Originally Posted by Redleg

But I don't think we'll see the end of our "art" yet since the price of smart arty rounds are still a tiny bit high for most countries.

Be a bit too expensive for the US as well for a whole lot of Targets on the Battlefield.

Plus, as was seen with China taking down one of its own Satellites in a test not long ago that GPS is nice..... as long as it is up and working.
As with all things in the game of Warfare, as soon as we have something nice like that on the High Tech end our Adversaries start to think of, and put dollars into ways to beat it.

Originally Posted by Redleg

For "surgical" warfare in populated/urban areas the Excalibur would be highly useful to reduce the risk of collateral damage since a hit within 50-75 meters of the target with normal "dumb" rounds is considered a bullseye...

But I don't think we'll see the end of our "art" yet since the price of smart arty rounds are still a tiny bit high for most countries.

This about it Redleg... MLRS is a powerful platform, but what does the Arty guy do? Nothing. Roll up onto survey stakes, go to the position, close the hatch, and push the arm, fire button. It is very decentralized and easy to use.

Excalibur is a nice platform, and may be used in urban areas, but I can tell you this, the arty soldier in our military are mostly NOT doing arty stuff. They are driving trucks, guarding detainees or running security missions. Most of the guns are back in the motorpools.

The 'art' of artillery isn't going away any time soon. These special guided shells are still too expensive for general purpose use, probably reserved only for special use in confined target areas.

Even though technology takes away a lot of hand work, the human process always has to be there to double check the machine. For example, the Navy mostly uses GPS, radar, and other technological advances to navigate, but still everything is checked multiple times the old fashioned way with a paper maneuvering board and charts.

I thought all you arty guys were out arresting bad guys? Just a friendly stab at humor.

we are.. that's the problem. arty is great for the ground war, but in an insurgency, the biggest guns you need are 105mm, and those only in Afganistan. Iraq is a strange animal. For fires, you are better off with attack aviation.

If the US Military needs Smart Artillery Shells, I'd rather see the US Military dust off the old 8 inch SP Guns and use those for the bulk of the Smart Rounds coming in 6 or 10 Meters from the Target.

Here's some more info on the Excalibur from the Raytheon site for those who doesn't know the system:

Excalibur -- precision, autonomously guided, long-range artillery system.
Excalibur is the next generation family of projectiles for the U.S. Army and Marine Corps artillery. Excalibur is a 155mm precision-guided artillery round with extended range. Using GPS precision guidance technology it can provide accurate, first round fire-for-effect capability in an urban setting. Additionally, Excalibur has very accurate terminal guidance resulting is low collateral damage and the capability to be employed in very close proximity to friendly troops. Another feature allowing Excalibur to be employed in close terrain is the steep terminal trajectory. The trajectory will ensure the desired impact in cluttered, highly obstructed battlefield. Raytheon, in cooperation with Bofors Defence, is dedicated to arming the warfighter with the best precision weapons and capabilities available and is committed to delivering Excalibur ahead of schedule.

http://www.raytheon.com/products/excalibur/

And some more tech data:
http://www.raytheon.com/products/ste...s01_054624.pdf

I have seen video's of this round being tested on The Discovery Channel. It is amazing on the accuracy.

As for dusting off the old 8 inch... unfortunately it will never happen.

I like 8 inchers... I have fond memories of the night I saw the stars shake.
Very coool.

Excalibur used in combination with ARTHUR?
Basra would have been secured during week one..

Anyone?