This is the huge M777 howitzer that US Marines burned out while fighting ISIS in Syria

Discussion in 'Warfare / Military' started by US Conservative, Mar 21, 2018.

  1. US Conservative

    US Conservative Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    FORT BLISS, Texas — US Marines fired so many M777 howitzer rounds in support of Syrian Democratic Forces to oust the terrorist group ISIS from Raqqa that they burned out two barrels.

    "They fired more rounds in five months in Raqqa, Syria, than any other Marine artillery battalion, or any Marine or Army battalion, since the Vietnam war," Army Sgt. Maj. John Wayne Troxell, a senior enlisted adviser to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Marine Corps Times at the end of January.

    "In five months, they fired 35,000 artillery rounds on ISIS targets, killing ISIS fighters by the dozens," Troxell said.

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    http://www.businessinsider.com/m777-howitzer-army-us-marines-photos-2018-3?amp%3Butm_medium=referral

    Looks like this system is getting a plenty experience chalked up.

    I wonder what the barrel life actually is on one of these things.
     
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  2. APACHERAT

    APACHERAT Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Marines "Burned Out" Two Howitzer Barrels During the Raqqa Offensive

    two excerpts:

    The U.S. Marine Corps’ artillery support for U.S.-backed forces fighting in the Syrian city of Raqqa was reportedly so intense that units on the ground “burned out” the barrels on two of their M777 155mm howitzers during the effort to liberate the city, rendering them unsafe to use. The unprecedented volume of fire underscores the vital role the long range guns, as well as guided rockets and even mortars, have played in the campaign against ISIS in both Iraq and Syria, something often overshadowed by withering air strikes against the terrorist group...


    Troxell did not say how many rounds the Marines had fired from their howitzers specifically or over what time span. The U.S. military does not have an average barrel life for the M777, either, since a variety of factors can impact how fast the tube wears out.

    Firing heavier shells, using more propelling charge to hit targets at longer ranges, and environmental conditions can all impact the speed at which the barrels' rifling and overall internal structure erodes, impacting both range and accuracy and ultimately making the weapons dangerous to use. The U.S. Army has a manual for calculating whether or not a unit should send the tube back to the depot for repair, but it is not available to the public....

    source -> http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zon...o-howitzer-barrels-during-the-raqqa-offensive
     
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  3. Seth Bullock

    Seth Bullock Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Semper Fi, Marines. Job well done!

    :salute: :flagus:
     
  4. APACHERAT

    APACHERAT Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    The barrel life of the Iowa class battleship's 16" gun barrel

    Note:
    Equivalent Service Rounds (ESR)
    Fatigue Equivalent Rounds (FER)

     
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  5. US Conservative

    US Conservative Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Use of the Excalibur gave U.S. ground forces a precision weapon that, unlike bombs dropped from aircraft, is locally available to brigade commanders and not affected by weather conditions. It brought gun artillery back into utility in urban environments without fear of collateral damage or friendly fire unguided shells would risk, sometimes being called in only 50 m (160 ft) away from infantrymen, and the greater accuracy meant fewer shells needed to be fired, limiting the strain on the logistics train that provides ammunition. The Excalibur debuted in Afghanistan in February 2008.[14] In February 2012, a US Marine Corps M777 howitzer in Helmand province, Afghanistan, was used to fire a single Excalibur round that killed a group of insurgents at a Marine record range of 36 kilometres (22 mi).[36]
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M982_Excalibur

    The M777 may be combined with the M982 Excalibur GPS-guided munition, which allows accurate fire at a range of up to 40 km (25 mi). This almost doubles the area covered by a single battery to about 1,250 km2 (480 sq mi). Testing at the Yuma Proving Ground by the US Army placed 13 of 14 Excalibur rounds, fired from up to 24 kilometres (15 mi), within 10 m (33 ft) of their target, suggesting a circular error probable of 5 m (16 ft).[17]

    In June 2012, Golf Battery, 2nd Battalion, 11th Marines, out of Camp Pendleton, California, dropped the M982 Excalibur round on insurgents at a range of 36 km (22 mi) in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. This marked the longest operational shot in the history of the M777 howitzer, and the longest operational artillery shot in history for the Marine Corps.[18]
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M777_howitzer

    22 miles and great accuracy. Very impressive.
     
