Ukraine Receives Most Accurate Excalibur Artillery Shells From USA - Media

The Pentagon sent Ukraine its most accurate Excalibur artillery shells with GPS guidance, which was not announced before.

As European Pravda writes, this was reported by the Bloomberg agency with reference to the budget documents that were at its disposal.

A plan to replenish the U.S. stock of Excaliburs acknowledges for the first time that the Pentagon has been supplying Ukrainian forces with the shell. Officials have sidestepped questions about the Excalibur despite reports that planning was underway to provide it and then that it was already in use in Ukraine. 

A satellite-guided weapon that can hit within two meters of its target, the Excalibur was first used in Iraq in 2007 in the high-profile killing of al-Qaeda leader Abu Jurah and associates.

The Defense Department will spend USD 92 million in congressionally approved supplemental funds “for procurement of replacement M982 Excalibur munitions transferred to Ukraine in support of the international effort to counter Russian aggression,” according to a budget document last month that wasn’t previously disclosed.

Used in 155mm howitzers, the projectile was co-developed by Raytheon Missiles and Defense and BAE Systems Bofor. The precision-guided Excalibur lets battlefield commanders zero in on targets more precisely. It has a range of 40.5 kilometers, according to the documents.

The Excalibur is listed in documents spelling out how the Pentagon is spending some of the USD 20.1 billion in the “Additional Ukraine Supplemental” signed by President Joe Biden in May.

“The USD 92 million addition to Excalibur more than doubles the program’s budget, adding about 900 projectiles in fiscal 2022,” up from USD 56.7 million that Congress approved this fiscal year, according to Mark Cancian, a defense analyst with the Center for Strategic and International Studies who’s monitoring Ukraine-related spending. The USD 56.7 million is to purchase 374 of the sophisticated, GPS-jam-proof rounds, according to Army budget documents. 

“This also confirms what had long been suspected, that the United States is providing this advanced weapon to Ukraine,” Cancian said.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, U.S. President Joe Biden announced the provision of a new package of military aid to Ukraine worth almost USD 3 billion.