On July 25, 2019, during the "Northern Strike 2019" exercise conducted by the U.S. Army National Guard, the new "Brutus" 155mm wheeled self-propelled howitzer was unveiled during the exercise. "Brutus" is an experimental vehicle-mounted gun jointly developed by AM General and the

On July 25, 2019, during the "Northern Strike 2019" exercise conducted by the US Army National Guard, the new "Brutus" 155mm wheeled self-propelled howitzer was unveiled during the exercise. "Brutus" is an experimental vehicle-mounted gun jointly developed by AM General and the Manders Group. It was designed to improve the mobility of American field artillery. The design intention of "Brutus" is to reuse existing artillery body tubes, fire control equipment and vehicles to provide enhanced fire strike capabilities. In the future, it is worth paying attention to whether the gun can be officially equipped with the US military.

Development Overview

After the end of the Vietnam War , the US military retired the M108 105mm self-propelled howitzer, so that the US military only had a towed 105mm caliber artillery. In recent years, with the changes in relations between major powers, in order to deal with the Russian 2S1 and 2S34 self-propelled artillery, the US Army has proposed to restore the strike capabilities of such self-propelled artillery with the 105mm "Hawkeye" system and other similar projects. The low recoil of 105mm Hawkeye howitzer can be loaded on a Hummer light vehicle. It can fire NATO standard 105mm ammunition, with a range of 11.5 kilometers when firing conventional shells, and a range of 15.1 kilometers when firing rocket extended range ammunition. The gun uses the soft recoil technology developed by the Manders Group, so lightweight 4×4 armored vehicles like the "high-motorized multi-purpose wheeled vehicle" can also withstand the recoil of the 105mm gun.

▲ "Brutus" 155mm car-mounted gun technology is relatively high. Copy

At the end of 2011, the United States Manders Group began to develop a 155mm caliber version based on the 105mm caliber "Hawkeye" soft recoil howitzer. Manders engineers designed a gun stand and anti-recoil system that can withstand the impact of 39 times or 52 times the diameter of 155mm caliber artillery. The gun uses a soft recoil technology called "front impact fire". However, for a long time, the US military believed that the system was immature and had not undergone actual combat inspection, so it was not interested, so the Manders Group specialized in overseas markets. In June 2012, Mandes' 155mm caliber artillery completed its preliminary design and began live-fire tests in August of the same year. Mandes Group hopes to participate in the bid for the Indian Army 's 155mm/52-caliber towing artillery through its Indian partner BHARAT FORGE, and plans to place the 155mm/52-caliber towing artillery on a 5-ton truck and transform it into an self-propelled howitzer . In 2016, Bardes Forging Company disclosed the information of the 155mm/39-caliber towing artillery using Mandes' "front impact launch" soft recoil technology at the India International Army and Navy Equipment Defense Exhibition (Defexpo-2016). The gun weighs 4.5 tons, is made of titanium and aluminum-based alloy materials, with a maximum range of 30 kilometers (rocket extended range bomb). Although the US-Indian company cooperated to launch the gun, few people were interested in it, but it also expanded its popularity.

017 is a critical year for the US military to change its attitude towards soft recoil car cannons. In the comprehensive mobile firepower experiment (MFIX) of that year, the US military tested the 105mm caliber "Hawkeye" howitzer. After the test, the US military's public publication believed that compared with the M119A3 gun that needed to be lifted separately from the tractor and the howitzer , a CH-47 helicopter could lift an "Eagle-eye" self-propelled howitzer, which doubled the number of artillery that could be lifted in the same order, and allowed the US military to airlift self-propelled howitzer for the first time in history. And the Hawkeye is lighter than other 105mm self-propelled howitzers, allowing them to cross roads and bridges that other models cannot pass, maximizing the potential avenues available. A hypothetical scenario is that North Korea destroys bridges that can delay the U.S. military march towards Pyongyang (a realistic example is that the Russian army destroys Ukraine's bridges that delay the advance of Ukrainian armored forces and eventually annexes Crimean ), while a "Hawkeye" light howitzer can still pass through second-level bridges that the North Korean army believes cannot pass through 105 self-propelled artillery.At the same time, since the size of the Hawkeye is shorter than the combination of tractors and artillery, it also reduces the length of the artillery convoy, and it is less likely to be hit when hit by enemy anti-artillery fire. The protection ability of its Hummer chassis is also better than that of the convertible Hummer chassis towing the M119A3 artillery; another advantage is that the Hawkeye's firing range can reach 6,400 blocks (360 degrees), while the M119 has only 100 blocks (6 degrees) each. When performing an out-of-traverse shelling mission, the M119 often takes a lot of time to find the correct gun target line, while the Hawkeye's automated artillery system can shoot faster, which is particularly useful when attacking opponents using penetration and surround tactics. After realizing its advantages, the US military did not stop at the 105mm caliber Hawkeye. They also tested the "Brutus" car-mounted 155mm/39-caliber soft rear howitzer developed by Manders, and believed that this gun could solve the inherent poor maneuverability of the M777A2 towing gun. On this basis, the relevant research on the 155mm soft recoil cannon has also been continued.

