The U.S. Army Has Now Doubled The Range Of Its 155mm Howitzers To 40 Miles. The Goal Is 80 Miles

An M777ER towed howitzer with the XM907 cannon sits in front of an M777 with the original, shorter barrel. US Army

Warzone/The Drive: Army's New Huge Barrel Packing 155mm Howitzer Doubles Range To 40 Miles In Tests

Now the service already wants to double that range and get the guns hitting targets out to 80 miles.

Driven by concerns about its artillery units getting outranged in large-scale conflicts against “great power” opponents, such as Russia and China, the U.S. Army has been steadily pushing to extend the range of its self-propelled and towed 155mm howitzers. The service has already doubled the range of those weapons to 40 miles using advanced rocket-assisted ammunition, but is now looking to find ways for them to hit targets up to 80 miles away.

U.S. Army Colonel John Rafferty, the director of the Long Range Precision Fires (LRPF) Cross-Functional Team (CFT), part of the Army’s new Futures Command, explained the new range goal to reporters on Oct. 10, 2018, at the Association of the U.S. Army’s (AUSA) annual exhibition in Washington, D.C. When the service first created the LRPF CFT to coordinate all advanced artillery developments in 2017, the plan was to increase the range of 155mm howitzers to more than 60 miles.

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WNU Editor: The U.S. Army has a lot of catching up to do .... The U.S. Cannot Match Russia's Artillery Capabilities (September 28, 2018).