The Indian army intends to buy Excalibur guided long-range artillery shells compatible with the 145 M-777A2 howitzers it purchased in November 2016 from BAE Systems three years ago, the first batch of which was inducted into the artillery in November 2018 after extensive field trials.

Excalibur guided munition for 155mm howitzers (Picture source: Raytheon)

"The Indian Army is planning to acquire the Excalibur artillery ammunition from the Americans under the emergency procurement procedures," government sources were quoted as saying by ANI. The Excalibur precision-guided projectile is co-developed by Raytheon Company and BAE Systems Bofors. It is a GPS and inertial-guided munition capable of being used in close support situations within 75–150 meters of friendly troops or in situations where targets might be prohibitively close to civilians to attack with conventional unguided artillery fire. The shells have a multi-function fuze that can be programmed to explode in the air, once it hits a hard surface, or after it penetrates inside a target.

The delivery rate of the M-777A2s is five guns per month till the complete consignment is received by mid-2021.