U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground hosts cutting edge artillery demonstration

In mid-September, YPG hosted a demonstration showcasing the use of the United States’ most cutting edge 155mm artillery munitions with the South Korean K9A1 Thunder Self-Propelled Howitzer and K10 Ammunition Resupply Vehicle (ARV). 

It has become well-known that U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground (YPG) testing actively supports six of the Army Futures Command's Cross Functional Teams (CFTs) building the Army's future force.

In mid-September, YPG hosted a demonstration showcasing the use of the United States’ most cutting edge 155mm artillery munitions with the South Korean K9A1 Thunder Self-Propelled Howitzer and K10 Ammunition Resupply Vehicle.

Both platforms are manufactured by Hanwha Defense Corporation (HDC), South Korea’s largest defense contractor. Recently, the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Armaments Center signed a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with HDC to assess the feasibility, performance and capabilities of carrying and firing the American munitions by the two platforms.

“The purpose of our partnership is to check the compatibility of our munitions with those two vehicles,” said Sam Perez, who serves as principal investigator for the CRADA. “We’ve been working on this effort for the last year and a half to ensure we can safely fire the munitions from those two vehicles.”

On the demonstration day, about 60 visitors from across the Army and several friendly foreign nations observed the K9A1 undergo loading from the K10 and then embark on multiple realistic fire missions across two adjacent gun positions. The K9A1 demonstrated its ability to shoot and scoot, in which a self-propelled howitzer fires artillery, then immediately departs to a different location to evade possible counter-fire from an adversary. Weapons operators on board the howitzer also demonstrated the platform’s ability to burst fire three rounds within 16 seconds, and fire six rounds within 45 seconds. The K9A1 fired both XM1113 and M795 155 mm rounds, the former of which with rocket assistance. The testers also demonstrated the K10 capability of transferring the US Artillery munitions and inert Korean Modular Charge System to the K9A1.

“These are the things within the scope of work of the CRADA with Hanwha that they wanted to demonstrate in terms of the capabilities,” said Anthony Sebasto, Acting Director of Combat Capabilities Development Command’s Armaments Center at Picatinny Arsenal. “While the systems were here, they also wanted to have the opportunity to show the US and other foreign nations the capability of their system.”

Preparing for the demonstration took months of test planning and coordination, even prior to a pre-demonstration test in July that involved every scenario the visitors saw in September. Weapons operators from YPG and South Korea both participated.

“We did some safety testing leading up to this demonstration event to collect data to prove out the compatibility and safety for the crew since they are doing on-board operations,” said Jered Ford, YPG Artillery and Mine Branch Chief. “It’s not easy to work on the technical test side with the planning and preparations involved in that on top of the logistics of many visitors coming together at a gun position.”

“There were several tests that we had to do just to ensure the safety of the South Korean crew that did the man-firing,” added Jonathan Bazua, the YPG test officer who ran the event. “There was a lot of pre-demo work that had to be done to accomplish the actual demonstration safely. You’ve got to get a lot of small details right to make everything work.”

Following the demonstration, the DEVCOM personnel gave high marks to the support they received from YPG.

The K9A1 is used by nine other nations in addition to South Korea, and more may acquire the platform in the future.

“There will be opportunities for countries that are acquiring the K9A1 to see that the U.S. munitions are compatible with the system,” said Perez. “This is just the beginning of our collaborative efforts. There is the potential for more demonstrations like this in the future at Yuma Proving Ground.

Via www.army.mil

UK to send more artillery guns and hundreds of drones to Ukraine

UK to send scores of artillery guns and hundreds of drones to Ukraine

Ben Wallace reveals latest British military support for Ukraine, including plans to send 50,000 artillery shells and hundreds more anti-tank weapons in the coming weeks.

The UK will supply scores of artillery guns, hundreds of drones and hundreds more anti-tank weapons to Ukraine in the coming weeks, the Defence Secretary has revealed.

The delivery of the new equipment will significantly step up the UK’s support as the country fights to repel Russia’s brutal and unjustified invasion.

More than 20 M109 155mm self-propelled guns and 36 L119 105mm artillery guns will soon arrive from the UK, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace announced in an update to Parliament today. Counter-battery radar systems and more than 50,000 rounds of ammunition for Ukraine’s existing Soviet era artillery will also follow, he added.

