The U.S. Army has awarded five contracts for its upcoming Self-Propelled Howitzer Performance Demonstration.
The U.S. Army has revealed that the contracts were awarded to American Rheinmetall Vehicles, BAE BOFORS, Hanwha Defense USA, General Dynamics Land Systems, and Elbit Systems USA. The total value of the contracts is approximately $4 million, and they were granted under Other Transaction Agreements (OTA).
The Self-Propelled Howitzer Modernization (SPH-M) effort, formerly known as the Extended Range Cannon Artillery (ERCA) program, aims to enhance the range, rate of fire, and overall lethality of self-propelled howitzers. The modernization effort seeks to improve mobility, survivability, reliability, and supportability by leveraging mature technologies.
“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 Maj. Gen. Glenn Dean, program executive officer of Ground Combat Systems. He added, “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 fulfill critical capability gaps within the Army.”
Performance demonstrations for the selected systems will begin in November 2024. These trials are intended to guide the Army’s pivot from development to the procurement of a mature, readily available system. The demonstrations will inform the Army’s Cannon Transformation Strategy, addressing current capability gaps.
“The performance demonstrations will support the Army’s pivot from development to procurement of a mature, available, and non-developmental system,” said Dean. The Army expects to conclude vendor demonstrations by the end of 2024, with a follow-on competitive evaluation to determine suitable solutions for future production contracts.