The use of high-precision M982 Excalibur projectiles appears in an interesting way in a recent video published by the Ukrainian artillerymen. It was shared by multiple social media, but Defense Express had to retrieve the video and cut out the parts showing the faces of Ukrainian military and other details for security reasons.
The shortened video as follows below shows the Excalibur munitions which began to flow into Ukraine back in April used from an American M777.
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In general, the Excalibur is quite easily identified in the video thanks to the DA45 marking and the characteristic flight control surfaces hidden inside the projectile.
But the most interesting part is that the M777 howitzer itself is without additional equipment – a digital fire control system, which, in particular, allows Excalibur shells to be programmed on the M777A2 howitzers. But, given the pragmatic approach to weapons in the United States, this unit’s absence does not disable the use of high-precision projectiles.
Because for their programming, a separate additional device is used, which is noticeable in one of the video frames.
Of course, the presence of such separate programmers in the US Army is not something secret and is well known to specialists. In particular, they are also used to set coordinates for the M1156 Precision Guidance Kits.
Nevertheless, russian propagandists, when they saw that Ukraine was being supplied with M777s without digital fire control systems, began to shout that the USA was allegedly providing "obsolete junk" to the Armed Forces of Ukraine and that no one had allegedly provided any Excalibur to Ukraine.
Although on the contrary, the decision to supply separate programmers by the US is much more effective, because it allows the use of Excalibur and M1156 PGK from any artillery system of the 155-mm caliber.
As a reminder, the M982 Excalibur allows artillery to destroy targets with accuracy within a few meters from the aiming point. Its firing range depends on the artillery system itself and can be up to 36 km when firing from 155 mm L/39 caliber guns and more than 45 km when firing from self-propelled howitzers with a barrel length of L/52 caliber.
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