I worked on the NLOS cannon. It was originally the Crusader. It weighed in at a porky 96 tons and, because of its weight, was virtually useless to the Army. Rumsfeld got it cancelled because it was only worthwhile if it was prepositioned in Europe and used against the invading Russian hordes. It could not easily be moved and it was useless in places we were likely to fight like Afghanistan. Rumsfeld wanted vehicles that could be air transported.
A political cabal of Congressmen resurrected it by telling the Army they couldn’t have their Future Combat System funding without it. The Army reluctantly agreed but the weight had to come down. It went from 96 tons to (as I recall) 26 tons. GD had told the Army no way would they reduce the weight because the auto-firing mode would cause a lighter vehicle to shatter under repeated firing. I believe it was another contractor who brought in aircraft engineers who “knew how to make stuff light” and they got the weight down by changing all those cast steel boxes to aircraft grade aluminum. I did see video of it on auto-fire, but that’s nothing when you consider it could likely be in the inventory for fifty years. Engineers who knew cannons said the repeated shocks would destroy the inside and take the crew with it.
In Afghanistan the Army got limited use from the Strikers, which weigh about 26 tons. They wanted and finally got tanks built on 6 ton truck chassis. So, although it looks impressive, I hope Israel hasn’t wasted any money on a similar obsolete concept.
An Army officer who had served in Afghanistan told me (approximately) I light up a target and call it in, it gets hit in minutes. I don’t know if it will be Air Force, Army air, Marine fighter or drone. I don’t care. It’s so much better than trying to direct artillery onto it. Artillery takes up too much of our logistics when there are better ways to get the job done.
Thanks. I suppose as long as steel quickly gets on the target, I guess it really does not matter who delivers it, be it USAF, Army, USMC or Navy.