Reserve Soldiers Train On New, Big Gun At Camp Ripley (MN)

WCCO.com ^ | 6/22/11 | WCCO Staff

[ButThreeLeftsDo]

Badda bing...Badda BOOM!

Video at link.

[ButThreeLeftsDo]

FRWN Ping.

[DemforBush]

Supposedly, a lot of the weapon is made from titanium, in order to reduce the overall weight.

[TwoSwords]

Do they train to use it without the GPS? It would be a good idea, considering taking out our satellites would be the first order of any serious enemy.

[az_gila]

If they used these the accuracy would be spot on whatever the meteorological conditions...:^)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M982_Excalibur

It does need GPS though.

[occamrzr06]

“The accuracy is unbelievable, before we relied on our iron sights for the most part to keep us accurate. Now it’s all digital, it’s all GPS, it’s an amazing system,” Hall said. Another interesting thing about these canons — they’re about half the weight of older canons. That means soldiers can fit two in a cargo plane or move one at a time with a helicopter. “Right now I’m sitting at a 10-man crew, I have a two-man ammo section that also gets included in the fire mission, so every guy here has a mission and a place, so we’re able to shoot pretty quick and accurate,” said Minnesota National Guard Sgt. Eric Brunsvold. The soldiers not only learned how to use the weapon but how the weather can affect how the gun works. “Every hour we get what is called a meteorological update. What that does is tells us the barometric pressure, the temperature,” said Hall. “Our rounds are in the air sometimes over a minute and while they are up in the air, the earth is spinning, so we need to account for that as well.”

Geez, where to start with all of this.

There are five conditions to accurate Artillery Fires. 1. Gun location (yada yada, it has gps..so does the Batery XO) 2. Accurate target location (that's the FO's job, no increase in technology here). 3. Common Survey (Again no gain with this system). 4. Accurate MET (Meteorological date, i.e. wind speed and direction. Artillery types already get this data hourly, or whenever the MET section sends it). 5. Accurate Muzzle velocity (no improvement cited).

They already fir 2 in a cargo plane and the can be sling loaded under a blackhawk.

$2million? We are getting ripped off. All of our systems can already do all of this!.

[BerryDingle]

Another interesting thing about these canons — they’re about half the weight of older canons. That means soldiers can fit two in a cargo plane or move one at a time with a helicopter.

A tow vehicle can also carry almost twice the ammo, which could possibly eliminate separate ammo vehicles.

[occamrzr06]

Oh, and I forgot. A 10 man crew, with a 2 man ammo section?

Currently it is a 10 man crew (ammo section included with the 10 men).

Waste of money.

[occamrzr06]

I disagree.

You cannot load troops in a vehicle that also transport ammo.

The ammo carrier is a separate vehicle.

[TwoSwords]

Too much of our defense relies on technology that can be subverted. The best analogy I can think of is when fighter planes in the Vietnam war were not out-fitted with machine guns to dogfight, only missiles.

[Artem55]

I can remember as a youth fishing on Gull Lake near Brainerd, Minnesota and hearing the artillery from Ripley booming in the distance. I’d love to hear the M-777.

[Don W]

Dear ignorant reporter/journalist:

can·on1    /ˈkænən/ [kan-uhn] –noun

1. an ecclesiastical rule or law enacted by a council or other competent authority and, in the Roman Catholic Church, approved by the pope.

2. the body of ecclesiastical law.

3. the body of rules, principles, or standards accepted as axiomatic and universally binding in a field of study or art: the neoclassical canon.

cannon: can·non   /ˈkænən/ [kan-uhn]

noun, plural -nons, ( especially collectively ) -non, verb –noun

1. a mounted gun for firing heavy projectiles; a gun, howitzer, or mortar.

2. British Machinery . quill ( def. 10 ) .

3. Armor . a cylindrical or semicylindrical piece of plate armor for the upper arm or forearm; a vambrace or rerebrace.

Also called cannon bit, canon bit. a round bit for a horse.

5. the part of a bit that is in the horse's mouth.

6. (on a bell) the metal loop by which a bell is hung.

7. Zoology .

a. cannon bone.

b. the part of the leg in which the cannon bone is situated.

8. British . a carom in billiards.

9. Underworld Slang . a pickpocket.

–verb (used without object)

10. to discharge cannon.

11. British . to make a carom in billiards.

You may now return to your regular programming... The marines gave our arty boys in Afghanistan a few of these 777's, and boy are they ever the cats meow! Our boys LOVE this gun!

[Prokopton]

And not as loud as the 120 mm on the Abrams : ).

[occamrzr06]

You’ve never stood next to a 155mm going off.

[DIRTYSECRET]

Minnesota National Guard? Great! Now they can go to war with Wisconsin.

[occamrzr06]

Well, I’m not advocating that, but my wife is from Wisconsin....so, I could see where that would be necessary.

[TMSuchman]

It may be a good arty, howitzer, but I never really liked a “pig” [a towed unit then hand jacked into place for firing.] I served on an M109a3 self propelled 155mm howitzer. When we were training at 29 Stumps [read as 29 Palms,Ca] we could keep up with the tanks [the old M60’s] & give fire support with in 90 seconds or less upon pulling into a firing postion & drop a round into a trash can at 20 miles [depending how good your Fire Direction Control (FDC) was] We usually had a crew of about 6 guys to do the job, Section chief,Safety NCO,Gunner,A-Gunner,Loader,Powder Monkey,Ammo Man.

[Prokopton]

You’ve never stood next to a 155mm going off.

Actually, I have. I also live fairly close to Ripley and nothing rattles the windows like the Abrams.

[occamrzr06]

toche.

Love the cordite smell.

We call it woof pussy.

[MadMax, the Grinning Reaper]

To Occamrzo6: Saw and heard an ARVN 105 fire H&I in the Mekong Delta but it was the freight train 155MM outgoing shell that went over the house I was staying in, in Pleiku, that caught my attention. I thought, there are no trains in Pleiku.

Doppler would have been astonished!

PS: There’s a 260MM piece at Aberdeen Proving Grounds museum (at least until they start moving them out). Also a German railroad siege gun.

Image both of them going off with you standing nearby.

PSS: My son’s attention was gotten by a Palladin battery going off behind him in Iraq while he was stalled in a convoy. I think his first words were “WTF”?