The U.S. Army’s search for its next howitzer remains in motion, six months after service leaders scrapped efforts to upgun its current M109 Paladin self-propelled howitzer.
Even as the Army was terminating the ERCA program in March, the service was reinvigorating its search for a longer-ranged Paladin replacement to serve until 2040 and beyond. Its fiscal 2025 budget request included $8 million for initial next-generation howitzer studies.
Meanwhile, service leaders are surveying the existing field. An industry day was held in April, attended by representatives from American Rheinmetall, AM General, BAE Systems, Elbit, Hanwha, and Krauss-Maffei Wegmann. This group builds a mix of wheeled and tracked options: Rheinmetall and KMW jointly produce the tracked PzH-2000; KMW also has the wheeled RCH 155; AM General makes the Brutus system that can be equipped on a truck; incumbent BAE Systems has tested the Paladin with a Rheinmetall L52 cannon, and the company also manufactures the wheeled Archer howitzer; Elbit makes the wheeled M454; and Hanwha produces the tracked K9 Thunder.
In August, the Army released an request for information; a competitive evaluation is scheduled for fiscal 2025. This evaluation may result in a production contract award if any of the systems meet the Army’s requirements. The service anticipates beginning domestic production of a system within two years of a contract award, and it could start fielding new howitzers as soon as 2030.
The service will also continue investing in developing new munitions intended for the original ERCA that could help increase the range of the next-generation howitzer, as well as existing systems.
No more towed artillery?
All this follows the Army’s 2021 examination of options for wheeled 155mm howitzers to replace some of its towed M777 howitzers. A shoot-off took place that September involving systems from BAE Systems Archer, Elbit ATMOS/Iron Sabre, Nexter CAESAR, AM General Brutus, and Yugo/Global Ordnance NORA. At the AUSA conference, General Dynamics presented a Stryker equipped with a 155mm cannon as a potential option, and South Korea’s Hanwha and Japan’s Mitsubishi were seen as potential contenders as well. But the Army eventually abandoned that tack, saying it wanted to field a mobile howitzer that can more easily keep up with highly mobile Stryker formations and that provides more survivability than existing towed systems in near-peer conflicts.
In early 2024, Army officials said the study called for more autonomous artillery systems with greater range and mobility, while shying away from towed artillery. Speaking at the AUSA Global Force conference, U.S. Army Futures Command head Gen. James Rainey said, “The future is not bright for towed artillery.” Future systems must be mobile to reposition quickly on the battlefield and away from potential enemy fire. Rainey also expressed interest in capabilities like an autonomous robotic cannon. The statements paint a bleak future for towed artillery, but opens the door to potential procurement of new self-propelled howitzers.
Despite the position on towed artillery, BAE Systems was tasked with building new M777 lightweight towed howitzer structures for the Army to replace systems donated to Ukraine, according to a January 2024 announcement from the company. The deal was valued at up to $50 million.
A recently completed tactical fires study will help inform the direction of Army howitzer development.
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