Insurgents and terrorists often hid behind civilians or were in cities with many non-combatants. With the Excalibur, infantry can rest assured that the Excalibur will be there accurately when a fire mission is requested.ĭuring the global war on terror, the need for hitting targets accurately was paramount.

Like in all artillery, maneuver elements pre-register targets on the map as they infiltrate into combat zones. Commanders on the ground can call in fire missions and they have to worry less. There is less dependence on the Air Force and drones for close air support. This gives many advantages to friendly forces. Excalibur was utilized to good reviews during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.Īmerican artillery batteries have fired the Excalibur at targets as far as 22 miles away. There’s also a variant in development with a laser seeker that can hit a moving target. This allows for different types of operations in the defense and offense and also enables counter-battery fire to destroy enemy artillery. This means it can engage hard-to-kill point or area targets. Users can then change the terminal angle of impact for the GPS-guided round. Fire control systems send a digital message with the coordinate for the round to find. What is also great about the Excalibur that it can be used with any 155mm howitzer in the U.S. And most importantly, you don’t have to worry about endangering civilians with an errant shot.

The high-explosive round can also be delayed to penetrate buildings or bunkers. It can be used in poor weather with bad visibility. This shell is “one shot, one kill” and as a result, artillery personnel does not have to store or load as many shells. That means in a firefight, troops can call in an Excalibur fire mission that lands “danger close” and not cause fratricide. It can land safely as close to 70 to 150 meters away from friendly troops. The Excalibur is a 155mm GPS-guided precision artillery shell. The guided Excalibur howitzer munition has solved that accuracy problem in artillery fires resulting in safer and more lethal fire missions. During training, another gun in my battery mistakenly fired a shell out of bounds outside the impact zone that was near a civilian area. Excalibur: A 2 Minute Explainer – What if you didn’t have to worry about a howitzer round missing its target? I once served on the M109 Paladin 155mm self-propelled howitzer.

Vld 155mm shell