The Excalibur 155mm Precision Guided Extended Range Artillery Projectile, also known as the M982 ER DPICM (Extended Range Dual Purpose Improved Conventional Munitions) Projectile, is a fire and forget, smart munition. It is intended to provide the Army with a capability to attack all three key target sets, soft and armored vehicles, and reinforced bunkers, out to ranges exceeding current 155mm family of artillery munitions. With its accuracy and increased effectiveness, the Excalibur was designed to reduce the logistical burden for deployed ground forces. It would also provide lower risks of collateral damage through its concentrated fragmentation pattern, increased precision and near-vertical descent.Excalibur is a family of precision-guided, extended-range modular projectiles incorporating three unique payload capabilities divided into Block configurations. As designed, Block I consists of high-explosive, fragmenting, or ting unitary munitions to enhance traditional fire support operations with increased range, improved accuracy, and reduced collateral damage against personnel, light materiel, and structure targets. Block II consists of smart munitions to search, detect, acquire, and engage fleeting and short-dwell targets common to open-terrain battlefields. Block III consists of discriminating munitions to selectively identify and engage individual vehicular targets in urban environments by distinguishing specific target characteristics. It was also expected that Excalibur's precision capabilities would be used by Future Combat System (FCS) Non-Line-of-Sight (NLOS) Cannon units to provide close support to maneuver units in urban or complex terrain. Digitized lightweight 155mm howitzer systems would be used to develop and test Excalibur's capabilities before FCS NLOS Cannon is fielded.The Excalibur development team combined US guidance expertise with Swedish airframe experience. The projectile would employ Global Positioning System (GPS)-aided inertial guidance and navigation, free spinning base fins, four-axis canard airframe control, base bleed technology, and a trajectory glide to achieve increased accuracy and extended ranges beyond 30 km. The FCS NLOS Cannon would incorporate an inductive fuze setter to transfer target and fuze data to the integral fuze.Teamed with Raytheon Systems Company, General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems was tasked with developing the Army's new 155mm guided projectile. The XM982 utilized a modular concept to provide a multiple warhead payload capability. In addition to submunitions, the projectile can carry two SADARM sensor fused submunitions or a single Unitary warhead. The XM982 as designed was expected to provide 40% greater range and increased effectiveness over the existing M864.The XM982 projectile began development at the US Armament Research, Engineering and Development Center's (ARDEC) Artillery and Mortar Division of the Fire Support Armaments Center. The government's projectile design combined the technologies of base burn and rocket assist to achieve significant increases in range capability and would, potentially, be the longest range artillery projectile in the US Army inventory. It was designed to contain 85 dual purpose XM80 grenades with XM234 Self Destruction Fuzing providing both anti-materiel and anti-personnel effects while virtually eliminating hazardous duds.Fonte
