At the Future Artillery conference in London, the young British defense company Tiberius Aerospace presented the 155 mm guided Sceptre ammunition. It is equipped with a ramjet engine and is capable of striking at a distance of up to 160 km. Scepter promises superior accuracy and significantly increases the cost-effectiveness of howitzer-class artillery guns.
A conventional projectile fired from a standard 155 mm NATO howitzer has a range of 35 km. If we add drag reduction technology, a short-life rocket engine and a precision guidance system, the range can be increased to 70 km, writes New Atlas. That's not bad, but if you want more, you can install a ramjet engine, as Tiberius Aerospace did.
A field artillery gun expels a projectile from the barrel with gases. As soon as the projectile leaves the barrel, it moves in a ballistic arc at a speed of about 830 m/s and drops when air resistance takes over. Some projectiles enhanced by rocket engines can receive additional acceleration, but only for a limited time. A ramjet engine (RAMJET) turns a projectile into an aircraft capable of stable flight. The initial acceleration is provided by the howitzer, but after ignition, the RAMJET begins to create stable thrust for a longer time, compared to rocket engines. This significantly increases the range of the projectile, allowing it to fly at supersonic speeds and at high altitude.
The Sceptre TRBM 155HG ammunition is designed for a standard 155 mm artillery piece. The claimed flight range is 140-160 km, with a maximum speed of 3.5 Mach numbers. The ceiling is 20,000 m, which allows the projectile to be removed from the range of electronic warfare devices. With high accuracy of hitting the target (an error of 5 m), it means that the mass of the explosive can be reduced to 5.2 kg.
Altitude is especially important because the Sceptre is a high—precision projectile with a hybrid GPS/inertial guidance system and advanced guidance correction using artificial intelligence that can hit a target with an error of 16 feet (5 m). Flying at high altitude takes Sceptre out of range of electronic warfare devices. In addition, the ability to maintain such precision means that it can manage an explosive payload of only 11.5 pounds (5.2 kg).
Sceptre runs on liquid fuel and is compatible with diesel fuel and JP-4 and JP-8 jet rocket fuel. The company claims that the projectile has passed field tests in the United States, and its cost is significantly cheaper than that of missiles of comparable range.
The American military industrial company Northrop Grumman is developing a multi-level layered protection system against UAV attacks, the main element of which should be a chain gun loaded with homing ammunition. The system will save millions of dollars due to the low cost of a shot compared to conventional air defense systems.
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