▲ "Brutus" 155mm car cannon has a compact appearance and a relatively simple structure. Copy

In April 2018, at the Indian International Army and Navy Equipment Defense Exhibition (Defexpo-2018), Barret Forging Company exhibited a 155mm car cannon named "Mobile Artillery System" (MGS). The cannon is a 4×4 truck chassis 155mm/39 times soft recoil howitzer, with a weight of less than 3.2 tons. In addition, India's Baret Forging Company has also announced a traction model made of steel, with a total gun weight of less than 6 tons. The traction model has a road maneuvering speed of 96 kilometers per hour and an off-road speed of 38 kilometers per hour. During the 2018 Mobile Fire Integrated Experiment (MFIX), soldiers from the C Company of the 4th Battalion of the 27th Artillery Brigade of the U.S. Army conducted firing tests on the 105mm Hawkeye car-mounted soft rear howitzer and 155mm Brutus car-mounted soft rear howitzer at Fort Sil, Oklahoma, USA. Subsequently, the 75th Field Artillery Brigade of the U.S. Army stationed in Fort Sil, Oklahoma, also tested the 155mm caliber vehicle-mounted howitzer, carrying a medium-sized tactical truck (FMTV). Depending on the lightweighting of the entire system and the compactness of transportation, the "Brutus" vehicle gun may be able to airdrop using the transport aircraft , which will further expand its flexibility. For large helicopters like the CH-47F or CH-53E/K, it can also be light enough to be airlifted in plug-ins. Both Hawkeye and Brutus are in a way consistent with the description of the US Army contract signing in February 2018 that the headquarters was searching for the "next generation of howitzers" for the Infantry Brigade Combat Team (IBCT) and the Stryker BCT. The headquarters issued an announcement on the U.S. federal government website: "The (U.S.) government is interested in replacing the active M119 and M777 towed howitzers with a single system." In December 2018, the US military released a video of the gun being tested. The Hawkeye 105mm self-propelled howitzer may be equipped with light infantry units and air assault units, while the Brutus 155mm self-propelled howitzer once equipped with the US "Streker" brigade combat team and the infantry brigade combat team, will significantly improve the fire support intensity and maneuverability of the medium-sized brigade.

Basic performance

"Brutus" 155mm car howitzer will use the Manders Group's hydraulic-pneumatic soft recoil technology M777 howitzer (its body tube comes from the M777 light howitzer), which is directly installed on the FMTV medium-sized tactical vehicle through a circular base. There are two hydraulic jacks in the middle and rear of the car body, respectively, and two sets of power shovels at the rear of the car to stabilize and reduce the recoil of artillery shooting. "Brutus" is a 39-caliber 155mm howitzer, which can shoot at 360 degrees, and its high and low shooting range is -5~+72 degrees. It uses 155mm ammunition common to the M777 howitzer, with a maximum rate of fire of 5 rounds per minute and a continuous speed of 2 rounds per minute.When the gun fires the standard M795 high-explosive bomb (weight 46.7 kg), the maximum range exceeds 24 kilometers; the maximum range of launching rocket-boosted grenades is 30 kilometers.

▲ 55mm caliber Extended Range M777ER Howitzer and M777A2 Howitzer

"Brutus" can also fire M982 "Excalibur" GPS guided shells with a range of 39 to 40 kilometers. The M982 guided shell is a 155mm caliber GPS guided extended-range shell jointly developed by the United States and Sweden . The advanced electronic fuze mounting system greatly reduces the burden on operators. It uses satellite guidance and when trialed on the Iraqi battlefield, the accuracy can reach about 4 meters, making artillery dare to use heavy artillery in a complex environment where close forces are connected, so there is no need to worry about accidentally hurting friendly forces. More importantly, this new shell is directly fired using NATO-style 155mm artillery, without the need to redevelop new artillery. The current unit price is about 60,000 to 80,000 US dollars per unit. The circular probability deviation (CEP) or radial probability error of M982 is 4 meters (CEP50) and 10 meters (CEP90) (CEP50 means drawing a circle with a radius of 4 meters, firing 100 M982, and 50 shells can hit the circle; while CEP90 means drawing a circle with a radius of 10 meters, firing 100 M982, and 90 shells can hit the circle). Due to its high precision, the accompanying killing of this shell is smaller, and the accompanying killing range of the non- guided shell can reach the size of two football fields. Similarly, thanks to the high precision and end vertical attack trajectory, although its warhead weight (22 kg) is about one-third less than that of the unguided shells, it still has a very powerful attack power. (To be continued)