    Last edited: Mar 22, 2018
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  6. Questerr

    Questerr Banned

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    Jesus, 35,000 rounds. Let’s say only a third were Excalibers. At $68000 per round, that would mean Raytheon made almost a billion dollars just from this one howitzer.
     
  7. Moonglow

    Moonglow Well-Known Member

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    That's why they are in business..
     
  8. Questerr

    Questerr Banned

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    And that’s what they buy Congressmen.

    It’s also why the government should build its own foundries and produce these munitions at cost.
     
  9. Moonglow

    Moonglow Well-Known Member

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    Raytheon also produced the giant microwave systems we worked on at Tyson Foods..
     
  10. ArmySoldier

    ArmySoldier Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    How many nuggets could you fit in there
     
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  11. Moonglow

    Moonglow Well-Known Member

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    The ones one the floor? It was for forty pound boxes to traverse and dethaw..The microwaves were used so less evaporation occurred when thawing compared to thawing at room temperature over time
    But we did make nuggets at that plant, it's mostly cornmeal and chicken skin... ...
     
  12. US Conservative

    US Conservative Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Where did the article state they fired 1000+ Excalibur rounds?

    Frankly, even if they did they probably got some valuable data out of it.
     
  13. JakeJ

    JakeJ Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    No, gross dollar sales does not equal to profit.
     
    Last edited: Mar 22, 2018
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  14. Mushroom

    Mushroom Well-Known Member

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    That is gross, not net.

    Do not forget that the majority of that went into R&D, materials, and the pay of the individuals who made the rounds (in addition to other overhead). And odds are that they actually made nothing, those rounds had been sitting in bunkers for years and were bought long ago.

    Whenever we went to White Sands to do a PATRIOT live fire, we knew that the cost of the missile we were going to shoot was around $1 million. But trust me, Raytheon was not making $1 million each time we fired one. Almost every time we did it, we were firing off an older PAC-2 or first generation GEM missile (the original generation PATRIOT missiles had all long been used up or destroyed). These have a storage life of roughly 10 years, and were close to or at that expiration date. So it was essentially a case of "Go ahead and fire them, we are only going to destroy them anyways."

    In my 2 decades in the military, by far most of the munitions I used in training were at (and sometimes even beyond) their storage expiration dates. The M72 I fired in infantry school (1983) was part of a lot made during the Vietnam War. In fact, another such weapon I was trained with in 1983 was the M202, a 4 barrel rocket launcher designed to replace the flame thrower during Vietnam. We had a bunch of those issued to us on range day with instructions to use them all up for the same reason.
     
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  15. jay runner

    jay runner Banned

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    I did the math :) Somewhere around 17,500 rounds.
     
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  16. jay runner

    jay runner Banned

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    You worry about too many paper clips being used and charitable cash funds sitting on orderly room tables, not rounds fired.
     
  17. US Conservative

    US Conservative Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Thats pretty good. I was expecting less. They are also lightweight, require less crew, and are making the longest hits the Marines have seen.
     
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  18. JakeJ

    JakeJ Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Wasn't Joseph McCarthy's fame for having fired more bullets in WW2 than anyone else - shooting coconuts?

    17,000 artillery rounds from one cannon? That is city leveling. Why not just repeated carpet bombings with cheap iron bombs?
     
  19. US Conservative

    US Conservative Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Sound of freedom got you down?

    Because aerial bombs are expensive, and saving lives ain't cheap.
     
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  20. cerberus

    cerberus Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    OP

    Artillery won't cut it when they're so widely dispersed - napalm's the way to go. And it smells so lovely in the morning?
     
  21. jay runner

    jay runner Banned

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    Whatever it takes to win a war, once they send you, do that. Come home alive and well, and worry not one wit about the enemy. Kill as many as you can.
     
  22. US Conservative

    US Conservative Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    There is no PC way to kill someone. So in that way, the military isnt PC.
     
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  23. US Conservative

    US Conservative Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    There is relatively little fuel for napalm in the region.
     
  24. cerberus

    cerberus Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Was that drivel really worth posting ffs, or was it just another a brain-fart?
     
  25. US Conservative

    US Conservative Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Im good with it.
     

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