Guided munition may be canceled

[unhappycamper]

Program's future in doubt
Destroyer Mustin's 5-inch gun can fire EGRMs.


Guided munition may be canceled
By William Matthews - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Mar 20, 2008 16:33:19 EDT

For more than a dozen years the Navy has waited as Raytheon struggled to build a reliable rocket-powered munition to be fired from 5-inch guns on ships. After repeated test failures, years of delays and rising costs, the Navy may be ready to cancel the program.

A Raytheon official acknowledged March 20 there were “many rumors swirling around” the fate of its Extended Range Guided Munition (ERGM) program, including the possibility that it will be canceled.

A Navy official would not comment on the program’s fate.

~snip~

Over years of testing, tail fins failed to deploy, rocket motors didn’t ignite and electronic components such as GPS guidance systems didn’t survive being shot from a deck gun. Sometimes only one in four or one in three ERGMs fully performed when tested.

Meanwhile, the price has tripled, rising from $45,000 per weapon in 1997 to $191,000 per weapon by 2006. As a result, the number of munitions to be bought was cut from more than 8,500 to about 3,150.