Five Firms Shortlisted For US Army Howitzer Programme

Five firms — American Rheinmetall Vehicles, BAE Bofors, Hanwha Defense, General Dynamics Land Systems, and Elbit Systems — will fight it out to win the contract to supply the U.S. Army with Self-Propelled Howitzers.

The Self-Propelled Howitzer Modernization (SPH-M) project, formerly known as Extended Range Cannon Artillery (ERCA) will seek increased range and rates of fire compared to its existing M109 system.

Last week the U.S. Army announced the five firms above had won contracts for the its upcoming Self-Propelled Howitzer Performance Demonstration. Collectively the total award value for all contracts is approximately $4 million.

“In October 2023 the Army made the decision to close out the ERCA Rapid Prototyping effort as we determined further maturation and redesign of the 58-caliber cannon was required before we could transition into an acquisition pathway,” said Major General Glenn Dean, program executive officer, Ground Combat Systems. “As part of the new strategy, we are exploring a range of options within the U.S. and internationally in order to leverage mature and available industry solutions to fulfil critical capability gaps within the army.”

The performance demonstrations are scheduled to begin in November 2024 and should be complete by the end of the year, with a view to moving forward to procurement of “a mature, available and non-developmental system.”

• You can read more details on the U.S. Army website