Three defense contractors from Europe and the Middle East deployed to Washington, DC, their respective 155 mm howitzer variants mounted on trucks for display at a convention center, all hoping to catch the attention of U.S. government officials who are contemplating options for replacing towed cannons that are now deemed vulnerable to counter-battery fire against an advanced adversary such as Russia or China.
In addition, two U.S. defense contractors at the same event -- the annual conference of the Association of the United States Army -- expressed interest in the project, days after the Army announced plans to make other transaction agreements with companies to prototype a next-generation 155 mm mobile howitzer and weeks after the service concluded a shoot-off of select systems.
BAE Systems, which is teamed with its Swedish arm, displayed its Archer vehicle on the lower level of the AUSA show floor; at the upper-level show floor, Global Ordnance -- and manufacturer Yugo of Serbia – exhibited its NORA B-52 M21 155 mm; and in an empty lot down the block from the convention hall, Elbit Systems of America set up its 155 mm Autonomous Truck-Mounted Howitzer System.
Visitors to General Dynamics’ stand saw a model of a Stryker vehicle with a 155 mm cannon. And AM General -- which in recent years displayed a 155 mm cannon mounted on a Family of Medium Tactical Vehicle truck -- remains interested in the program, company representatives said, working with the Army to develop its soft recoil technology for potential application on any mobile howitzer solution the service wants.
BAE’s Archer vehicle has already been fielded to the Swedish Army, said Stefan Lofstrom, marketing director at one of BAE’s Swedish divisions. The particular vehicle that BAE displayed had participated in a live-fire demonstration for the U.S. Army at Yuma Proving Ground, AZ, which ended last month.
The howitzer uses a 52-caliber cannon, and it can be mounted on virtually any eight-wheeled military truck, he said. The barrel is significantly longer than the M777’s, and it is closer in length to the Extended Range Cannon Artillery the Army is developing.
Archer has a 21-round autoloader, and automation allows the crew to operate the howitzer without ever leaving the driver’s cab, Loftstrom said. The crew can use the autoloader to select any of the 21 different rounds and pair them with any of the modular charges loaded in the system.
“There are 21 rounds in the magazine, you can have 21 different ammunition types if you would like,” he said. “Probably, you have three or four different types at the same time.”
Once an Archer crew receives their target or targets, it takes 20 to 25 seconds for the vehicle to stop, deploy the stabilizing trailing legs, load, aim and fire the first round, Lofstrom said. It takes about the same amount of time for Archer to start moving again after it finishes firing.
Elbit Systems of America set up its 155 mm Autonomous Truck-Mounted Howitzer System on a lot down the block from the convention center where the conference was held. Elbit could build the 52-caliber ATMOS in the United States, the company said at the conference.
ATMOS has a semi-autoloader with 36 rounds, so soldiers still need to exit the cab to operate the howitzer. The company had previously announced that it would take part in this year’s live-fire event at Yuma.
Yugo, a Serbian state-owned company, displayed its Nora truck-mounted 155 mm howitzer at the Global Ordnance's booth during the conference. The howitzer participated in the live-fire demonstration at Yuma that ended last month.
Nora has a 52-caliber barrel and an autoloader, according to Global Ordnance. It is compatible with U.S. projectiles and modular charges.
“Yugo design engineers participated in the testing to learn what upgrades would be most needed by U.S. Army artillery crews,” Global Ordnance said in a press release before the conference. “Upgrades from feedback during testing are already being designed to meet the mobile artillery needs of the U.S. Army.”
General Dynamics Land Systems displayed a model of a howitzer that would be mounted on a Stryker armored vehicle, rather than a truck. Stryker brigades currently use the M777, and some of the concerns about M777 mobility have centered on those brigades.
The Stryker howitzer variant would be designed around a 52-caliber barrel, although it could also use a 39-caliber barrel, according to Tim Reese, the company’s director of U.S. business development.
General Dynamics has not built a full-sized version of the Stryker howitzer yet, but it has completed “extensive” modeling and digital design of a howitzer and a Stryker ammunition resupply vehicle with its partners, AM General and the Mandus Group, Reese wrote in an email after the conference. The partner companies would supply soft-recoil technology.
The company hopes to build and demonstrate a full-size version of the Stryker howitzer next year for the Army, Reese wrote.
“We have discussed the Stryker 155mm Howitzer concept with multiple Army organizations and units and found that there is interest in a demonstration of the capability,” he wrote.
The Army’s Fiscal Year 2021 budget included $25 million to be allocated for continued development by the product manager for towed artillery systems, Picatinny Arsenal, NJ, on soft-recoil development through next summer.
“They are looking at the soft recoil technology at large and how it can be applied to other current systems in the Army, and any potential future systems that might come in the Army,” said John Chadbourne, AM General senior vice president of government operations, strategy and marketing.
In 2018, AM General, the South Bend, IN-based light tactical vehicle maker, took a minority stake in Mandus Group, a Rock Island, IL-based artillery company focused on soft-recoil technology.
“The technology is compelling,” AM General President and Chief Executive Officer Jim Cannon said in Oct. 11 interview.
Traditional howitzer technology channels the massive energy generated by the recoil as part of firing the huge gun either into the mass of the vehicle or into out-riggers that deploy by fanning out from the side and into the ground to provide stability while the cannon is used.
“If it's a spade into the ground, that limits your ability to maneuver after putting rounds downrange,” Cannon said. “And when we pivot to near-peer competitors, we have to expect counter-battery fires. So, with soft-recoil technology, you can have a lighter vehicle, carry a bigger gun without having to spade into the ground, get rounds off and move. So fundamentally, it helps you shoot, move quicker, which is in the center of the strategic fairway for indirect fires.”
AM General is currently manufacturing a set of humvee-mounted cannon prototypes that the Army is expected to test next year as part of its exploration of soft-recoil technology. Specifically, the order is for the Hawkeye Mobile Howitzer Systems -- a 105 mm cannon mounted on a two-door cargo truck that is paired with an ammunition resupply humvee.
“Their plan is to test and baseline the capability of that vehicle,” Chadbourne said.
AM General is not focused solely on the mobile howitzer requirement.
“We're happy to sell Hawkeyes to whoever needs some, but that technology can be applied to a lot of different indirect fire systems to help make them lighter and more maneuverable,” Cannon said.