By Scott R. Gourley

Already combat proven by Coalition forces fighting in Afghanistan, the M777 series 155 mm lightweight howitzer is entering both U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps inventories to provide today's warfighters with expanded abilities to more quickly and easily deliver fires—including precision-guided munitions—across the entire spectrum of combat geographies and environments.

The M777 program is managed by a joint Army-Marine Corps program office located at Picatinny Arsenal, N.J., with both of those services now taking deliveries and fielding systems under a multiyear contract with BAE Systems awarded in March 2005.

According to Frank Hoerster, marketing director at BAE Systems, the 2002 low-rate production contract was preceded by a 1997 research and development contract, which, in turn, built upon the company's earlier development work.

Hoerster explained that the company developed the system on its own. "We went through a lot of 'productionization,' really simplifying the system and making amazing parts-count reductions off the original prototype. So a lot of the development work was not on the physical technologies of the lightweight gun as much as it was on the producibility of it and getting it weaponized and fielded."

The M777 now being fielded is the first ground-combat system that makes extensive use of titanium to trim structural weight and is 7,000 pounds lighter than the M198 155 mm weapon it replaces.

"The 'Triple 7' probably has some of the most advanced titanium castings ever made. We probably wouldn't have been able to do that 10 years earlier," Hoerster said. "That has greatly simplified manufacturing of the system and also made it more reliable, because you don't have all of the welds it previously had. As examples, today the front trail is a one piece casting; the rear trail is a one piece casting; the saddle is just three castings welded together; and the bottom carriage is five castings welded together."

Two different versions of the M777 are entering U.S. inventories: the M777A1 and the M777A2. The M777-A1, which includes a new advanced digital fire control system called towed artillery digitization (TAD), was unconditionally approved for use by Army units in January. The designation means the service has determined the weapon is safe to fire, meets the services requirements and is supportable logistically.

The digital fire control was developed and manufactured for BAE Systems by General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products of Burlington, Vt., and can be visually identified by the presence of subsystems like the gunner's display, assistant gunner's display and section chief's display.

One unique aspect of the digital fire control system is that the wired section chief's display can be removed from the gun and mounted in the cab of the towing vehicle to provide that vehicle with navigation information on the move.

The more recent introduction of the M777A2 also includes the digital fire control system but adds the capability to fire the Army's Excalibur precision-guided munition. Although most of the differences between A1 and A2 involve fire control software, one physical identification difference is the presence in the A2 of a hard-wired fuze setter, located near the assistant gunner's position and used to program the Excalibur fuze.

"You see the fire mission from AFATDS [advanced field artillery tactical data system], which shows up on the screen of the section chief's control display unit," Hoerster explained. "We also have the Excalibur fuze setter tied into that fire control system, so you can 'tell' the bullet where it is and where to go."

Hoerster noted that Canadian forces have already used the M777 system in considerable combat in Afghanistan.

"The Canadians have had it there since February 2006," he said. "They originally bought six from the Marine Corps; now they have bought another six from the Marine Corps. Of those 12 systems, eight are currently in Afghanistan.

"They have been very actively engaged in combat fire missions and have probably fired more than 8,000 rounds since their introduction in theater. That includes a lot of combinations, a lot of illumination, a lot of HE [high explosive]," Hoester said.

"It's a different situation from what you find in Iraq," he continued. "In Afghanistan they are in a firebase situation. They are near Kandahar and they are covering the Coalition forces—both American and British—in that area."

The Canadian howitzers were equipped with a different digital fire control system from that used by the United States, relying instead on the British laser inertial artillery pointing system. "That's the same digital fire control system that the British have been using on their 105 mm howitzers," he noted.

In terms of feedback from Coalition combat experience, Hoerster quickly identified the finding that "long range is important in Afghanistan, because of the wide dispersion of the area of operations," and because of the M777's surprise attack potential. "When you fire at high charges the rounds are supersonic and the bad guys don't hear them coming in, whereas they hear aircraft and take cover when they come over."

U.S. fielding of the M777 began with the Marine Corps in 2005 and, according to Hoerster, the 11th Marines are now fully fielded with the A2 version.

"The Army battalion in Hawaii that is part of the fifth Stryker Brigade Combat Team in 25th Division—2-11 Field Artillery (FA) battalion—is now equipped with the A1 version and became operational with that system in January," he said.

Before receiving the M777A1, the 2-11 FA was a 105 mm battalion that had been equipped with the M119A2 howitzer.

"We are currently fielding a battalion of the 10th Marines at Camp Lejeune and will be fielding a battalion (3-21 FA), at Fort Bragg, with the A2 version in late June," Hoerster added. "Everything after this will be an A2 version."

M777 assembly occurs at the BAE Systems facility in Hattiesburg, Miss., where current production rates are running approximately 16 howitzers per month.

Total system quantities have been increased to reflect ongoing "grow the force" initiatives, with Hoerster pointing to recent House and Senate Armed Services Committee markups that will add 43 more howitzers to the Marine Corps requirement and 95 more to the Army. With all projections taken into account, as well as the backfill of the systems sold to Canada, Army and Marine Corps production projections currently total just under 740 systems.

Summarizing its advantages over earlier systems, Hoerster noted that the M777 is easier to deploy strategically, and there are more aircraft available to airlift it than before. For example, the Marine Corps V-22 can lift it, which wasn't the case with the old howitzer.

Along with the obvious mobility and weight advantages, Hoerster added that the system "has proven to be reliable, easier on the crew to operate, and faster in and out of action, which is a survivability issue. As it has shown in the rugged terrain in Afghanistan, it can put long-range 155 mm artillery into places that you couldn't get to before."