Updated: 2022
DESCRIPTION
The Excalibur (XM982, M982, and M982A1) is a 155 mm, Global Positioning System (GPS)-guided, extended range artillery projectile in use as the Army’s next-generation cannon artillery precision munition. It provides improved fire support to the maneuver force commander, increases lethality, and reduces collateral damage. The target, platform location, and GPS specific data are entered into the projectile’s mission computer through an Enhanced Portable Inductive Artillery Fuze Setter. The Excalibur projectile uses a jam-resistant internal GPS receiver to update the inertial navigation system, providing precision in-flight guidance and dramatically improving accuracy to less than two meters miss distance regardless of range. The Excalibur projectile has three fuze options (pointdetonation, point-detonation delay, and height-of-burst) and is employable in all weather conditions and terrains. The Excalibur’s capabilities allow for first-round effects-on-target while simultaneously minimizing collateral damage and the number of rounds required to engage targets.
The Excalibur program is using an incremental approach to provide a combat capability to the Soldier as quickly as possible and to deliver advanced capability while reducing unit cost and increasing reliability. The Excalibur program benefits from contributed resources toward development in accordance with established international cooperative development and production agreements.
The most recent upgrade enables the projectile to attack a target from any approach angle, to include defeating targets in a reverse slope. Future upgrades include compatibility with the Extended Range Cannon Artillery weapon system to defeat targets out to 70 kilometers (km) and leverage of the design for the Cannon Delivered Area Effects Munition program to defeat moved and moving armored Vehicles at extended ranges.
BENEFIT TO THE SOLDIER
The Excalibur projectile enables the Soldier to service a precisely located target with first-round effects, denying the enemy the ability to take protective measures or flee the area. Excalibur’s achieved, and relatively limited, damage radius allows for target engagement within close proximity.
SPECIFICATIONS
- Maximum range from U.S. 39 caliber howitzers with Zone 5 Modular Artillery Charge System (MACS): 39.3 km
- Minimum range from U.S. 39 caliber howitzers with Zone 3 MACS: 8.7 km
- Precision achieved: Less than 2 meters miss distance
- Fuze modes: Point-detonation, point-detonation-delay, and height-of-burst
PROGRAM STATUS
- FY18 – FY20:
- M982A1 Increment 1B reached Full Rate Production (FRP); 5,312 projectiles awarded on contract
- Hardware and software updates initiated to improve GPS-jamming resistance
- Software update initiated to allow user-defined projectile trajectories for target engagement
- FY19: M982A1 (Increment 18) FRP continues; FY19 President’s Budget procured 4,633 projectiles
PROJECTED ACTIVITIES
- FY21-FY24:
- Maintaining a sufficient inventory is an integral part of ensuring a highly lethal Army force
- Excalibur projectiles provide Artillery units with the capability needed to continuously dominate the battlefield at extended ranges
- An enhanced projectile is a candidate for demonstrating Excalibur’s potential capability to meet Army requirements, addressing poorly located and moving hard targets in GPS-degraded and -denied environments