Lightweight 155mm Howitzer

Abstract

LW155 (also known as the M777A2 howitzer) provides all weather, day/night direct, reinforcing, and general support fires to maneuver forces as well as direct support artillery. It is a joint program between the Marine Corps and Army, which is additionally supporting various foreign military purchases of the weapon system. The LW155 was first fielded by the Marine Corps in April 2005 and completed fielding in April 2013. The Army has fielded the system to its Stryker Brigades and Fires Brigades and completed fielding to its Infantry Brigades in September 2018. The LW155 is being significantly utilized in the Middle East in support of Operation Inherent Resolve. This budget item supports system updates to maintain and increase performance and lethality. M777A2 is the prominent weapon of the Marine indirect fires triad and currently the only cannon in the Service. Modernization efforts, to include extended range, will keep the M777 relevant to the concept of operations (distributed units operating with increased dispersion) envisioned in the Marine Operating Concept. Current RDTE efforts are focused on extending the range of the M777A2 to reduce the threat of being out ranged by potential adversaries and meeting the range key performance parameter objective distance (>40KM) as stated in the Joint US Army, USMC Operational Requirements Document (JORD) for Advanced Towed Cannon System. The USMC and US Army are leveraging technology being developed as part of the Extended Range Cannon Artillery (ERCA) program by the US Army. The ERCA program is a suite of technologies, cannon, ammunition and fire control, to increase the range of cannon artillery to exceed peer competitors range (>70KM).

Document Details

• Document Type: Project
• Publication Date: Oct 01, 2020
• Source ID: 2112_0206623M_7_1319_PB_2020

Tags

Readers

• Maritime Combat Support and Expeditionary Logistics.
• Marksmanship and Weaponry.
• Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) Autonomous Capabilities and Mission Reconnaissance.