This equipment will bolster the Armed Forces of Ukraine’s ability to defend itself against Russia’s indiscriminate use of artillery.

The UK will also send more than 1,600 more anti-tank weapons in the coming weeks, along with drones, including hundreds of loitering aerial munitions.

So far 6,900 NLAW, Javelin, Brimstone and other anti-tank weapons, as well as 16,000 artillery rounds, six Stormer vehicles fitted with Starstreak anti-air missile launchers and hundreds of missiles have been sent to Ukraine.

The UK has also supplied maritime Brimstone missiles, multiple launch rocket systems, 120 armoured fighting vehicles and large quantities of non-lethal aid including more than 82,000 helmets, 8,450 sets of body armour and over 5,000 night vision devices.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said:

"The scale and range of equipment we are providing demonstrates the strength of our resolve. Together with our international partners, we will ensure Ukraine has the tools to defend their country from Putin’s illegal invasion."

The uplift comes after Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced in June that the UK would provide another £1 billion of military support to Ukraine.

The funding, which brings UK military support and broader regional activity since the outbreak of war to £2.3bn, will herald a new phase in the international community’s support, enabling Ukraine to go beyond their valiant defence against the illegal Russian invasion and mount offensive operations.

The next phase of military support, paid for with this additional funding, will include even more sophisticated air defence systems, uncrewed aerial vehicles and innovative new electronic warfare equipment.

It comes after the UK launched a major training operation for Ukrainian forces, with the potential to train up to 10,000 soldiers.

The Defence Secretary recently visited some of the first Ukrainian soldiers taking part in the programme, which is taking place at sites across the North West, South West and South East of the UK.

Source:
www.gov.uk

The Robotised systems of the Koalitsiya-SV SPH

 Some interesting details about the Koalitsiya-SV SPH

ERCA autoloader’s speed tested at YPG

The Extended Range Cannon Artillery (ERCA) weapon system has demonstrated it can get the job done. In previous tests and demonstrations, the ERCA has fired twice as far as any currently fielded Army cannon and has proven to fire pre-loaded rounds from a limited capacity autoloader magazine 2-3 times as fast as a gun crew. The autoloader’s speed was demonstrated once again during a test March 30 at Yuma Proving Ground (YPG).

The Extended Range Cannon Artillery autoloader speed was demonstrated during a test March 30 at U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground. (Photo by Ana Henderson)

The autoloader, designed by the Army Futures Command’s (AFC) Armament Center at Picatinny Arsenal, performs cannon loading tasks mechanically – setting the fuze, loading the projectile, propellant and stub charge, closing the breech – in sequence with barrel pointing to enable cannon firing at unprecedented rates.

Army Future’s Command Brig. Gen. John Rafferty Director of the Long Range Precision Fires (LRPF) Cross Functional Team (CFT) traveled to YPG to see the demonstration first hand and to meet the team who is behind all the work.

He told the team, “The Army is watching what you are doing and they are impressed.”

That team consists of the Yuma Test Center (YTC) workforce at YPG, Armament Center employees from Picatinny Arsenal, N.J. and Watervliet Arsenal, N.Y, and Project Manager Combat Ammunitions Systems employees, also from Picatinny Arsenal.

The demonstration involved the Armament Center’s 31-round fullcapacity autoloader using different types of charges, and the goal was to obtain data on how to increase the rate-of-fire in ERCA, and to verify the technical maturity of the major autoloader system subcomponents: projectile magazine, propellant magazine and transfer mechanism.

Rafferty explained, “We know that eventually we are going to have to improve the rate-of-fire of the system to deliver lethality against our adversaries in the volume that we need but also increase the survivability of our Soldiers and system. Allowing them to shoot quickly and move — because as soon as we put an ERCA battalion on the battlefield they will become the enemy’s number one priority target because the capability that it delivers is so significant.”

Chris Smith, Cannon Integrated Product Team Lead from the Armaments Center, whose team is in charge of cannon performance, added “With artillery when you are manually loading it, they can do it quickly in the beginning but then they get tired it slows down. This automated process will help keep that rate going by taking the user out of it and also keeps them safe.”

