In an amazing first, an artillery cannon took out a cruise missile. An M109 Paladin 155 mm howitzer made history recently by shooting down a fast-moving maneuvering cruise missile with a “hypervelocity projectile” able to travel at speeds up to Mach 5, according to an Air Force announcement. The shoot-down, which took place at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, destroyed a “surrogate” Russian cruise missile target using the Air Force’s Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS). While an Air Force program, the effort is intended by all estimations to inform the Pentagon’s broader Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2) technological system. PENTAGON: CHINESE AIR FORCE FAST-BECOMING MASSIVE THREATFiring a hypervelocity projectile (HVP) from an artillery cannon is a concept that has been under development for many years, dating back to Roper’s time directing the Pentagon’s Strategic Capabilities Office.

Source: Fox News September 14, 2020 17:03 UTC