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Excalibur Round Debuts in Afghanistan |
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Written by davidtkl
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Saturday, 15 March 2008 |
KUNAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan (Army News Service, March 10, 2008)
-Soldiers fired the first 155mm GPS-guided Excalibur artillery round in
Afghanistan Feb. 25.
The GPS-guided Excalibur round was given the proper grid coordinate to
seek out and destroy a target using the Enhanced Portable Inductive
Artillery Fuse Setter by placing the system on the tip of the round and
sending a digital message containing the coordinate for the round to
find.
"The Excalibur round travels farther and is designed to hit targets
that conventional ammo does not always hit," said Army Staff Sgt.
Darius Scott of C Battery, 3rd Battalion, 321st Field Artillery
Regiment.
The Excalibur was fired using the M-777A2 155mm howitzer. The M-777 is
designed to be a digitally programmed weapon and is about 9,800 pounds
lighter than the more commonly used M-198 Howitzer and is reportedly
more accurate.
"The main purpose of the M-777A2 is that it is more able to help the
units in the Korengal Valley by providing more timely and accurate
fire," said Army Capt. Ryan Berdiner, 28, commander of C Battery, 3rd
Bn., 321st FAR.
"By using the Excalibur, we are mitigating a lot of collateral damage that other rounds may cause," said Scott.
The test fire was deemed to be a success when word came back from the
impact area that the Excalibur successfully completed its mission by
finding and destroying the target at the provided grid coordinate.
(Sgt. Henry Selzer serves with 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team Public Affairs.)
Source and credits :
http://www.army.mil/-news/2008/03/10/7842-excalibur-round-debuts-in-afghanistan/
Pvt.
Corey Rodriguez pulls the lanyard on the M-777A2 during the first
firing of the Army's new GPS-guided Excalibur Round Feb. 25 at Camp
Blessing, Afghanistan. (U.S. Army Photo by ) Photo by Sgt. Henry Selzer
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