19 May 2020

RMD, TNO progress initial phase of XM155 ERAP development

Raytheon Missiles & Defense (RMD) is progressing its technology solution for the Phase One development stage of the US Army’s XM1155 Extended-Range Artillery Projectile (ERAP) requirement.

An advanced 155 mm guided-artillery round initiative, XM1155 ERAP is part of a portfolio of development programmes under the Extended Range Cannon Artillery (ERCA) umbrella. ERCA is intended to deliver integrated cannon artillery technology solutions to maximise performance at a system level and regain lethality overmatch for US Army 155 mm indirect-fire systems for operations in emerging battlespaces and near/peer environments. The ERCA is being accelerated under the Army’s Long Range Precision Fires (LRPF) enterprise, one of six modernisation priorities identified by the US Army’s Combat Capabilities Development Command (CCDC) at Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey.

RMD was awarded a USD7.9 million US Army other transaction agreement (OTA) through the Army’s Combat Capabilities Development Command (CCDC) Armaments Center for Phase One of XM1155 development in July last year. An OTA is not a standard procurement contract or a grant, but a Congressionally mandated vehicle used to engage industry or academia for research and prototyping activities. The CCDC has also awarded OTAs to three other prime contractors – Boeing, General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems, and Northrop Grumman – for similar Phase One XM1155 ERAP development activities, under the sponsorship of the US Department of Defense Ordnance Technology Consortium OTA and the National Armaments Consortium.

RMD’s XM1155 design envisages a ramjet-powered guided 155 mm artillery round capable of precision engagement of moving and stationary high-value targets on land and at sea in all weather conditions and on all terrain. The Army’s publicly stated objective range for the round is 100 km.