US Army News and updates general discussion

Video on 2-CT Hawkeye as claim to be the lightest 105mm gun system.

Ananda said:

Video on 2-CT Hawkeye as claim to be the lightest 105mm gun system.

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That system always reminds me of the Faun GT8/15 - a similar concept of carrying a 105mm howitzer on an open vehicle decades ago in Germany. Was a bit heavier at 20 tons gross vehicle weight, but also carried 60 rounds of ammunition and the full gun crew (unlike this HMMWV). Howitzer had to be set down to be fired, but that was designed to be fairly fast. The vehicle also carried a dozer blade and a winch for preparing an off-vehicle firing position.

The end result of that was that the 225 units procured in 1959-1961 were discarded by the end of the 60s. Because they were pretty much unusable:

• technical availability due to complexity of repairs was below 30%. (!)
• they found out it that with any actual firing position it was faster to just drag the gun out and hook it up to a truck to be trailed.
• dismounting the gun was possible if the vehicle engine failed, but extremely complicated
• the dozer blade could not be used since the transmission was overtasked when just moving the vehicle.
• artillery school found that the howitzer carried on the back placed the center of gravity too high for the vehicle to still be used offroad.
• many units using them were switched to M109 within 1-2 years. The others switched back to the trucks they had used before the GT8/15.

FormerDirtDart said:

The US Army has announced nine installations in consideration as sites for microreactor power plants as part of the Janus program
I would expect Ft Wainwright (Alaska) as one of the sites, allowing for extreme cold weather operations evaluation.
Redstone (Alabama) and Holston (Tennessee) would not surprise me.
And I would think they would want at least one large installation

Army announces next steps on Janus Program for next-generation nuclear energy

WASHINGTON — As part of next steps for the Janus Program, the Department of the Army has selected nine installations for consideration in which to site...

www.army.mil

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The US Army has selected five installations to receive microreactors under Project Janus, and the five companies that will build them.
The article gives no specifics on expected output of the systems once operational.

• Antares Nuclear, Inc. – Fort Bragg, North Carolina
• BWXT Advanced Technologies, LLC – Fort Campbell, Kentucky
• General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems – Fort Hood, Texas
• Radiant Industries, Inc. – Fort Benning, Georgia
• Westinghouse Government Services – Fort Drum, New York

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The article also states at the end that the USAF announced they intend to build a microreactor at Eielson Air Force Base, AK (~ 12 miles (+/-) south east of Fairbanks, AK)

FormerDirtDart said:

The US Army has selected five installations to receive microreactors under Project Janus, and the five companies that will build them.
The article gives no specifics on expected output of the systems once operational.

Army selects 5 companies to build nuclear microreactors on bases, under new $2 billion deal

The service’s plans for 20 on-base microreactors come amid a uranium enrichment shortage.

www.defenseone.com

The article also states at the end that the USAF announced they intend to build a microreactor at Eielson Air Force Base, AK (~ 12 miles (+/-) south east of Fairbanks, AK)

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The selected reactors span from 1 MWe (Radiant Energy's Kaleidos) to 20 MWe of the BWXT one; while Westinghouse, Antares and General Atomics are circa 5 MWe each.

An average commercial power reactor is around 1000 MWe (in general, today's reactors are usually in the 1200-1400 MWe range), military naval reactors are usually from 100 to 200 MW (thermal not electric, so around 50 MWe max).