During its intervention in Syria, Russian forces demonstrated their artillery capability, a long-standing Russian specialty. Without this being a real surprise, the performances in terms of performance, precision and range of their self-propelled systems gave food for thought in the General Staffs. Indeed, where the American Paladin ranges to 24 km, the Russian 2S35 Koalotsiya ranges to more than 70 km, with Glonass or laser guided projectiles guided by a drone, an aircraft or a ground operator.
This is what led the US Army to modify its new M109-A7 Paladin to be able to firing the new Excalibur M982 ammunitionproduced by Raytheon in partnership with the Swedish BAe System AB (formerly Bofors). If the M109-A7 can fire at 30 km, or 25% further than the A6, with standard ammunition, it can hit a target at 70 km with the new GPS-guided munition. However, the use of this ammunition will be rare, not to say anecdotal, since only 1100 Excaliburs were ordered for 2019, compared to 150.000 conventional 155 mm shells, the reason being the unit price above $50.000.
It should be noted that the French NEXTER is not left out in this area, with the 155 mm Katana guided shell which, extending to 60 km, has mixed GPS inertial guidance allowing high precision to be maintained in a combat environment. intense interference. In addition, the CAESAR showed, both in training maneuvers on the ground in Iraq, that the combination of great mobility, excellent precision and a high rate of fire, made it possible to carry out strikes in depth dynamics in the form of an artillery raid, preserving the battery from enemy replicas.
This approach, based on mobility and maneuver, is certainly as decisive as the extension of the range