BAE Systems has won a $45 million US Army contract for the Extended Range Cannon Artillery (ERCA) Increment 1 prototype, to extend the range and rate of fire on current and future M109A7 self-propelled howitzers.

The development of ERCA is in collaboration with the Army’s Combat Capabilities Development Command (CCDC) Armaments Centre.

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 the warfighter with 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 ERCA firing environment. PGK-AJ is compatible with existing and new long-range rounds for multiple firing platforms, including the M109 self-propelled howitzer.

BAE Systems is currently producing the M109A7 configuration for the Army in the low-rate initial production phase.