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Artillerymen Fort Bragg first unit in U.S. Army to receive digitized towed howitzer M119A3 1805133.
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Defence & Security News - United States |
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Saturday, May 18, 2013 10:41 AM | |||
Artillerymen at Fort Bragg first unit in U.S. Army to receive digitized towed howitzer M119A3. | |||
Artillerymen
at Fort Bragg, N.C., became the first unit in the Army to receive digitized
M119A3 howitzers, which will make it possible for Soldiers to start firing
rounds and evade return fire quicker in combat. The
M119 is a lightweight 105 mm howitzer that provides suppressive and protective
fires for infantry brigade combat teams. |
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The U.S. Army's new all-digital M119A3 105 mm lightweight howitzer |
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The upgraded M119A3
is 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. The INU allows the
Soldier to prepare the howitzer and fire the first round in two to three
minutes, as opposed to the 10 minutes it could take them to ready the
M119A2 for fire. The software development and integration of the digital fire control system onto the first 16 of approximately 600 M119A3's was conducted in-house at ARDEC. To upgrade the Army's additional howitzers, a team from Picatinny Arsenal will travel to each unit location to apply the digitized package, provide manuals, tools, and initial spares, and to provide new equipment training to the Soldiers. Ninety percent of the software used on the M119A3 was taken from the M777A2. This provides useful standardization between the Army's three howitzers, the M777A2, the Paladin self-propelled 155 mm Howitzer and now the M119A3. |
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Artillerymen with 3rd Battalion, 319th Airborne Field Artillery Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, load a round into the Army's new all-digital M119A3 105 mm lightweight howitzer April 19, 2013, at Fort Bragg, N.C. |
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