NLOS-C Demonstrates Multiple Round Simultaneous Impact

Released on Tuesday, October 11, 2005

BAE Systems has successfully fired a four-round Multiple Round Simultaneous Impact (MRSI) mission from the Non-Line-of-Sight Cannon (NLOS-C) Concept Technology Demonstrator (CTD).

The NLOS-C is one of eight Manned Ground Vehicles in the US Army's Future Combat Systems program, and leads the others in its current state of development. The firing achievement was reached in late August 2005 at Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona.

The NLOS-C CTD, which features a fully-automated Zone 4, 38-caliber, 155-mm howitzer, fired six four-round MRSI (pronounced "mercy") missions. During each mission, all rounds impacted within four seconds of each other. The missions were fired at Zones 2 and 3 using a combination of M231 and M232 Modular Artillery Charge System (MACS) propellants.

This firing mission is the first time a US howitzer fired a MRSI mission using more than one type of standard MACS propellant. The ability to fire multiple types of MACS propellant increases the number of the howitzer's firing ranges between the gun's minimum and maximum ranges, giving soldiers more mission flexibility on the battlefield.

The MRSI mission demonstrations were conducted to prove the viability of the architecture and functionality of fire mission equipment software for the NLOS-C Increment 0 prototypes. While program engineers were not originally planning to demonstrate MRSI missions using the NLOS-C CTD, they felt the system's software was robust enough to attempt an early demonstration. As a result, they have successfully demonstrated a capability that wasn't expected to be proven until late 2006, when hardware tests would begin on the NLOS-C Firing Platform.