ATK’s PGK: Turning Shells into Precision Artillery

ATK 155mm PGK

ATK’s PGK
(click to view full)

Budgets to 2015; $36 million Army cut in FY 2014 to pay for PGK’s more expensive competitor?; DOT&E testing report; Background section added.

July 13/14: Cuts? Cost per round is coming down for Raytheon’s Excalibur 1b, dropping to $70,000 per round or lower. That may be bad news for PGK in the USA, as an omnibus reprogramming request asks to add $28.7 million and buy 403 more Excalibur Increment Ib rounds, taking FY 2014 production (q.v. March 4-11/14) to 1,332. The catch is that they’d cut $36 million from the less expensive PGK program at the same time.

That would be more than half of FY 2014’s planned 4,857 PGKs, and the quantity reductions risk increasing costs per PGK above the $13,000 or so expected in FY 2014. A steep production frop would be especially damaging, so it’s a good thing that Australia’s recent order is still boosting the production line (q.v. Aug 30/13). Sources: IHS Jane’s Defence Weekly, “DoD seeks to add USD35 million for Excalibur, cut USD36 million from PGK”.

March 4-11/14: FY15 Budget. The US military slowly files its budget documents, detailing planned spending from FY 2014 – 2019. The US Army and US Marines plan to buy a total of 20,864 PGK fuzes by the end of FY 2015, with costs dropping over time from $20,000 per to about $10,500 per. All data is represented in the article’s chart.

Jan 28/14: DOT&E Testing Report. The Pentagon releases the FY 2013 Annual Report from its Office of the Director, Operational Test & Evaluation (DOT&E). PGK Early User Acceptance testing in Oct 2012 demonstrated accuracy of 32m CEP, which means at least 50% of fired shells end up within that distance from the target. More recent tests of new shells produced from the new West Virginia production line demonstrated just 12m CEP, The government has accepted nearly 2,300 urgent fielding PGKs for the Army and Marines, fielding just under 1,300 to deployed units in combat. They plan to begin full-rate production in Q4 FY 2014.

The October 2012 EUA tests revealed a number of reliability issues: the GPS antenna/radome separating from the PGK in flight, some shells that hit several kilometers short of the intended target; and frequent fuze setting failures attributed to the flexible cables imbedded in the PGK canard covers. Work has continued during developmental testing to find the root causes and develop fixes for these and other problems, and DOT&E says that the program is on track to meet it reliability goals in Q1 FY 2015. Tests with 28 PGKs produced on the new production line in West Virginia demonstrated 94% reliability, with a 12m CEP.

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ATK’s PGK(click to view full) Alliant Tech Systems’ GPS-guided Precision Guidance Kit hopes to do for artillery shells what Boeing’s JDAM tail kit has done for conventional bombs – or what ATK’s APMI kit has done for 120mm mortars. The Western way of war has largely pushed conventional artillery off of the battlefield. A 200 […]
ATK 155mm PGK

ATK’s PGK
(click to view full)

Alliant Tech Systems’ GPS-guided Precision Guidance Kit hopes to do for artillery shells what Boeing’s JDAM tail kit has done for conventional bombs – or what ATK’s APMI kit has done for 120mm mortars.

The Western way of war has largely pushed conventional artillery off of the battlefield. A 200 – 300 meter CEP (Circular Error Probable, where 50% of rounds hit within that radius) just isn’t viable when you need to reduce the risks of friendly casualties and collateral damage. Attempts to improve that performance began in the 1980s, but ran into 2 big roadblocks: cost, and reliability…

ATK’s Precision Guidance Kit

Australian M777 firing

ADF M777 fires
(click to view full)

New technologies like MEMS have helped solve the reliability problem, and GPS guidance allows the use of robust guidance systems that are independent of weather conditions. That left the issue of cost. The US military has taken 2 different and complementary approaches.

Raytheon’s widely-fielded M982 Excalibur rounds offer a publicly-disclosed CEP of 20m. Testing indicates a real CEP of around 5m, but early Block 1a shells could cost $100 – 150 thousand, and must be produced as a complete unit. That cost has now fallen below $70,000 per shell in recent Block 1b lots, and new swappable components promise to add a laser guidance option that could create 1m accuracy when weather permits.

