Unit going to Iraq to be armed with Excalibur

[unhappycamper]

Unit going to Iraq to be armed with Excalibur
By John Vandiver, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Saturday, December 8, 2007

BAUMHOLDER, Germany — It’s not hard for Staff Sgt. Kevin Andress, an artilleryman with two tours in Iraq under his belt, to recall the times when standard munitions were rendered useless and assaults aborted because of the potential for collateral damage.

Now, as Andress and his fellow soldiers from the 4th Battalion, 27th Field Artillery Regiment prepare for a March deployment to Iraq, the unit will be better positioned to fire on enemies in tight urban settings.

The reason: The unit — part of the 2nd Brigade, 1st Armored Division — will be outfitted with a new GPS-guided munition designed to hit urban targets with pinpoint accuracy.

“There are at least 100 times we could have used this munition (on previous deployments),” said Andress, referring to the Army’s Excalibur precision-guided artillery projectile.

All week, 4-27 soldiers immersed themselves in how to use the Excalibur technology, which was fielded in Iraq for the first time earlier this year. So far, reports from units in Iraq have been very positive, according to the battalion’s Maj. Joseph Leardi.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=50812



uhc comment: Previous threads on the Excalibur -->

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=259&topic_id=6626
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=259&topic_id=7487