~~~~ The Big Gun US Army’s Long Range Cannon

     The Big Gun

     Imagine a field artillery piece, or “cannon”, that could fire approximately 18 to 20 miles.  Well there is one that I have trained on when I was in the military.  It was an 8’’self propelled howitzer.  Think of it as a very large cannon on tracks, like a tank, or a bulldozer.  It fired a round that was around 180 to 200lbs.  It was the M110A2.  

Here is a photo of it:

 

     Now imagine a field artillery piece that could fire a round 1150 miles.

     The U.S. Army is wading into a major science and technology development area to build a strategic, long-range cannon — one that can shoot a projectile 1,000 nautical miles — and plans to put the program through its first test soon, according to Col. John Rafferty, who is in charge of executing modernization efforts for the service’s top priority, long-range precision fires. The Army is working with the Research and Analysis Center at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, as well as the Center for Army Analysis to confirm the service can accomplish what is expected from such a system.  Rafferty Stated in an interview ahead of the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual conference.  The Army wants to demonstrate a prototype of the long-range cannon in 2023, after which it will make a decision on whether to begin a program of record.

    But the technology needed to achieve such a capability is so cutting edge that it’s unknown whether that specific distance can be achieved at a cost that won’t break the bank.

     How much?  

    Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville stated in a recent interview. “If we are able to develop the strategic, long-range cannon system, the rounds may be only $400,000 or $500,000 compared to multimillion-dollar rounds.

     Here is what it may look like:

    Range will be king in operations against adversaries like China and Russia, who have each invested in defensive technologies. The combination of long-range air defense systems, artillery and coastal defenses with seamless integration of long-range, over-the-horizon radars will be difficult to counter, according to Rafferty.

    One of the ways to solve that problem is to deliver surface-to-surface fires that can penetrate this [anti-access, area-denial] complex and disintegrate its network and create windows of opportunity for the joint force to exploit.

    There are two complementary systems that would be designed to penetrate enemy territory. There’s the hypersonic missile, which is technologically exquisite, will be expensive and the force “will probably never have enough of those,” Rafftery said. Then there’s the strategic cannon, which “will be able to deliver a volume of more affordable projectiles,” possibly 12, 16 or 20 in shorter order, to destroy a target, Rafferty said.

References: 

http://www.defensenews.com/author/jen-judson/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M110_howitzer?wprov=sfti1