US Army Shoots Down Cruise Missile with Howitzer

[JimBowie1958]

If you think about it.
It's kinda like a bullet shooting another bullet. ...

Welcome to the wonerful world of AI assisted technology.

 

[justoffal]

Well, it is the 21st Century.

New toy the Air Force wants. AI takes data of the battlefield from air, ground and sea and figures out what to do and who should do it.

âSci-Fi AwesomeââA U.S. Army Howitzer Just Shot Down A Cruise Missile

A U. S. Army self-propelled howitzer firing a Mach-five shell just shot down a cruise missile.

www.forbes.com

How would a piece of artillery like that track a missile?
Are the projectiles guided?

They can hit a trash can 30 miles away.

M982 Excalibur - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

A trash can isnt moving at a high rate of speed.

Doesn't matter....the smart artillery has proximity capability....

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

Well, it is the 21st Century.

New toy the Air Force wants. AI takes data of the battlefield from air, ground and sea and figures out what to do and who should do it.

âSci-Fi AwesomeââA U.S. Army Howitzer Just Shot Down A Cruise Missile

A U. S. Army self-propelled howitzer firing a Mach-five shell just shot down a cruise missile.

www.forbes.com

How would a piece of artillery like that track a missile?
Are the projectiles guided?

They can hit a trash can 30 miles away.

M982 Excalibur - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

A trash can isnt moving at a high rate of speed.

Doesn't matter....the smart artillery has proximity capability....

These are kinetic rounds.
Proximity detonation only works with explosives.

 

[daveman]

What exactly is a "Mach-five shell"?

A shell that goes 3708 mph.

...while cruise missiles go around 500 mph.

Gotta be more to it than speed...A guidance system & tracking system would be required. Or it was just an extremely lucky shot that they could never do again.

The shell is guided to target. If the target is moving far slower, it's easier than if the target is a reentering nuclear warhead traveling 17K mph.

 

[whitehall]

It ain't your grandpa's old 105 howitzer.