The US M982 Excalibur artillery projectiles demonstrate an extended range of 40 km and GPS navigation. They just went live with the Ukrainian forces!
According to reports on social media, Ukrainian forces have begun using the 155mm M982 Excalibur precision guided artillery projectile. These missiles were delivered to the country by the United States, and they demonstrate a range of 40 kilometers and a GPS navigation system.
According to the Military-Today post below, these missiles may be responsible for the increase in armored vehicle losses of the Russian forces in recent days. But let’s see how powerful these ammunitions are.
The M982 Excalibur is an American-made and developed long-range guided artillery projectile designed to engage stationary targets with impressive accuracy. The missile became the successor to the laser-guided M712 Copperhead. Development of new munitions with increased range began in 1992 by Raytheon and BAE Systems.
The final development products demonstrate a range of 40 kilometers and a deflection radius of only 5 meters. Of course the M777 guns, which were upgraded to the M777A2 standard to be compatible with the projectiles, ended up costing less than the M982 Excalibur. In 2016 a missile cost $258,777, including development costs. Of course, when they went into mass production, the price dropped to $68,000 per unit.
The M982 Excalibur is compatible with 155mm artillery systems such as the US M777. Other systems that can launch them are the M109A6 Paladin and M109A7 self-propelled guns, or even the German PzH 2000, the South Korean K9 Thunder, the Japanese Type 99, etc.
These powerful missiles were designed to destroy specific high-priority targets. For example some of them can be enemy tanks, artillery systems, artillery, command centers, radars, air defense systems and many other types of targets. An Excalibur missile corresponds to 10 to 50 unguided missiles.
The 40 km range is achieved when the projectile is fired from a 155 mm 39 caliber gun, such as the US M777 light field guns or the self-propelled M109A6 Paladin.
“Excalibur” uses different types of heads, depending on the version. The basic version weighs 48 kg and carries a high explosive (HE) warhead weighing 22 kg. Its detonator can be programmed to detonate in the air, on contact, or after penetrating the target.
Ukrainians are already using M982 Excalibur precision-guided shells. These 155 mm shells have a range of 40 km and use GPS guidance. No wonder why we are seeing that many Russian vehicles being destroyed during the last couple of days.
More information:https://t.co/Z5WZs7Nocr
pic.twitter.com/V0PetsZ7RU— Military-Today.com (@com_military)
September 3, 2022
