away from a target, but the fully-guided Excalibur round is accurate to
within approximately two meters of a target. Here, testers at U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground enter an ... VIEW ORIGINAL
YUMA PROVING GROUND, Ariz. (April 14, 2015) -- Whenever the U.S. military fires an artillery round, the reliability of that round was meticulously proven at U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground, or YPG, long before making it into the hands of Soldiers.
For decades, YPG has been at the forefront of artillery test and evaluation, and the most impressive achievement in recent years has been the development and fielding of the Excalibur precision-guided 155mm projectile.
At long ranges, a conventional artillery round can land more than 250 meters away from a target, a potentially fatal outcome for both Soldiers and civilians. The push for more accurate artillery has resulted in the fully-guided Excalibur round, accurate to approximately two meters of a target. This round underwent extensive testing at U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground during the last decade, and continues to return for lot acceptance testing that ensures reliability.
"Each time we produce a large quantity of ammunition, we perform a lot acceptance test at YPG to ensure the Service member gets what we advertise," said Maj. Harlan McKinney, assistant product manager. "The capability to reliably deliver munitions within two meters at very long distances doesn't exist in many other systems."
Excalibur's guidance capability makes a lot of acceptance tests more complex than those of conventional artillery rounds. To put the precision round through its paces in as realistic a scenario as possible, YPG testers erect targets of various sizes and types. For example, in a recent test, Excalibur rounds targeted scrapped vehicle hulls one day, and a simulated parking lot constructed of flat wooden blocks the next.
Whatever the target happens to be, video surveillance captures the round's explosive impact as testers watch from trailers at the gun position. High-speed-cameras capture hundreds of frames of the projectile in flight immediately after being fired. As it flies toward its target, it is tracked the entire way using optical tracking and telemetry systems. As each round is in flight, workers back at the howitzer take readings from pressure gauges inside the gun barrel.
Lot acceptance testing, the testing of a sample of munitions in real-world conditions to ensure reliability and effectiveness, is an important part of YPG's munitions and weapons mission. This fact, combined with the proving ground's extensive institutional knowledge of the Excalibur round makes it an ideal test location.
"YPG has a long history with the program," McKinney said. "The people here do a really good job supporting the tests and understanding requirements. There is a serious comfort level in what they do."
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