BAE scores US Army order for new howitzers

BAE System has won a $142m contract to continue to produce the US Army’s next generation of mobile artillery.

The defence giant will manufacture 18 more M109A7 self-propelled howitzers and the vehicles that transport the ammunition they fire.

In October last year the FTSE 100 group was awarded a one-year contract for the howitzers – formerly known as the Paladin Integrated Management programme – and the purchase announced on Monday is the first of three options to each produce 18 more “vehicle sets”.

If all options are exercised, the US military will buy 66.5 vehicle sets and spares. The 0.5 figure is reached because each set consists of two vehicles.

BAE said the new howitzers are a “significant” upgrade on the earlier version, with the new vehicles being more spacious, lighter and incorporating a “digital backbone”, so they can form a network with computers on other military vehicles and at headquarters. The backbone also means that the system can easily be upgraded with new technology as it arrives into service.

The design also uses parts common to the US Army’s Bradley armoured personnel carrier, making it cheaper to maintain.

The new howitzers can fire shells about 20 miles and are expected to cut the chance of their crews being targeted by enemy fire because of their “shoot and scoot” capabilities, meaning they can fire and then relocate quickly.

The howitzers can receive orders to fire, calculate the trajectory, take up a firing position, unlock their gun and fire within 60 seconds.

“The M109A7 is a significant leap forward in technology for the field artillery, addressing the current system shortfalls while providing significant margin for growth to help position the service for the long term,” said said Adam Zarfoss, BAE’s director for artillery and recovery systems.

The new vehicles are being built at Anniston Army Depot, Alabama, and BAE’s facility in York, Pennsylvania. The first vehicles are expected to be delivered to the US Army in early 2015.