Howitzers' Evolution for the Digital Era: M119 Howitzer Digital Fire Control

A tour inside Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey to look at how they are updating the M119 Howitzer with a digital fire control system.

Digitized M119A2 howitzer will make it possible to start firing rounds and evade return fire quicker.

The M119A2 is a lightweight 105mm howitzer that provides suppressive and protective fires for Infantry Brigade Combat Teams.
The M119 howitzer is the US designation for the L119 light gun, a lightweight British 105 mm howitzer also used by the United States Army. It can be easily airlifted by helicopter, or dropped by parachute and provides suppressive and protective fires for Infantry Brigade Combat Teams.

The upgraded M119 will be equipped with a digital fire control system that includes an inertial navigation unit, guided-precision system technology and other features that will give the weapon the ability to determine its precise geographical location on its own.

Safety testing ensures that the weapon system is still safe for Soldiers use after the assembly and integration of the fire control system onto the M119.

One benefit of the digital fire control system is improved survivability because it reduces emplacement and displacement times, according to Keith Gooding, project manager of Towed Artillery Systems for PEO Ammunition.

"Howitzers are indirect fire weapons, which means you can't always see what you're shooting at. The M119A2 currently has glass and iron optical sites on the weapon that are used to survey and find the howitzer's location." as Keith Gooding stated.

Using optical sites usually takes troops about 10 minutes to survey and assess their location, aim, and then fire the first round.

However, the digitized M119 includes a GPS-aided Inertial Navigation Unit, or INU, that knows where the weapon is at all times, so optical sites are not needed to determine location. The INU allows the Soldier to ready the howitzer and fire the first round in two to three minutes.

Gooding compared the INU to a GPS navigation unit in a car, only more accurate.

In addition to assisting infantry troops quickly, the digital fire-control system will help the M119A2 cannoneers avoid enemy fire by allowing them to "shoot and scoot."

With the ability to aim more accurately, there's less human interaction and human interpretation because Soldiers use a computer to tell them where the cannon tube should be pointing.

SOFTWARE

The software development and integration of the digital fire control system onto the M119 was conducted in-house at ARDEC, thus eliminating the need for an outside prime contractor.

Ninety percent of the software used on the M119A2 was taken from the M777A2. This provides useful standardization between the Army's three howitzers, the M777A2, the Paladin self-propelled 155mm Howitzer and now the M119A2.

The Paladin software was developed and is now maintained at Picatinny, the same holds for the M777A2 Howitzer. Now, the software associated with the digitized M119A2 will also claim its roots at Picatinny. The same government lab will have responsibility for the software on all three Army artillery pieces, something that TCM-BCT (TRADOC Capability Manager for Brigade Combat Teams) has been pushing for.

The M119A2 is the last howitzer to be digitalized. Using similar software also made the upgrades less expensive because separate development efforts and teams were not needed.

Facilities in Building 92 at Picatinny were converted into a maintenance type environment where the howitzers, the digital fire control equipment and the integration documentation were all housed for a three-week period.

During this time, the ARDEC engineering community transformed the M119A2 production howitzers into digitized weapons. The detailed, step by step sequence of events required to integrate the digital fire control onto the howitzers were proven out by the team at ARDEC and documented in the MWO.

The end result is howitzers ready for Integration Testing and a validated MWO which will be used as the baselining document to digitize all M119s once testing is completed.

The program is currently funded to retrofit 603 weapons with the digital fire-control system.

More Info:

https://www.army.mil/article/155135/M119_howitzer_still_plays_critical_role_for_Army/

https://www.army.mil/article/70329/M119A2_Howitzer_upgrade_provides_quicker_firepower/

More Mars & Hades Gadgets: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kw67mpLfnho&list=PLsWKNvuOwNpLKeo6h0QTQg37p5mBeojP4

Don't forget to subscribe us on Facebook, Twitter or G+

https://www.facebook.com/Military-Zone-1525317914420007/
https://twitter.com/MilitarysdZone
https://plus.google.com/u/1/107010992157185090394/posts

Blog:  http://militaryzonetv.blogspot.gr/

Obviously if you want....give a LIKE :)