The United States Army has set its sights on awarding a new contract for the service’s next-generation self-propelled howitzer (SPH) by July. That deadline would be just 10 months after the service issued its Request For Information (RFI), which was posted last September. However, Breaking Defense reported that the program was delayed by several months.
“The U.S. Army has been re-evaluating its objectives for modernization and adjusting those objectives to best support the new Army Transformation Initiative (ATI) strategy. Comprehensive analysis has confirmed the importance of 155mm self-propelled artillery system-of-systems to the Army,” read the RFI posted last fall. “Consequently, the US Army is considering opportunities to rapidly conduct soldier experimentation.”
A draft of prototype proposals will be issued later this month, with a final version to follow in March.
Companies that could bid for the award have not yet been announced, but Breaking Defense suggested it would likely include South Korea’s Hanwha, Germany’s Rheinmetall, the U.S.-based Elbit America, and a potential partnership between U.S.-based Leonardo DRS and Europe’s KNDS.
“U.S. prime contractor General Dynamics is also a likely contender, as is British BAE Systems through its American subsidiary that currently produces the Army’s M109A7 Paladin Integrated Management (PIM) program,” Breaking Defense explained.
The U.S. Army and the Big Guns
In May, Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll and Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. Randy A. George published their “Letter to the Force,” which outlined the ATI strategy. It noted that “Battlefields across the world are changing at a rapid pace,” and called for the introduction of several new systems.
Among those is a new SPH that will replace the aging M109, introduced more than six decades ago. The turreted 155mm SPH supplanted the M44 and M52 and, since entering service in 1963, has been steadily updated and enhanced. The weapon was employed in combat in Vietnam and has seen action in more than a dozen wars around the globe.
Although the current M109A7 Paladin entered service in 2015, efforts to replace the SPH have been ongoing since 1994. The Army moved forward with its Crusader 155mm platform, but it was canceled in May 2002 by then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.
The U.S. military saw less need for the SPH and instead pursued a Non-Line-of-Sight Cannon (NLOS-C) as part of the Future Combat System (FCS). However,, that program was also cancelled in 2009 due to concerns about its costs and technological readiness.
The M109 Paladin was employed throughout the Iraq War from 2003 to 2011, notably in the early stages of the conflict, providing fire support. However, the use of SPH shifted over time, notably in the high-mountain and unconventional fighting in Afghanistan, where the U.S. and coalition forces often favored towed, air-mobility artillery, including the M777, over the tracked M109.
The ongoing conflict in Ukraine has highlighted how SPH has advantages over towed artillery, with its greater ability to “shoot and scoot” to avoid counter-battery fire and threats from loitering munitions and drones.
More M109A7 Paladins Ordered
Even as the United States Army continues to pursue a replacement for the Paladin, this month it announced that BAE Systems was awarded a $473 million contract to deliver an additional 40 M109A7 SPHs, along with M992A3 ammunition resupply vehicles.
“The M109A7 Paladin Self-Propelled Howitzer provides the firepower and operational advantage Soldiers need on the modern battlefield,” said Dan Furber, Combat Mission Systems’ Artillery and Combat Support program director for BAE Systems, Inc. “This platform gives warfighters the decisive edge in any conflict, and we are looking forward to continuing to provide this proven capability to the U.S. Army.”
In addition to the M019A7 and M992A3 vehicles, the contract will provide support services, including technical support packages, post-production refurbishment, and welding compliance. It was awarded by the Army Contracting Command (ACC) Detroit last September and is the first award of a five-year contract. The work will be carried out at BAE Systems’ York, Pennsylvania; Elgin, Oklahoma; and Anniston, Alabama.
Since being introduced in 2015, more than 300 M108A7s have been produced. Each is armed with a M284 155mm cannon, with a range of 14 miles (22 km) with standard ordnance and nearly 19 miles (30 km) with rocket-assisted rounds (RAP). The SPH is operated by a crew of four.