In contrast, artillery fuze and propellant maker ATK’s XM1156 Precision Guidance kit screws into the nose fuze well in existing 155mm M549A1 and M795 shells. It was designed to cost less than Excalbur, while offering < 50m CEP, with an objective goal of < 30m CEP. Even 30m CEP creates a circle 60m in diameter, which would reach from the back of an American football end zone and past the 50-yard line. That's a big step down from the Excalibur, but it's a huge improvement over unguided shells. Production costs that are falling below $15,000 per unit, and the ability to keep existing shell stockpiles relevant, made PGK a classic "good enough" solution. The achievement of 32m CEP in October 2012 led to approval and contracts from the US Army and USMC. subsequent testing appears to have demonstrated 12m CEP in limited firings, which far exceeds program expectations. PGK shells require digital fire control systems and inductive fuze setters. They have been qualified with the M777A2 ultralight towed howitzer, and the tracked M109A6 Paladin and M109A7 Paladin Integrated Management self-propelled howitzers.

Contracts & Key Events

PGK budgets to 2015

Unless otherwise noted, the US Army Contracting Command’s Joint Munitions & Lethality Contracting Center, CCJM-CA in Picatinny Arsenal, NJ manages the contracts.

Alliant Techsystems Operations, LLC (ATK) in Plymouth, MN is the contractor, after winning the shoot-offs and receiving the 2007 Precision Guidance Kit contract. ATK was already the US Army’s top supplier of artillery propellant and fuzes, so this is a natural extension for them.

ATK 155mm PGK

ATK’s PGK
(click to view full)

July 13/14: Cuts? Cost per round is coming down for Raytheon’s Excalibur 1b, dropping to $70,000 per round or lower. That may be bad news for PGK in the USA, as an omnibus reprogramming request asks to add $28.7 million and buy 403 more Excalibur Increment Ib rounds, taking FY 2014 production (q.v. March 4-11/14) to 1,332. The catch is that they’d cut $36 million from the less expensive PGK program at the same time.

That would be more than half of FY 2014’s planned 4,857 PGKs, and the quantity reductions risk increasing costs per PGK above the $13,000 or so expected in FY 2014. A steep production frop would be especially damaging, so it’s a good thing that Australia’s recent order is still boosting the production line (q.v. Aug 30/13). Sources: IHS Jane’s Defence Weekly, “DoD seeks to add USD35 million for Excalibur, cut USD36 million from PGK”.

March 4-11/14: FY15 Budget. The US military slowly files its budget documents, detailing planned spending from FY 2014 – 2019. The US Army and US Marines plan to buy a total of 20,864 PGK fuzes by the end of FY 2015, with costs dropping over time from $20,000 per to about $10,500 per. All data is represented in the chart, above.

Jan 28/14: DOT&E Testing Report. The Pentagon releases the FY 2013 Annual Report from its Office of the Director, Operational Test & Evaluation (DOT&E). PGK Early User Acceptance testing in Oct 2012 demonstrated accuracy of 32m CEP, which means at least 50% of fired shells end up within that distance from the target. More recent tests of new shells produced from the new West Virginia production line demonstrated just 12m CEP, The government has accepted nearly 2,300 urgent fielding PGKs for the Army and Marines, fielding just under 1,300 to deployed units in combat. They plan to begin full-rate production in Q4 FY 2014.

The October 2012 EUA tests revealed a number of reliability issues: the GPS antenna/radome separating from the PGK in flight, some shells that hit several kilometers short of the intended target; and frequent fuze setting failures attributed to the flexible cables imbedded in the PGK canard covers. Work has continued during developmental testing to find the root causes and develop fixes for these and other problems, and DOT&E says that the program is on track to meet it reliability goals in Q1 FY 2015. Tests with 28 PGKs produced on the new production line in West Virginia demonstrated 94% reliability, with a 12m CEP.

Aug 30/13: Contract. A $57.8 million firm-fixed-price contract from Australia, for low rate initial production of the XM1156 Precision Guidance kit. Australia knew what they wanted, so it wasn’t a competitive acquisition.

