Discover America's prematurely deadly super cannon

The XM-1203 NLOS-C was once expected to be the world's No. 1 supersonic cannon, but it died prematurely due to being too modern.

Although artillery is no longer playing a key role in wars like before, it is still an indispensable ground fire. The United States, despite being a leading military power in the world, especially the Air Force and Navy, is still quite focused on heavy ground weapons.

Prominent in the heavy weapons program for the US ground forces is a non-sighted cannon XM-1203 NLOS-C (Non-Line-of-Sight Cannon) . This is part of a program to develop ground combat vehicles with future drivers (Future Combat Systems Manned Ground Vehicles - FCS MGV).

The XM-1203 was developed based on previous technology acquired from the XM-2001 Crusader . XM-1203 was planned to replace the M-109A6 Paladin self-propelled gun in the US ground force.

The XM-1203 prototype was completed in 2008, it began conducting tests since 2009. The first impression of the XM-1203 is that it is a very modern design, with relatively low configurations of turrets. The design is quite compact.

If put into production, the XM-1203 will be the world's number one self-propelled gun

XM-1203 is developed on the basis of the future manned ground combat vehicle chassis (FCS MGV). It will be the standard chassis for other armored vehicles of the US military to create consistency in the maintenance process to save costs.

The FCS MGV chassis is equipped with synthetic ceramic armor, active and passive defense system and an individual anti-tank weapon interception system like RPG, it also has the ability to protect the crew against the impact of weapons of mass destruction (NBC).

The main cannon of NLOS-C is 155mm with a length of 38 times the diameter . The cannon has a maximum range of 30km, firing all normal artillery shells and guided ammunition M-982 Excalibur.

The second highlight of XM-1203 is that it is equipped with an extremely modern electronic system, operating on a highly automated platform, so the crew operates only 2 people while other self-propelled guns need little most 4-5 people. The cannon used an automatic reloading system for a maximum rate of fire of about 10 rounds per minute, with the number of shells included 24 members. The reloading of the cannon is also done automatically with the help of the relay vehicle, the operator does not need to step down during the entire reloading process.

The third highlight of XM-1203 is the state-of-the-art fire control system. The XM-1203 is a rare self-propelled gun in the world that can be shot immediately without stopping to calculate the firing element due to the target parameters that have been updated via the US global mobile surveillance network. .

Despite the superior tactical characteristics, due to the high cost, the XM-1203 was soon killed

The gun control compartment is equipped with LCD screens displaying information about the target in the form of a digital map, the force layout of the two parties is updated via GPS and system global positioning system. Real-time information connection system.

The modern fire control system allows XM-1203 to fire multiple simultaneous shots into one target (MRSI - Multiple Rounds Simultaneous Impact) through different trajectories to increase the probability of destruction. XM-1203 is a firepower solution with high accuracy and low cost.

The XM-1203 is also capable of attacking targets within the scope of observation systems (also known as direct fire) or can attack targets outside the vision of the BLOS observation system ( Beyond-Line-of-Sight or indirect fire) and it can also shoot without aiming at NLOS (Non-Line-of-Sight).

Super self-propelled cannon XM-1203 is equipped with a diesel-hybrid engine to save fuel as well as reduce noise when operating, allowing to perform special tactical tasks. The XM-1203 is made from high-tech synthetic materials, so it is lightweight while ensuring protection.

XM-1203's combat weight is about 27 tons, it is easily transported to the battlefield by heavy military transport aircraft such as Airbus A-400M, C-17 Globemaster. Field tests with the XM-1203 have yielded very positive results.

However, the XM-1203 super-self-propelled gun was not put into production due to the high cost. Although extremely modern, the tactical efficiency of the XM-1203 is not much higher than that of self-propelled guns like the M-109A6 Paladin.

The XM-1203 was prematurely dead due to its modernity, but some of its technologies were applied on the M-109A7 self-propelled gun to save costs.