By Michael Baruah, Our North America Correspondent.
The Excalibur (XM982, M982 and M982A1) is a 155 mm, Global Positioning System (GPS)-guided, extended range artillery projectile in use as the Army’s next-generation cannon artillery precision munition. It provides improved fire support to the maneuver force commander, increases lethality and reduces collateral damage.
DESCRIPTION
The Excalibur (XM982, M982 and M982A1) is a 155 mm, Global Positioning System (GPS)-guided, extended range artillery projectile in use as the Army’s next-generation cannon artillery precision munition. It provides improved fire support to the maneuver force commander, increases lethality and reduces collateral damage. The target, platform location and GPS-specific data are entered into the projectile’s mission computer through an Enhanced Portable Inductive Artillery Fuze Setter.
The Excalibur projectile uses a jam-resistant internal GPS receiver to update the inertial navigation system, providing precision in-flight guidance and dramatically improving accuracy to less than two meters miss distance regardless of range. The Excalibur projectile has three fuze options (point-detonation, point-detonation delay and height-of-burst) and is employable in all weather conditions and terrains. The Excalibur’s capabilities allow for first-round effects-on-target while simultaneously minimizing collateral damage and the number of rounds required to engage targets.
The Excalibur program is using an incremental approach to provide a combat capability to the Soldier as quickly as possible and to deliver advanced capability while reducing unit cost and increasing reliability. The initial variant (XM982 Increment 1A-1) includes a unitary high-explosive warhead capable of penetrating urban structures and is also effective against personnel and light materiel targets. The Excalibur program benefits from contributed resources toward development in accordance with established international cooperative development and production agreements