ROME\u00a0\u2014\u00a0A guided munition that BAE Systems and Italy’s Leonardo are offering the U.S. Navy will triple the range of the Mk 45 guns installed on about 100 Navy vessels, keeping ships out of harm’s way in littoral operations, a BAE official has said.
The Vulcano 127-millimeter, or five-inch munition, which Leonardo has been developing with the Italian Navy for use on its 127-millimeter\u00a0Leonardo-built guns, is GPS controlled. Each projectile is given coordinates and links to satellites for guidance during flight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Steering is undertaken through moveable fins that are protected during firing by a sabot, or jacket, that falls away after the munition leaves the barrel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a\u00a0sub-caliber\u00a0round, they also have a much higher muzzle velocity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“That, in combination with fins and canards to generate lift, is why they can be effective at farther ranges,” said Perri.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
Leonardo has said the\u00a0127-millimeter\u00a0Vulcano munition it currently offers for use on its own guns will reach a range of up to 100\u00a0kilometers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Better maximum range means more security for the ship since you can operate farther offshore, while the precision means you can complete more missions with fewer munitions, because the ship\u2019s magazine capacity goes farther than it would with conventional munitions,” said Perri.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
BAE and Leonardo started discussing a joint offer to the U.S. Navy after the Navy put out a request for information for a guided munition solution for the AGS gun on the Zumwalt destroyers last year, Perri said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Citing cost overruns, the U.S. Navy last year cancelled the Long Range Land Attack Projectile\u00a0program to develop a guided 155-millimeter\u00a0munition run by Lockheed Martin and BAE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
“We have received very strong support from the Navy for the Vulcano proposal, and we have been invited to submit proposals,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The firms are also offering seeker technology, including a semi-active laser for picking out laser designated targets and an infrared seeker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The GPS is in final qualification testing with the Italian [Ministry of Defense], the semi-active laser is in the early stages of qualification testing and the IR seeker is in development testing,” said Perri.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.S. is reportedly also interested in guided munitions that use alternatives to GPS, given the growing risk of GPS jamming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2104, Leonardo \u2014 then Finmeccanica \u2014 said it had spent 200 million euros developing guided munitions, encouraged by the Italian Navy, preferred the concept to missiles in the smaller spaces of the Mediterranean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The firm has previously worked with Germany\u2019s Diehl Defence to test fire a\u00a0155-millimeter\u00a0version of the munition using a German PzH 2000 howitzer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
BAE and Leonardo also hope to offer Vulcano for use with the M777 and\u00a0M109 howitzers used by the U.S. military.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.S. Army currently uses the Raytheon Excalibur guided munition in the howitzers, but Perri said the Vulcano would offer greater range.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A guided munition that BAE Systems and Italy\u2019s Leonardo are offering the U.S. Navy will triple the range of the Mk 45 guns installed on about 100 Navy vessels, keeping ships out of harm\u2019s way in littoral operations, a BAE official has said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":84018,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":16,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3345],"class_list":["post-44324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-naval"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"AKZYES2KFBBGNCXXHHJTM3KI2E","arc_canonical_url":"\/naval\/2017\/07\/03\/joint-leonardo-bae-munition-could-triple-us-navy-gun-range\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n