The U.S. Army’s future cannon artillery vehicles likely will employ many
of the same technologies originally designed for the Crusader—a high-tech
howitzer that was terminated last year, because it was deemed too heavy and
unwieldy to be useful in today’s battles.
The 42-ton Crusader was to supplant the aging Paladin, a 32-ton cannon-artillery
platform. In the absence of Crusader, the Army will keep the Paladin in operation
for at least another decade, until it completes the development of a smaller
self-propelled howitzer that will be part of a family of next-generation vehicles
known as the Future Combat Systems. If FCS works as planned, it will be a network
of as many as 18 types of light combat vehicles (each about 16 tons), including
direct-fire and non-line of sight platforms, ground robots and pilotless aircraft.
The first FCS units could be in the field by 2008 or 2010, according to the
Army’s current schedule.
The Army views the FCS as the foundation of its “Objective Force.”
If Crusader had been much lighter, it could have been the “first vehicle
of the Objective Force,” said Army Gen. Kevin P. Byrnes, head of the Training
and Doctrine Command. Specifically, the “network capability” in
Crusader was similar to what the Army wants for FCS, Byrnes said. The Army stuck
with Crusader for many years, despite the weight problems, partly because it
believed that the “fully networked cockpit design and robotics”
technologies designed for Crusader—in addition to its rapid-fire and extended-range
capabilities—were needed in the force of the future, he explained.
The indirect-fire vehicle that will replace Crusader and is expected to be
part of the FCS is called the NLOS (non-line of sight) cannon.
Byrnes predicted that, with the NLOS cannon, “we’ll see a capability
similar to Crusader, but lighter.” The FCS, additionally, will have a
120 mm mortar, called NLOS-M, and an NLOS rocket launcher also known as “Netfires.”
The same company that designed and developed the Crusader, United Defense LP,
now is working on the NLOS cannon. A full-scale prototype, which UDLP terms
“a demonstrator,” will be tested in August and could begin firing
live rounds this fall, said the company’s program manager, James Unterseher.
This vehicle may incorporate some of the technologies used in Crusader, he
told National Defense. “But please don’t call this the ‘son
of Crusader.’”
“This vehicle is very different,” especially in the way it moves,
said Unterseher. The demonstrator weighs 20 tons and has a 39-caliber gun tube.
“It has leveraged many of the technologies from Crusader,” particularly
in the area of robotics, ammunition handling, projectile tracking, electronics
and crew compartment design, he said.
The gun will hit targets as far away as 30 km, he said. By comparison, Crusader’s
range was 40 km. Each vehicle will carry 30 155 mm rounds.
The projectile tracking system consists of a radar sensor that follows the
bullet and sees where it hit, so the crew can determine whether the right target
was struck. “We can compare the achieved trajectory with the desired trajectory
and make adjustments for subsequent rounds,” said Ted Poucher, a UDLP
engineer.
Unterseher stressed that the prototype is not yet officially in the FCS program.
The Army funded the project under a “concept technology demonstration”
contract awarded after Crusader was terminated.
The Army and the FCS prime contractor—the Boeing Co.—have yet to
make final decisions on vehicle sizes and weapon calibers. For the NLOS cannon,
said Unterseher, “our recommendation was for a 155 mm.”
The weight could range from 18 to 20 tons, depending on the armor and the ammunition
on board.
It is not yet known how many NLOS vehicles the Army will buy. With Crusader,
the plan was to buy more than 1,000. The order had been whittled down to 400
by the time the program was cancelled. For the NLOS cannon, the number could
reach 700, depending on how many brigades get equipped with FCS vehicles.
The UDLP demonstrator is powered by a hybrid-electric engine. The tracked FCS
prototype has a hybrid-diesel engine. The company also built a wheeled prototype
with a hybrid-turbine engine. In a hybrid system, the engine runs a generator,
which produces electricity. The electricity is sent to each of the 250 hp electric
drives on the sprockets. The energy can be stored in lithium-ion batteries,
which would allow the vehicle to operate silently, on battery power only.
The live-fire drills scheduled for this fall will take place at the same site
where Crusader was tested—the Army’s Yuma Proving Ground, in Arizona.
Poucher said one of the most challenging engineering hurdles in this vehicle
is accommodating a 155 mm gun in a small platform, without exposing the crew
to excessive recoil.
The engineering model has spades in the back—which brace against the
ground—to help absorb the recoil shock.
The ammunition handling system—adapted from Crusader and from the Navy’s
155 mm Advanced Gun System—takes the manual labor out of the process of
loading bullets, Poucher said. The same shuttle handles both propellant and
projectiles. “All the crew does is press a button.”
Regardless of which vehicle is selected as the NLOS cannon, the Army will not
achieve significant improvements in artillery firepower unless it can successfully
field a long-range “smart” projectile, said Col. Nathaniel Sledge,
program manager for Army combat ammunition. Sledge oversees the development
of Excalibur, a GPS-guided artillery round. If Excalibur fails, the U.S. Army
eventually will be outgunned by other nations, Sledge said at a Defense News
conference on precision warfare. The United States has 39-caliber guns, while
many other countries have gone to 52-caliber guns. “They can outrange
us,” said Sledge. Excalibur would help offset that disadvantage, if the
technology works as advertised. The desired range is 30-35 km. Now, the “number-one
challenge” for Excalibur is surviving a gun launch at 15,000 g’s,
he said. The electronics package (an inertial measurement unit combined with
a GPS receiver) needs to be “hardened” further, said Sledge. The
next major test for Excalibur will be a live firing from the new Army-Marine
Corps lightweight 155 mm towed howitzer, scheduled for fiscal year 2006. The
projectile also would have to be compatible with the FCS NLOS cannon.