U.S. Provided “Excalibur” Artillery Shells Put Russian Forces to the Sword

The Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, Gen. Valeriy Zaluznhiy, has posted a video on his Facebook channel which shows the effects of the U.S. M982 Excalibur 155 mm extended-range guided artillery shell against Russian forces which had been attacking Mykolaiv.

Excalibur provides a longer-range alternative to a conventional artillery shell. It has folding glide fins, which gives a range of up to 50 kilometers compared with the 25 kilometer of a standard 155 mm shell. Fitted with GPS guidance, for improved accuracy, it will hit within 4 meters of its target, while unguided artillery shells can land up to 150 meters away – requiring several to be fired to stand a better chance of destroying it.

While comparatively expensive, at around $ 65,000 per shell, it is still much cheaper than the $150,000 for the missiles fired by the HIMARS system. Excalibur’s overall weight is 48 kilograms with a 22-kilogram warhead.

One of the Ukrainian servicemen, speaking on the video, extols the virtues of the Excalibur weapon: “Constant firing by our gunners against Russian positions on the Right [western] Bank [of the Dnipro River] for 24 hours a day, led to the enemy losing a huge amount of equipment which had been shelling Mykolaiv”

The video shows several destroyed Russian weapons systems including what appears to be the 2S7 “Pion” 203 mm artillery piece, two S-300 anti-aircraft systems and their associated radar, which Russia has resorted to using as a surface attack munition.

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.“The impact of artillery and the use of high-precision Excalibur projectiles is of great importance. This allows for maximum accuracy [against our enemy] ...” Zaluznhiy commented alongside the video.