Raytheon has completed the seeker design verification test of its Excalibur Hit-to-Kill (HTK) artillery projectile, marking a major milestone in the program’s development.
The successful test confirms the system’s ability to accurately detect and track targets, a critical step toward future operational deployment.
The HTK is being developed under the US Army’s Cannon-Delivered Area Effects Munition program as a non-cluster alternative capable of autonomously engaging moving targets at long ranges while minimizing collateral damage.
Building on the combat-proven Excalibur family, the 155mm projectile replaces the traditional high-explosive warhead with a kinetic hit-to-kill effector designed to defeat armored threats, including tanks, armored personnel carriers, and self-propelled air-defense and artillery systems.
Leverages StormBreaker Design
HTK leverages design elements from Raytheon’s StormBreaker smart weapon, incorporating an all-weather, multi-mode seeker optimized for dynamic battlefield conditions and resistant to enemy countermeasures such as jamming.
The seeker enables autonomous target detection, classification, and tracking during the terminal phase of flight, allowing the projectile to engage moving and imprecisely located targets with high precision.
The round is expected to have a range of more than 37 miles (60 kilometers) and be compatible with existing US Army howitzers such as the M777.
“The hit-to-kill effort: (1) upgrades the mature Excalibur airframe with an armored target seeker, (2) is the quickest solution to address four extremely high-risk gaps by defeating moving and imprecisely located armored targets at long ranges, (3) is fully compatible with current Army howitzers, and (4) is low risk for compatibility with future howitzers (ERCA and M777ER),” Inside Defense reported, citing a US Army budget request.
“Also, the effort will significantly reduce the cost per kill and improve the stowed kills of cannon artillery compared to existing non-policy-compliant cluster munitions against medium and heavy armor.”
