US Army ERCA Extended Range Cannon Artillery system can hit a target up to 65 km.

According to a tweet released on March 19, 2020, on the Official Twitter account of US Army, the US Army completed a new test of the Extended Range Cannon Artillery system (ERCA), hitting a target over 40 miles (65 km) away. The ERCA (Extended Range Cannon Artillery) itself is a massive undertaking in that everything is under development at the same time and it’s a platform that needs to be compatible with multiple howitzer configurations, multiple projectiles and multiple missions.

Extended Range Cannon Artillery (ERCA) during trial tests. (Picture source U.S. Army)

The ERCA program has been testing various components of its system for about four years. The newest component undergoing testing is a five-round limited capacity autoloader. It holds five projectiles and five propellant charges.

In the past ERCA Howitzer Test Bed (HTB) systems have been built on modified M109A6 Self Propelled Howitzers. Testing of the limited capacity autoloader is being conducted from a prototype M109A7 which has been modified and integrated with the ERCA Armament System.

In July 2019, U.S. Army has awarded BAE Systems $45 Million contract for Extended Range Cannon Artillery prototype. This prototype phase will address capability gaps in the Army’s indirect fire systems and improve the rate and range of fire with the development of power distribution software and hardware integration solutions. ERCA will be integrated onto the M109A7 and will require the M109A7’s current 39-caliber turret to be replaced with a 58-caliber, 30-foot long gun barrel with the objective of creating firepower double the current range.

The development program aims to provide extended range while maintaining the weight found in current systems to minimize performance impacts on the chassis. Under separate contracts, BAE Systems is also developing precision guidance kits with anti-jamming capabilities (PGK-AJ) that can operate in the challenging ERCA firing environment. PGK-AJ is compatible with existing and new long-range rounds for multiple firing platforms, including the M109 self-propelled howitzer.

Development work on ERCA Self Propelled Howitzer takes place at the Army’s Picatinny Arsenal and BAE Systems’ facilities in York, Pennsylvania; Sterling Heights, Michigan and Minneapolis, Minnesota.