Laser-guided ‘Excalibur’ artillery shell shopped to Army, Navy


Soldiers with Battery C, 1st Battalion, 321st Airborne Field Artillery Regiment, 18th Fires Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division, fire 155 mm rounds using an M777 Howitzer weapons system, on Forward Operating Base Bostick, Afghanistan, 2009. (U.S. Army) more >

By Douglas Ernst - The Washington Times - Friday, October 17, 2014

Raytheon has a new laser-guided, 155mm “Excalibur” artillery shell — with technology that allows the weapon to change course mid-flight — that it’s pitching to the Army and Navy.

“Raytheon missile systems is investing in a dual-mode Excalibur variant called Excalibur S. It maintains its GPS guidance system but also adds a laser spot tracker which is a seeker that will detect laser energy from a laser designator and guide to that energy spot on a target,” said Paul Daniels, business development lead for the project, Military.com reported Thursday.

One of the advantages of the Excalibur shell is that it can operate in GPS-denied environments, the defense website reported. In the event that an enemy was able to block its GPS guidance system the shell could still be guided by a laser designator in the air or on the ground.

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“With the laser-guided weapon you just have to get the weapon in the vicinity of the target where the seeker can see the target. Then it will guide to it,” Mr. Daniels told military.com.

Raytheon recently tested the new technology, which has a range of roughly 25 miles, at Yuma Proving Grounds in Arizona.

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