Powered by RedCircle
This is a bit of a late Post, but better late than never. The Philippine Army (PA) is set to acquire another Guided Weapons System in its Arsenal after the Notice to Proceed (NTP) for the acquisition of Guided Munitions for their 155 mm caliber Autonomous Truck Mounted-howitzer System (ATMOS) was released to the Israeli Company, "Elbit Systems Land Limited" in August of last Year of 2024.
The Contract is worth Php 248.19 million, or around Usd 4.26 million assuming an Exchange Rate of Php 58.21 per Dollar. 130 units of Guided rounds, or Precision Guided Munitions (PGM), are going to be acquired for an approximate average cost of Php 1.9 million or Usd 32.8k per round.
A quick look at the official Website of Elbit Systems shows that they only have one Product there for guided 155 mm caliber Ammunition System, and that is the “Silver Bullet”. It is actually a Kit that is attached into existing 155 mm caliber Ammo to turn them into Guided Units.
Specifically, it replaces the Fuze of the Ammo to one with movable Fins that are used to guide the Ammo to the Target. It also allows the Fuse to have a “Dual Mode” Capability, meaning it can be programmed to either detonate on Impact, or to penetrate first upon impact before exploding.
The Guidance System used is Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), specifically the United States (US) made Global Positioning System (GPS) with an accuracy of 20 m Circular Error Probable (CEP), meaning half of the Rounds fired is expected to hit within a Radius of 20 m of the Target.
I actually made a Video about this acquisition back in 2022 when it was still at the Bidding Stage and there was no Winner yet, what changed since then is that the Budget was increased by around Php 38 million and an additional 20 rounds was added to the acquisition.
These were originally intended for use also with the PA’s M71 Howitzers, but that was changed to be used for the ATMOS units only. 130 rounds for a dozen ATMOS Howitzers means an allocation of around 10-11 rounds for each of those Howitzers, assuming that they will be evenly distributed among them.
That’s not a lot, but remember that Elbit estimates these Silver Bullet rounds to be two to five times more effective than conventional rounds, meaning that it will take only one round of this guided Ammo what usually takes two to five rounds of non-guided Ammo to hit.
Remember also that the farther at Target is, generally the less accurate the non-guided Howitzer Ammunition will be. But with these guided Ammunition, their accuracy remains the same no matter how far the Target is as long as it can reach it.
Great to see the PA getting more advanced Weapons, these will be on top of the Tube-launched, Optically-tracked, Wireless-guided-2A (TOW-2A) Missiles that US President Donald Trump donated to them back in 2020.
These guided Howitzer Rounds will give the PA accurate, guided Munition Fire Support on their own if and when they need it.
SOURCES:
* Procurement of Projectile, 155mm: HE (Precision Guided Munition System) Bid Documents {Archived Link}
Check out the Links to my other Social Media Accounts at https://linktr.ee/rhk111
Don’t forget to click on the Ads or to donate to help support this Website.
 |
| Philippine Army acquires the Silver Bullet Guided Ammunition System for their ATMOS Howitzers |
No comments:
Post a Comment