The demonstration involved the 31-round full-capacity autoloader using different types of charges, and the goal was to obtain data on how to increase the rate-of-fire. (Photos by Ana Henderson)

After viewing the inner workings of the weapon system, Rafferty along with YPG and YTC leadership and the ERCA teams viewed the live firing of three inert rounds from inside of blast protected workspaces at the gun position.

There was little time between each round and the work was, “Seamless” said Smith, “Today was very successful. Today’s demonstration was a culmination of a lot of hard work by the Armament Center and the industry partners to assemble and demonstrate an autoloader for ERCA against the requirements that were given a few years ago,” explained Senior Executive Service Anthony Sebasto, Armaments Center Executive Director for Enterprise and Systems Integration Center.

Rafferty told the crews on site, “With what we saw today, I don’t know how you could not be incredibility impressed.”

Now the data collected from this demonstration will be reviewed, analyzed and applied to the system.

“Today we demonstrated the firing rate. It gave the Army one more data point in terms of building confidence in ERCA ammunition handling capabilities and possibilities for the future,” said Sebasto.

Rafferty explained, “We are going to get range and lethality first and then when we are ready we’ll increase the rate-of-fire.”

Soon what was learned during this demonstration will be put into action once again with higher stakes.

“We are on the right path. The combination of the propellant magazine, the projectile magazine, and the transfer mechanism is really magical to see in action. It’s an early effort that is going to mature into a 23-round system that is going to be demonstrated late this year,” said Rafferty.

Gen. John Rafferty is pictured talking with Jered Ford during a recent visit. Ford has worked at Yuma Proving Ground for 14 years and is currently the Artillery Branch Chief. (Photo by Ana Henderson). On the background is the ХМ1299 ERCA with the new autoloader.

Via "The Outpost" newspaper

Picatinny’s Extended Range Cannon Artillery autoloader begins testing

PICATINNY ARSENAL, N.J. -- After a successful live-fire test of the Army’s Extended Range Cannon Artillery (ERCA) limited-capacity autoloader at Yuma Proving Ground in June 2019, the Picatinny engineers who developed it have refined a faster autoloader and have succeeded in conducting its initial trials here, December 15-22.

Development of the ERCA autoloader capability is notable because it would enable the cannon to fire at significantly faster rates, enhance lethality, and it may set the stage for future “optionally manned” artillery battery configurations where fewer – or possibly no Soldiers – would be required at the cannon during firing operations.

ERCA from the turret bearing up is a 100-percent Armaments Center-developed system. The ERCA armament and munitions have been thought about and innovation applied to them by the engineers at the Armaments Center for the XM1299, which gets’ you the range, and XM1299E1, which gets you the rate of fire capability.

The ERCA effort is nested within the Army’s top Modernization Priority, Long Range Precision Fires (LRPF). The Long Range Precision Fires Cross Functional Team (CFT) has set plans in motion for a two phased capability improvement by first providing the Soldier a self-propelled howitzer with increased range, followed by an increase to rate-of-fire. The U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM) Armaments Center at Picatinny Arsenal, N.J., is leading the ERCA design effort.

Cannon loading requires selecting the right type of projectile and fuze to deliver the desired effect to the target and selecting the right propellant to match the required distance. First, the fuze is set. Next, the projectile and then the charge are loaded into the cannon’s tube, the breech is closed and the cannon is ready to fire.

The autoloader is a machine that performs these well-orchestrated tasks, which have historically been performed by cannon crew members. The autoloader, however, can attain a rate of fire that is 2-3 times faster than a cannon crew, with limits to duration such as the cannon tube overheating, according to Armaments Center Project Engineer and ERCA Ammunition Handling System Lead, Jimmy Lee.

In November 2018, an earlier variant of the ERCA, the XM1299 howitzer, fired projectiles out to 72 kilometers at Yuma, the farthest-reaching shots ever made by U.S. Army howitzers, and more than double the reach of currently fielded Army artillery systems.

In the demonstration in June 2019, an early science and technology ERCA prototype outfitted with a limited capacity autoloader, loaded five mass simulator high velocity projectiles and five prototype XM657 Extended Range Supercharge propellant charges, and successively fired a five-round cannon “burst” downrange at a rate of seven-rounds-per-minute. The purpose of the demonstration was to inform development of the ERCA XM1299E1 according Armaments Center Project Officer for ERCA, Josiah Fay.

