The Army is on the lookout for new longer-range artillery shells after canceling some of its plans for new cannons.
The service intends to shift its focus over to how it can begin “innovating at the round,” an official said, to increase the range of the weapons it already has.
Army Secretary Christine Wormuth discussed plans at the 2024 Defense News Conference last week when she spoke on some of the potential follow-ups for longer-range artillery after the cancellation of its Extended Range Cannon Artillery program.
“We still believe that we have a requirement for, you know, sort of an artillery system with that kind of range,” Wormuth said.
She said the Army was looking at potential cannons that may be similar to prototypes it was developing, explaining “there are obviously companies that make systems that don’t have quite the range that ERCA we hoped would give us but comes quite close.” But the focus now is more on the round.
The ERCA was a project to develop next-generation howitzers with longer ranges, but while the system, a 58-caliber gun tube on a Paladin chassis, could reach the desired 70-kilometer range, testing revealed problems with the design.
In March, the Army’s Assistant Secretary for Acquisition, Doug Bush, revealed the service had concluded prototyping activity in fall 2023 and that the efforts weren’t successful, indicating the program would be canceled.
ERCA was part of US Army long-range precision fires efforts which included an attempt to develop a strategic long-range cannon. In 2019, Army leadership highlighted the need for this type of weapon in the context of a potential war with China, noting that the goal could be to target Chinese warships.
Mark Esper, then the Army secretary, said at the time that such a weapon could be used from an island or other fixed land mass to fire on Chinese warships to clear the way for US naval forces.
Such a weapon, which was a little different as a science and technology effort, would have boasted two main benefits: it extends the range at which the Army can fire at targets, and it also allows the Army to pull the cannon back to a safer distance from the enemy. But the Army confirmed it canceled the program in May 2022.
ERCA likewise stemmed from concerns about China and Russia, both of which have been extending their reach in ways that could complicate things for the US Army on the modern battlefield if a fight broke out.
Now, the Army looks to be also focused on acquiring rounds capable of longer ranges to use on its current howitzers.
“I think we may also be looking at sort of what we call, you know, ‘innovating at the round,’ looking at what can we do with the actual round to increase the range,” Wormuth said recently.
She didn’t provide further details on what such efforts look like, but the Army did put a notice out in May focused on potential options for extended-range artillery rounds. The Army is also still at work on ramjet-powered artillery shells, which have estimated ranges around 93 miles.
The critical need for artillery that can strike targets at greater distances has been apparent in the ongoing war in Ukraine, where increases in range with new systems has, at times, helped tip the scales. The US Army took note of it in early fighting there, and Russia’s full-scale invasion has only underscored this point.
At the conference last week, Wormuth also noted electronic warfare and unmanned systems as areas where the Army is paying more attention considering Russia and Ukraine’s extensive use of both on the battlefield.
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