December 2, 2004: The U.S. Army has successfully tested its new 155mm Excalibur guided artillery shell providing "plunging fire" against Fallujah urban targets. Using GPS guidance, Excalibur can be fired at a high angle, and then come down on the target at a 90 degree angle, and land within ten meters of the aiming point. Fighting inside a city, this is a very valuable capability. The 106 pound Excalibur shells carries less than twenty pounds of explosives, compared to about 400 pounds in a 500 pound bomb. | But when you can drop one in somebody's hip pocket, twenty pounds is more than enough |
The only downside of the Excalibur is the cost, which will be about $20,000 per shell once it enters mass production in 2006. The army bought 183 Excalibur shells this year, for some $90,000 each, to continue testing. |