The limited capacity autoloader was designed to handle only one type of projectile and charge, and it worked with a limited capacity magazine, according to Lee. It was built to validate key aspects of the engineering approach during the march toward the objective autoloader, and the tests allowed the team to verify that key components would work as intended in realistic conditions, while close observation of its performance would inform future autoloaders.

Next up, according to Lee, was building and demonstrating the objective capacity autoloader, which will be able to load and manage a suite of the Army’s legacy and emerging fuzes, propellant charges and projectiles, and it will work with larger capacity magazines. It is a more complex machine because projectiles, fuzes and propellant charges come in different shapes, sizes, and weights, which requires the autoloader to handle a range of configurations to execute a fire mission.

Also, the newer autoloader must deliver at a higher rate while working in synchronization with the larger magazines, which store and manage the loads so that it will deliver the right combination of fuze, projectile and propellant for the fire mission.

The Armaments Center engineers are working at Picatinny with an industry partner via an Other Transaction Agreement contract vehicle to attain the desired ammunition handling capability. The industry partner develops the magazines while working in coordination with the Armaments Center’s autoloader development team.

The Autoloader and Other ERCA Objectives

The ERCA system’s development emerged as a formal research effort – known as a “STO” for Science and Technology Objective – following a 2013 study that assessed next-generation artillery. According to Lee, the main takeaway from the onset of the effort was that significantly increased range coupled with increased rates of fire was technologically within reach, and it would be a “game changer” for cannon artillery.

Lee added that a significant capability of the autoloader was that it portends future artillery battery configurations where a howitzer would perform fire missions without necessarily requiring that Soldiers be in the vehicle during the firing operations.

Along with the autoloader, prominent elements of the ERCA program include the XM1113 Rocket Assist Projectile and XM659 Stub Charge, which have been formally transitioned and are now managed by Project Manager Combat Ammunition Systems (PM CAS). There are also several versions of the “Supercharge” in various stages of development to support an increased range capability.

The cannon features a sliding block breech built to withstand the immense pressure of the supercharge and a cannon tube made with new alloys formed to a 30-foot length, which enables a projectile’s velocity to continue increasing inside the cannon tube before exiting.

The ERCA armaments are fitted on an M109A7 “Paladin” chassis to form the self-propelled ERCA system.

Via https://www.army.mil

US Army 405th AFSB in Germany received the next-generation M109A7 SPHs and M992A3 FAASVs

These next-generation self-propelled artillery systems, now a part of the 405th AFSB's Army Prepositioned Stock-2 Program at Coleman worksite, will enhance U.S. Army Europe and Africa’s readiness and capability to support the warfighter while simultaneously promoting stability and security in the region.

The 405th Army Field Support Brigade's Army Field Support Battalion-Mannheim received about three dozen next-generation M109A7 Paladin Artillery Systems and M992A3 Field Artillery Ammunition Support Vehicles by railhead at Coleman Barracks, March 4.

These new armored vehicles, now a part of the 405th AFSB's Army Prepositioned Stock-2 Program at Coleman worksite, will enhance U.S. Army Europe and Africa's readiness and capability to support the warfighter while simultaneously promoting stability and security in the region.

These enhanced self-propelled artillery systems offer key fire-support for a variety of combat missions conducted by the Army’s Armored Brigade Combat Teams in conventional, hybrid, irregular and counterinsurgency combat environments.

The 405th AFSB is assigned to U.S. Army Sustainment Command and under the operational control of the 21st Theater Sustainment Command, USAREUR-AF. The brigade is headquartered in Kaiserslautern, Germany, and provides materiel enterprise support to U.S. Forces throughout Europe and Africa – providing theater sustainment logistics; synchronizing acquisition, logistics and technology; and leveraging the U.S. Army Materiel Command materiel enterprise to support joint forces.

Army demonstrates ERCA autoloader at Picatinny Arsenal

In this photo, the Army Vice Chief of Staff, Gen. Joseph M. Martin, observes the second demonstration of the Extended Range Canon Artillery.

The autoloader for the XM-1299 Extended Range Canon Artillery is intended to speed up the rate of fire for greater lethality.