A U.S. Army artillery battalion is going to France to train with a French army unit and test out their tank-killing artillery round, officials announced.
In March, the 4th Battalion, 319th Artillery Regiment — part of the 173rd Airborne Brigade — will spend a week at Camp Canjueres in southeast France with the French 93eme Régiment d’Artillerie de Montagne, according to officials with U.S. Army Headquarters in Europe.
The U.S. artillery unit will fire the French Army’s Bonus MK2 155 mm artillery round using their own howitzers. The autonomous and all-weather “fire and forget” shell is designed to target and destroy stationary and mobile armored vehicles, such as tanks. The submunitions eject over the impact area then detect and penetrate the targets, officials said.
Army officials said it will be the first time a U.S. howitzer has fired the French artillery round.
The 173rd Airborne Brigade is the U.S. Army’s contingency response force in Europe and routinely trains with NATO partners, officials said.
• Mike Glenn can be reached at mglenn@washingtontimes.com.
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