The ERCA program, for Extended Range Cannon Artillery, is today considered one of the highest priorities for the US Army, as its self-propelled artillery capabilities are in decline compared to those of countries such as Russia, or even Europeans. Not only does the program want to be ambitious, with the ambition in particular to have a artillery system with a range greater than 1800 km, but it is urgent. It is in this context that the demonstration made on March 6 at the test site in Yuma, Arizona, takes its full effect.
Indeed, this occasion, the ERCA system, a 58 caliber cannon on a turret M109 Paladin, reached a range of 40 miles, 65 km, using an XM1113 shell at additional range, as well as with a guided Excalibur shell from the company Raytheon. If both shells reached the desired range, only the Excalibur used its guidance systems to hit the target with precision. On the other hand, the ERCA's automatic reloading system has not been demonstrated. BAe will have to provide 18 operational ERCAs to the US Army, which plans to have its first battalion from 2023. The ERCA program fits, like the majority of the US Army's programs today, in the super program BIG 6, within the Long-Range Precision Fire pillar, which covers all systems ranging from conventional artillery to hypersonic missiles.
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[…] problems have not escaped the attention of the American gunners who have been testing for several months the new Extended Range Cannon Artillery system, one of the 32 pillars of modernization of the US Army under development. […]