Raytheon Company successfully fired its new Excalibur N5 projectile during a recent live guided flight test at Yuma Proving Ground, Ariz.
A company-funded initiative, Excalibur N5 is a 5-inch/127 mm naval variant of the combat-proven Excalibur precision projectile used by the U.S. Army, the U.S. Marine Corps and several international armies. It is expected to more than triple the maximum effective range of conventional naval gun munitions and deliver the same pinpoint accuracy of the Excalibur Ib, which is in production today.
"Excalibur N5’s range, precision and lethality will revolutionize naval gunfire and increase the offensive firepower of our Navy’s destroyers and cruisers," said Duane Gooden, vice president of Raytheon’s Land Warfare Systems product line. "This demonstration showcases the N5’s maturity as a proven low-risk solution, and is ready for the Navy now."
Excalibur N5 can be used to support several critical mission areas including Naval Surface Fire Support, Anti-Surface Warfare (ASuW) and countering Fast Attack Craft (FAC).
"With the significant amount of re-use from the Army’s Excalibur program, the N5 provides the Navy with an affordable, direct path to employ a critical capability," said Gooden. "We continue to build on Excalibur’s unmatched reliability and performance by investing in a fire-and-forget, dual-mode seeker that will vastly improve the 5-inch gun’s current ASuW and counter-FAC capability."
Excalibur is a precision-guided, extended-range projectile that uses GPS guidance to provide accurate, first-round effects capability in any environment. By using Excalibur’s level of precision, there is a major reduction in the time, cost and logistical burden associated with using other artillery munitions.
Combat proven: Nearly 770 Excalibur rounds have been fired in combat with exceptional accuracy and lethality
Precise: Excalibur consistently strikes less than two meters from a precisely-located target
Responsive: Excalibur dramatically reduces mission response time
Safe: Excalibur’s precision practically eliminates collateral damage and has been employed within 75 meters of supported troops
Affordable: With its first round effects, Excalibur reduces total mission cost and time and the user’s logistics burden
Evolving: Raytheon is adding a laser spot tracker to compensate for target location error, maintain precision in GPS denied or degraded environments, and enable engagement of relocated or moving targets
Entering New Markets: With Excalibur N5, navies will be able to deliver extended range, precision naval surface fires
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