9 février 2015 par Nicolas Laffont - 45eNord.ca

D’une manière ou d’une autre, l’armée a perdu trois obus à guidage de précision très sophistiqués, lorsqu’elle a quitté l’Afghanistan en 2011, à la fin de sa mission de combat, Opération ATHENA.

Embarrassant, le dossier a déclenché une enquête de la police militaire et du commandement outre-mer qui aura durée près de deux ans, mais la bévue sera restée sans explication.

Des documents obtenus par La Presse Canadienne révèlent que des responsables de la défense ont mené des recherches poussées, sans trouver l’explication de la disparition des obus, des pièces lourdes de 48 kilos.

Les projectiles, nommés Excalibur, coûtent 177.224 $ US la pièce et sont plus précis que les obus ordinaires, pouvant être lancés jusqu’à 40 kilomètres de distance et atteindre leur cible à 20 mètres près.

Dans une note d’information du 18 juillet 2014 pour le commandant des opérations interarmées du Canada – le lieutenant-général Stuart Beare à l’époque – la taille et le poids des obus, ainsi que les mesures de sécurité élevées entourant les munitions de l’armée rendent toutefois le vol «hautement improbable».

Selon les documents, des responsables de la défense ont exigé l’été dernier que les 513.000 $ perdus soient éliminés des livres du gouvernement. Cette requête a été approuvée.

La mystérieuse disparition de ces munitions pourrait avoir également des conséquences sur nos relations avec les États-Unis.

Alors que la situation aurait dû être rapportée au bureau d’accès et de transfert de la technologie contrôlée dans les 48 heures suivant la découverte de la disparition, l’armée n’en a pas soufflé mot durant 15 mois.

L’Excalibur est en effet une technologie des États-Unis, régi par l’International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR), et la perte de ces obus aurait dû être signalé au Bureau de l’accès et du transfert de la technologie contrôlée.

Les réglementations strictes du bureau de contrôle requièrent que lui soit notifié dans les 48 heures n’importe quel morceau de technologie qui disparaît. Or, les Forces armées canadiennes ont retardé le rapport de… 15 mois, en disant que, étant donné «les protocoles en place pour tirer un Excalibur, il était quasi-sûr qu’il s’agit seulement d’une erreur de paperasserie».

La possibilité que les munitions auraient été «prêtées, mais pas correctement pris en compte» aux forces américaines opérant dans la même région en 2009 a été considéré.

Plongeant dans cinq années de journaux sur les tirs et déplacements de munitions de l’artillerie, les enquêteurs n’ont jamais été en mesure de trouver trace des trois obus manquants.

Récemment, le Receveur général du Canada indiquait que ce sont tout près de 4.000 armes et accessoires qui auront été volées aux Forces armées canadiennes entre le 1er avril 2013 et le 31 mars 2014. Au cours de l’année fiscale 2013-2014, le ministère de la Défense nationale a indiqué avoir pour un peu plus de 20 millions $ de vols, dommages et pertes de divers équipements.

11 December 2013 army-technology.com

Raytheon has completed the final phase of compatibility testing of precision-guided Excalibur projectiles with the German-made PzH2000 self-propelled howitzer in collaboration with the US Army, marking completion of a multi-phase assessment.

During the trials carried out at Yuma Proving Ground, the PzH2000 fired ten Excalibur projectiles at targets ranging from 9km to 48km, with all rounds striking within 3m of the targets.

The live-fire demonstration, funded by the US, Germany and supported by Raytheon-funded initial testing, also demonstrated the projectile's capability to manoeuvre from the ballistic trajectory to an offset target.

Raytheon Missile Systems Land Warfare Systems product line vice-president Michelle Lohmeier said: "The PzH2000 is one of many highly capable cannon artillery systems currently deployed, and now we've proven that it can fire the only mature, true precision solution available today."

In October, Raytheon also tested the Excalibur from the Swedish Archer and US howitzers.

The German Ministry of Defence is currently assessing Excalibur and competitive technologies, with a contract decision anticipated next year.

US Army Excalibur programme manager Lt Col Josh Walsh said: "Raytheon's Excalibur is a combat-proven solution that has been fielded and used in combat since 2007 with nearly 700 firings in coalition operations."

In a bid to validate the production readiness of Excalibur Ib, Raytheon would carry out a first article test by the end of the year, with further plans of a live-fire demonstration of the 'Excalibur-S' early next year.

The 155mm precision-guided, extended-range Excalibur deploys GPS guidance, which would allow précised, first-round effects capability in any situation, while reducing time, cost and logistical load associated with using other artillery munitions.

