Raytheon and the US Army completed development of a revolutionary capability for cannon artillery by upgrading the combat-proven Excalibur^® precision-guided projectile. The Excalibur Shaped Trajectory, or EST, variant will enable soldiers to eliminate targets in hard-to-reach locations by selecting the projectile’s terminal or final phase attack angle.

With the Excalibur EST munition, soldiers can attack a bunker positioned on the opposite side of a mountain slope, target a multi-story building from the side rather than the top or defeat enemy assets positioned under highway overpasses.

This capability will be made available to allies approved to procure the Excalibur projectile through foreign military sales. With more than 1,400 rounds fired in combat, Excalibur is the revolutionary, extended-range, precision munition for the U.S. and international artillery forces. The weapon is fully qualified in multiple systems, including the M777, M109 series, M198, the Archer and PzH2000. It’s also been tested in the AS90, K9 and G6 howitzers, with plans to integrate it with other mobile artillery systems.

In addition to the Excalibur EST variant, Raytheon has developed Excalibur S, a laser-guided version of the projectile. The company has also developed a 5-inch seabased variant, the Excalibur N5 munition. It’s expected to more than double the maximum range of conventional 5-inch munitions and will provide the same accuracy as the land-based version.