of others.

The Air and Missle Defense cross funtional team is looking at new and better methods to protect against incoming air threats that are constantly evolving.

The Army has set up 8 cross functional teams. Ft Sill has 2. LRP and AMD. The Army is openly encouraging the assigned bases to set up shop outside the base and have multiple suppliers to come under one roof so they can more easily share current technology to meet future threat demands. A new way of doing business.

Long-range precision fires (LRP)
Next generation combat vehicle (NGCV)
Future vertical lift (FVL)
Network command, control, communication, and intelligence
Assured positioning, navigation, and timing (A-PNT)
Air and missile defense (AMD)
Soldier lethality (SL)
Synthetic training environment (STE)

To get ahead Lawton has set up FISTA and is buying the local mall to house the contractors. Change of ownership should happen any day now. They have a dozen contractors ready to take up empty space. They expect many more to sign up. No names have been mentioned at this time. According to the FISTA group one of them wants 60,000 sq ft of space by themselves.

I know. I have been involved in counter drone stuff for over a decade. Did a look of work for ONR and DARPA.

The problem is the sheer number of UAS threats: There are commercially available RC aircraft made out of foam that can reach 200kts. The commercial RC community LOVES the little jets. There are also drones that can transit underwater and then transition to the air, greatly complication the problem. We have on in the works for the sub community. We expect to be on contract in early 2121.

The drones we are putting in the Army missile can be armed.

Drones are airborne IEDs...the ultimate asymmetric threat. Advances in electronics, materials, power and propulsion in the last 15 years has been the real miracle(s) in aviation.

The Navy has a real problem. Our ships can only carry so many countermeasures and equipment to combat swarms...cheap swarms. You don't have to sink a ship to render it incapable of fulfilling it's mission.

None of this is classified in any way - everybody knows.

BTW, we are working on a tethered system for the NGCV. We'll see. L3H is killing it with the Army - in a good way.

No doubt, it is a huge threat.

I need to get down to Sill. As you know, I love that area and as an Army Brat I can speak the lingo!

it has been quiet that last few days. Everyone is on leave.

Perfect time to go when everyone is on block leave.

Don't forget to see the buffalo out in the training area. I did my 13F forward observer training there (before I got in the JAG Corps). They were nice enough to send me on an all expense paid trip to Mogadishu after I completed training in '93.

The commanders used to get wood back then when we shot copperhead laser guided rounds. It was a total PITA. Far easier and more effective to just drop several rounds of HE vice going thru all the BS required to fire the laser guided stuff.

Drones depend on electronics. EM weapon defense?

Not true. In my previous life, I worked on "directed energy" weapons. We had one project whose directives were referred to as "C-RAM". Counter Rocket, Artillery and Mortars. We had to be able to acquire, track and disable these items after they were fired. And we did. ;)

The Israelis have something similar. I believe they call it Iron Dome.

I worked on this circa 2007, so I'm sure it is very advanced now.

I spent a few days in the area, mostly in the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge. Buffalo everywhere!

I wanted to see the Star House and the areas where the Comanche lived. Rte 62 West and offshoot roads was incredible to me.

It is fairly easy to harden electronics. Also, swarm tactics mean the swarm comes from all directions. That and EM weapons often "blind" the good guy stuff. That and against peer competitors, the attack will be layered, meaning emitting can be a bad thing.

That must have been a hoot. I love stuff like that.

Reaching out and touching somebody!

Do those guys use calculus?


...ducking ;)

There's a lot of c ram action at the embassy in Iraq this past month. Some cool videos

Battlship big gun ranges
 

If I remember correctly, the 16" guns on the American battleships had a range of about 24 miles. The longest range ship gun used in WWII was the 18" gun on the two Japanese battleships the Yamato and the Musashi with a range of 26 miles. And, yes, that would be over the horizon at sea level!

This is a cross section of 16" barrel and they would use up to 4 of these bags of 665# of powder.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1609788456.JPG

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1609788456.JPG

Well the targeting system does

How good are the CIWCs defense weapons like the Phalanx? Are they effective against drones that are small, maneuverable and numerous?