We should be very, very, careful about committing to this. Remember, the Zumwalt Destroyers were lauded because of their super cannons which were also 155 MM and able to shoot 60 miles, or more, with ammunition expected to cost about $50,000 per shot. The Ammunition ended up costing $800,000 per round and was essentially canceled after the ship went into service. So we have a ship, with a gun, that they really can’t fire.
The USS Zumwalt Can't Fire Its Guns Because the Ammo Is Too Expensive
The Navy says they are considering adapting the gun to the Army Rounds, which would cost a mere $68,000 per shot, which adjusted for inflation, is what they said the Zumwalt rounds would cost.
Think about that for a minute. Every time you pull the string on the cannon, you will spend more than $68,000. I say more because wear and tear on the gun is not factored in, barrels have a lifespan, and if you shoot the guns a lot, you wear out the tubes.
Now, Harmonica was right, without Laser or some other guidance method, the cannon is useless, and perhaps dangerous. Harmonica being right is painful to write by the way. But as a man who is honest, and tells the truth, I am admitting it. Harmonica is right on this one single issue.
But let’s talk about guidance. Even with Laser Guidance, there is going to be some error built in. If the round doesn’t track, because let’s be honest, these electronic components and guidance fins are going to be subjected to more than a thousand G’s when it is fired, and then further accelerated by a rocket motor after it is shot out of the tube.
So just in case the rocket motor does not fire, you can’t have any friendly troops or innocents at the point where the round would fall if the rocket doesn’t fire. Otherwise you risk Fratricide, or a bunch of dead civilians and the resulting loss of public support.
But wait, there is more to consider. If the fin is damaged, possible during firing, you’re going to have to insure that nobody is in a danger close range that is far larger than a normal 155 MM round. When I was in the Army, we had the danger close tables for the Battleships New Jersey and Missouri. If you were closer than a Kilometer from the target, you were too close. A kilometer was still danger close. Not just from the explosive effects, but if there was a slight deviation on the trajectory of the round, you could end up doing the enemies job for them by killing a lot of troops.
So you have a cannon you can’t afford to fire often, coupled with the things you’ll have to insure are not an issue before you fire, like the pathway to the target being clear, a fairly wide pathway, and an extended danger close situation where our troops would have to disengage (unlikely) before the fire could come in.
You couldn’t afford to train with the rounds, no military impact range is long enough for a max range shot. You couldn’t afford to employ them often, especially when a 500 pound bomb, a bigger warhead, cost less than half what the super artillery round does to drop. So two bigger bombs, or one relatively small but very expensive artillery round?
Or for that matter, a single squirt from the A-10’s cannon.
