2-3 FA Bn., 1st AD, DIVARTY, trains with Precision Guidance Kit fuze

Photo By Winifred Brown | A M777A2 howitzer fires a 155 mm round equipped with a M1156 Precision Guidance Kit fuze during a live-fire exercise at Orogrande Range Complex, New Mexico, Aug. 7, 2016. (Photo by Wendy Brown, Fort Bliss Bugle)  

EL PASO, TX, UNITED STATES

08.25.2016

Story by Winifred Brown  

Fort Bliss Public Affairs Office

By Wendy Brown
Fort Bliss Bugle Editor

OROGRANDE RANGE COMPLEX, N.M. – All it takes to turn a regular 155 mm round into a near-precision munition is a M1156 Precision Guidance Kit fuze weighing three pounds. It attaches to the tip of a round and is nearly ready to go, communicating via GPS and adjusting the ballistic trajectory during flight.
Soldiers from Battery C, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Regiment, Division Artillery, 1st Armored Division, became familiar with the fuzes during a live-fire exercise with M777A2 howitzers here Aug. 7. In the preceding days, the battalion’s Batteries A and B also trained on the weapons system.
The fuzes received full material release in December 2015, and Capt. Nathan Horswill, commander, Btry. C, 2-3 FA Bn., 1st AD, DIVARTY, said the training was exciting for the unit’s Soldiers because few of them had trained on them before.
“Usually you only get access to this type of fuze in a deployed environment, so it’s kind of unique because we’re doing this in garrison,” Horswill said.
Maj. Kenneth Fowler, PGK assistant product manager from Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey, and members of the Precision Guided Munitions New Equipment Training Team from Fort Sill, Oklahoma, trained all three batteries.
Fowler said the Army has used the fuzes in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the Marine Corps and international partners are using them as well. “They’ve been very pleased with the results so far,” he said.
Not only do the fuzes turn conventional munitions into precision munitions, they also minimize collateral damage and reduce the logistical load, Fowler said.
“It’s available in height of burst mode, which means it will detonate approximately eight feet over a target, or it’s available in point detonation, which means it will hit directly,” Fowler said.
The PGK fuzes costs a fraction of what other precision munitions systems cost, Fowler said.
Horswill said the fuzes are practical when Soldiers want to minimize collateral damage.
“If you have infantry operating in an urban environment that has collateral damage considerations – maybe a mosque, maybe a school or a medical facility that’s nearby – and you have a high priority target that’s operating in a building nearby, to mitigate and make sure you have pinpoint accuracy, you’d use a precision guided munition,” Horswill said.
Soldiers said they appreciated the training opportunity.
Spc. Nicholas Bly, an assistant gunner assigned to Btry. C., said the PGK fuzes were new equipment to him, and he enjoyed learning about them. He has participated in about 30 live-fire exercises since joining the Army three years ago.
“We’ve always heard about these, but we’ve never actually seen them,” Bly said.
Spc. Gage Schumacher, a field artillery automated tactical systems specialist assigned to Btry. C, said he had helped shoot Excalibur Precision Guided Extended Range Artillery Projectile rounds before, but not PGK fuzes.
“I think it’s exciting because we haven’t shot precision guided munitions in a long time,” Schumacher said. “… It’s a first time for most of us here.”
At the heart of the training, however, remained artillery basics, and Pvt. Henry Weller, who still knows to the day how long he has been in the Army – seven months and 14 days – was excited to pull the howitzer lanyard for the first time.
“It’s an adrenaline rush for sure,” said Weller, who triggered the howitzer four times. “When you pull it, you don’t really anticipate the bang.”

• Date Taken: 08.25.2016
• Date Posted: 08.25.2016 16:20
• Story ID: 208200
• Location: EL PASO, TX, US