Indirect Fires Modernization Project - C3/M777 Replacement

[Kirkhill]

I know I'm being contrarian here, but why should a missile with an 80 lb payload cost USD 150,000. Explosives are cheap. Solid-propellant rocket motors flying at Mach 0.7 are well known and cheap. Ramjets are even faster. The electronics doing guidance do not have to withstand much shock and should be cheap. And the body is just some stamped sheet metal.

I Know, I know. We're in the world of the $2,000 hammer but while this is rocket science, it's not "rocket science."

Consider the price of a Javelin ATGM. It is somewhere in the 200,000 range for a 19 lb warhead delivered to a maximum range of 5 km.

JAGM is 300,000 for 8 km.

 

[Kirkhill]

the questions isn’t the cost it’s the use case. What does that 80 lb Mach .7 missile do for us, and what do we give up to have people man and operate that systems.

I think we are starting to overlap with this observation.

Army “Absolutely Needs” Drones Like Russia's Shahed-136: 25th Infantry Division Commander

The commanding general of the Hawaii-based 25th Infantry Division is the latest U.S. Army senior officer to push for long-range one-way attack drones. The commanding general of the Hawaii-based 25th Infantry Division is the latest U.S. Army senior officer to push for long-range one-way attack...

www.twz.com

The Shahed is 110 lb to 2500 km at 185 km/h.

I think I would be right in suggesting the Shahed target sets (military, not civilian) would previously have been helicopter targets. These new, cheaper missiles are pushing depth targets further back which both extends your logistics and the enemy's.

Concurrently, all that range means being able to apply effects across a broader front with impacts (sorry) on dispersal.

 

[Kirkhill]

The US Army is pushing for munitions that can extend the range of their cannons.
They are striving for 150 km.
But it seems that the only way they can get there is by propelling the rounds by rocket or ramjet.

If that is the case why worry about constraining the round's dimensions by the gun? Why worry about having to over-engineer the projectile to withstand the shocks of launch?
Why worry about wear and tear on rifled barrels from these projectiles?

Why not just focus on guns doing what guns have been demonstrated to do well, deliver volume to the close battle?

Rely on cheap rockets/ramjets/jets/props for ranges beyond the guns?

 

[Kirkhill]

Competitors..

AUSA 2025: Anduril’s Barracuda-500 Redefines Logistics for Modular Long-Range Strike

Anduril’s Barracuda-500 promises 500+ nm range and 100+ lb payload with air, palletized, and surface launch options, pitched as a mass-producible long-range str

armyrecognition.com

Ragnarok Mini-Cruise Missile With Big Range Targets $150K Price Tag

Kratos has unveiled its low-cost cruise missile that it says can fly a whopping 500 nautical miles while carrying an 80-pound payload.

www.twz.com