Work will be performed in Rocket Center, WVA, with the US Army Contracting Command in Picatinny Arsenal, NJ acting as Australia’s agent (W15QKN-13-C-0074). This is a very fast turnaround, and would be impossible for many countries, but Australia sits alongside NATO allies in a category that can negotiate contracts just 15 days after DSCA notifications.

Australia order

Aug 12/13: Australia. The US DSCA announces Australia’s formal export request for up to 4,002 M1156 Precision Guidance Kits (PGK), plus training, publications, and other contractor support. The estimated cost is up to $54 million.

The principal contractor will be ATK Armament Systems of Plymouth, MN, and if a deal is negotiated, the Australians will handle things without any additional US government or contractor representatives.

DSCA request: Australia (4,002)

Jan 7/13: Production. A $7.6 million firm-fixed-price contract modification to buy precision guidance kits. Work will be completed in Plymouth, MN, with an estimated completion date of Dec 27/13. One bid was solicited, with 1 bid received (W15QKN-06-C-0130).

March 4/13: The US Army authorizes urgent fielding of the PGK. Sources: Pentagon DOT&E.

Authorized

Dec 11/12: Tests are a go. The US Army announces that soldiers from the 4th Battalion, 27th Field Artillery Regiment in Fort Bliss, TX, became the first troops to fire the XM1156 PGK, during October tests at Yuma Proving Grounds, AZ. The Fort Bliss Soldiers fired 28 rounds as they helped Picatinny representatives successfully complete the Early User Assessment, (EUA), the Sequential Environmental Test for Performance (SET-P), and a 4/4 Program of Instruction Excursion using a completely digital sensor-to-shooter call for fire.

The Program Executive Office for Ammunition at Picatinny Arsenal, NJ, is scheduled to begin fielding the PGK in spring 2013, via an Urgent Material Release.

Nov 16/12: Production. A $14.5 million firm-fixed-price contract modification to produce the Precision Guidance Kit. Work will be performed in Plymouth, MN with an estimated completion date of Aug 15/13. One bid was solicited, with one bid received (W15QKN-06-C-0130).

July 16/12: EMD. A $6.6 million firm-fixed-price contract modification to continue the PGK’s Engineering and Manufacturing Development phase. Work will be performed in Minneapolis, with an estimated completion date of June 28/13. One bid was solicited, with one bid received (W15QKN-06-C-0130).

May 29/12: Production. A $20.6 million firm-fixed-price contract modification begins to buy 155mm Precision Guidance Kits. Work will be performed in Plymouth, MN, with an estimated completion date of Aug 31/13. One bid was solicited, with one bid received (W15QKN-06-C-0130).

Production begins

June 29/09: SDD. A $5.8 million cost-plus-incentive-fee contract under the 155mm M549 system development and demonstration program. Work will be performed in Plymouth, MN, with an estimated completion date of June 2011. Bids were originally solicited on the World Wide Web, with 5 bids received (W15QKN-06-C-0130).

Feb 4/09: SDD. A $6 million modification to a cost-plus-incentive-fee, cost-plus-award-fee, and firm-fixed-price contract for 155mm, M549 system development and demonstration. Work will be performed in Plymouth, MN, with an estimated completion date of June 30/11. Bids were originally solicited on the World Wide Web, with 5 bids received (W15QKN-06-C-0130).

May 24/07: SDD. A $6 million modification to a cost-plus-incentive-fee, cost-plus-award-fee, and firm-fixed-price contract for 155mm, M549 system development and demonstration. This is the 1st announced contract.

Work will be performed in Plymouth, MN, and is expected to be complete by June 30/11. Bids were originally solicited on the World Wide Web on April 14/07, and 5 bids were received (W15QKN-06-C-0130).

Additional Readings

* Alliant Tech Systems – Precision Guidance Kit (PGK). See also PGK product sheet [PDF].

* DID – GPS-Guided Shells: The New Excaliburs. PGK’s more expensive and more accurate, non-retrofittable competition. Recent tests have achieved CEP below 5m.

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