July 11, 2013: Strategy Page

The U.S. Army has found that GPS guided shells were more successful, but less frequently used, than anticipated. So they reduced orders for these weapons, which entered service in 2007. The GPS guided 155mm Excalibur shells were used less frequently largely because other precision munitions often take out targets before Excalibur gets a chance to. There’s a growing number of other GPS (or laser) guided weapons available.  The GPS guided MLRS (GMLRS) rocket has been especially popular. And the army uses a lot of laser guided Hellfire missiles, fired from AH-64 helicopter gunships. In addition to the reduction in Excalibur production, the army cut orders for GPS guided 120mm mortar shells (introduced in 2011) after a year of use.

Excalibur had other problems, mainly in the form of PGK (Projectile Guidance Kit) shells. PGK is actually a large fuze, that screws into the front of a 155mm or 105mm shell. This longer fuze contains a GPS and small fins to guide the shell to a precision hit. It is less precise than Excalibur. That is, the PGK will ensure that the shell lands within 50 meters of the target. If it does not hit within 150 meters, PGK deactivates and the shell does not explode. An unguided shell will normally land within 250-300 meters of where it is aimed. An Excalibur shell lands within four meters of the target, but costs more than twice as much as PGK. The army recently sent the first PGKs to Afghanistan, after successful testing in the United States. The big question is how important will the troops find the accuracy differences of Excalibur and PGK.

Another factor that hurt the popularity of Excalibur, and the 120mm guided mortar shell, is cost. Excalibur was supposed to cost about $50,000 each. Eventually. After all the debugging, and after more of the shells were produced. But the cost is still about $100,000 per shell. The 120mm GPS (using the same tech as PGK) guided shell is also pricey, but not as much as Excalibur. GMLRS cost about $100,000 each, and have a much longer range, and a bigger bang.

Another edge GMLRS has is the HIMARS rocket launcher. Only costing about $3 million each, these smaller, truck mounted MLRS (HIMARS) rocket launcher systems have become very popular. HIMARS carries only one, six MLRS rocket, container (instead of two in the original MLRS vehicle). But the 12 ton truck can fit into a C-130 transport (unlike the 22 ton tracked MLRS) and is much cheaper to operate. The first HIMARS entered service in 2005, about a year after GPS guided rockets did.

The 309 kg (680 pound) GMLRS (guided multiple launch rocket system) missile is a GPS guided 227mm rocket. It was designed to have a range of 70 kilometers and the ability to land within meters of its intended target, at any range. This is possible because it uses GPS (plus a back-up inertial guidance system) to find its target. In 2008 the army tested GMLRS at max range (about 85 kilometers) and found that it worked fine. This enabled one HIMARS vehicle to provide support over a frontage of 170 kilometers, or, in places like Afghanistan, where the fighting can be anywhere, an area of over 20,000 square kilometers. This is a huge footprint for a single weapon (an individual HIMARS vehicle), and fundamentally changes the way you deploy artillery in combat. Excalibur has a max range of 37 kilometers, and 120mm mortars about 7.5 kilometers.

The U.S. Army is buying over 800 HIMARS vehicles along with 100,000 GMLRS rockets, most of them fitted with an 89 kg (196 pound) high explosive warhead. About half of that is actual explosives. These have been used with great success in Iraq and Afghanistan, where nearly two thousand have been fired so far. The guided rocket is much more effective than the older, unguided, version, and is replacing it in most cases. No more of the unguided rockets are being purchased by the U.S.. The accuracy of GMLRS means that one rocket does the job that previously required a dozen or more of the unguided ones. That's why HIMARS is so popular. While it only carries six rockets, that's often enough to last for days, even when there's a lot of combat.

The 120mm mortar round has about 2.2 kg (five pounds) of explosives, compared to 6.6 kg (15) pounds in a 155mm shell. The smaller explosive charges limits collateral damage to civilians. But in Afghanistan, it is more common to need a large bang (which GMLRS can deliver). Excalibur was more suited to Iraq, but the American troops have left there, and all the action is in Afghanistan. Moreover, there are a lot of precision weapons readily available to the infantry that have small warheads. The Javelin missile has a 4 kg (nine pound) warhead, and the larger TOW has a 5.9 kg (13 pound one.) The Hellfire missile has a 9 kg/20 pound warhead. The air force also has its SDB (114 kg/250 pound small diameter bomb, carrying 23 kg/51 pounds of explosives.).

Meanwhile, there is still demand for unguided 155mm and 120mm shells. There are times when you need firepower over a large area (several hundred meters by several hundred meters), and for this, unguided shells do the job best, and cheapest.

In response to this competition the Excalibur manufacturer has created a model that can be used in 127mm naval guns. These are found in hundreds of warships and enable these ships to use their 127mm guns to accurately hit targets over 40 kilometers inland.