New Smart Artillery Shell

[Rocketmaniac]

I read the other day in USA TODAY about a new smart artillery shell called the EXCALIBUR. It sounds like a great advance in technology.......

And....... someone here might like to build a version of it and launch it!!!!!


It's made by raytheon.....


https://www.raytheon.com/products/excalibur/ref_docs/excalibur.pdf


https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/munitions/m982-155.htm

 

[rstaff3]

Looks cool and is a good candidate for modeling. Thanks for the link.

 

[powderburner]

I think they are being a bit modest on their website. GPS-guided stuff can do a LOT better than 20m. I have a video of the recent B-2 tests, dropping a string (cloud?) of 80 GPS-guided munitions on one run, and they look like they all hit within inches. Pretty amazing stuff!

 

[rstaff3]

Is it possible that there would be less accuracy in the shell over a dropped bomb due to:

1. Less precise estimate of where the target is?
2. Less expensive throw away electronics?
3. It may know the location to better than 20m but doesn't have the ability to reposition itself?

Just thinking out loud, I have no idea if these are reasonable questions.

 

[DNoal]

4) range could have something to do with it too as 50km (stated range for Excaliber) is much further than a bomb is dropped from aircraft.

 

[powderburner]

The range capability of a vehicle really has nothing to do with GPS accuracy. The GPS signal will reach a receiver no matter where it is, how fast it is going, what direction it came from, etc. If you have a good on-board computer that can track and error-average the recent history of positional readings, you can pretty much hit anything dead-on. Especially with the enhanced signal that the military reserves for itself, if you can identify a target and a set of coordinates, a GPS-guided weapon can hit it. As long as you can start the vehicle off within 'the basket' where it can reach the target with basic ballistics, the GPS guidance will do all the fine tuning.

The military is now using concrete-filled bomb casings with some of these GPS guidance systems. They use these selectively on targets where there are nearby homes, hospitals, or other things they want to leave undamaged. But they can still reach out and touch someone if they want to.