Excalibur upgrade complete
Raytheon and the US Army have completed the upgrade of Excalibur precision-guided projectile, the company announced on 9 October.
The Excalibur Shaped Trajectory (EST) variant will enable soldiers to eliminate targets in hard-to-reach locations by selecting the projectile's terminal or final phase attack angle. The new capability gives the ability to attack a bunker positioned on the opposite side of a mountain slope, target a multi-storey building from the side rather than the top or defeat enemy assets positioned under highway overpasses.
The EST variant was demonstrated in August 2018 at the US Army Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona, and is now being deployed to US forces.
Excalibur is an extended-range, precision munition that is fully qualified in multiple systems, including the M777, M109 series, M198, the Archer and PzH2000. It has also been tested in the AS90, K9 and G6 howitzers, with plans to integrate it with other mobile artillery systems.
Related Equipment in Defence Insight
More from Land Warfare
-
![Germany and UK to work on Deep Precision Strike weapon]()
Germany and UK to work on Deep Precision Strike weapon
The weapon will have a range of more than 2,000km, according to the UK Ministry of Defence.
-
![Netherlands bolsters armed forces with Leopard tanks and Puma UAS fleet upgrades]()
Netherlands bolsters armed forces with Leopard tanks and Puma UAS fleet upgrades
The procurement announcements emphasise the Dutch Ministry of Defence’s response to NATO’s call for heavier combat capabilities for land operations.
-
![BAE Systems expands Amphibious Combat Vehicle family with modular capabilities for future missions]()
BAE Systems expands Amphibious Combat Vehicle family with modular capabilities for future missions
BAE Systems recently announced two contracts for a total of 60 ACVs for the US Marines and has displayed its ACV Logistics concept.
-
![Lockheed Martin builds first Saudi Arabian THAAD components]()
Lockheed Martin builds first Saudi Arabian THAAD components
The THAAD launcher was first procured by Saudi Arabia in 2017, with local production a key condition of the sale.
