Enhanced projectile from U.S. Army/Raytheon team defeats targets in hard-to-reach spots
NewsOctober 15, 2018
TUCSON, Ariz. Raytheon and the U.S. Army recently completed development of a new capability for cannon artillery by upgrading the combat-proven Excalibur precision-guided projectile: The team's Excalibur Shaped Trajectory (EST) variant will enable soldiers to eliminate targets in hard-to-reach locations by selecting the projectile's terminal or final phase attack angle.
Excalibur -- used as the extended-range, precision munition for U.S. and international artillery forces -- is fully qualified in multiple systems, including the M777, M109 series, M198, the Archer, and PzH2000; it has been tested in the AS90, K9, and G6 howitzers, and the Army plans to integrate it with other mobile artillery systems.
In addition to the Excalibur EST variant, Raytheon has developed a laser-guided version, the Excalibur S, and a five-inch sea-based variant, the Excalibur N5 munition.
U.S. Army troops successfully demonstrated the EST variant during August 2018 at the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona; it is now being deployed to U.S. forces. EST will also be made available to allies approved to procure the Excalibur projectile through foreign military sales.
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