Scott R. Gourley
When the Army accepted delivery of the first low-rate initial production M109A7 Paladin howitzer from BAE Systems in April 2015, service representatives highlighted improved performance features and logistics commonality with the Bradley Fighting Vehicle.
One characteristic that was not highlighted was increased range.
A significant contributor to field artillery range involves the length of the cannon, with longer tubes allowing greater expansion of propellant gases, making for longer ranges.
Tube length is expressed as a “caliber” multiple of the bore diameter. The M109A7, for example, featured the same 39-caliber length 155mm tube as its predecessor, the M109A6.
The 39-caliber barrel length 155mm tube was first introduced on the M109A1.
While the Army explored an impressive 58-caliber length tube for its separate Extended Range Cannon Artillery program, other industry efforts focused on the potential of placing a 52-caliber length tube on the M109A7. That focus led to the development of a prototype platform designated by BAE Systems as the M109-52.
In June, the company announced a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement partnership with the Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Armaments Center to further advance the M109-52 prototype design.
“The M109-52 is a lethality upgrade to the M109A7,” Dan Furber, product line director for artillery programs at BAE Systems, said in an interview.
“Essentially, we’ve taken the proven M109A7 that’s in production today and integrated the 52-caliber Rheinmetall L52 cannon. It’s still a 155mm cannon, but at that 52-caliber size, it almost doubles the [maximum] range of the 39-caliber M109A7 with a non-precision munition and more than doubles the range of the M109A7 when it comes to precision fires,” he said.
The company has been working on the concept “for several years” and has invested “several million dollars” in the design work to date, he added.
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