Artillery has quietly entered a new era in which a single cannon shell can now reach farther than many battlefield missiles. The latest generation of 155mm projectiles is smashing range records, hitting targets at distances that used to require rockets or even aircraft, and doing it with precision guidance packed into a standard gun round. That shift is not just a technical curiosity, it is reshaping how commanders think about firepower, logistics, and survivability on modern fronts.
At the center of this change is a family of experimental and pre‑production rounds that blend classic gun-launched ballistics with rocket and ramjet propulsion. In testing, one of these shells has already flown more than 68 miles, the longest confirmed reach for an operationally relevant artillery round in history, and others are closing in on triple‑digit kilometer ranges. I see this as the start of a range race that will redefine what “tube artillery” means in the decade ahead.
From the Paris Gun to precision at 68 miles
Long‑range artillery is not new, but the scale and precision now on offer are unprecedented. During World War I, The Paris Gun, a massive German cannon, hurled shells at the French capital from so far away that rounds spent about three minutes in flight and climbed into the stratosphere before falling back on the city, a feat that made it, at the time, Artillery Was The Ranged Gun Ever. That weapon, however, was wildly inaccurate, strategically inflexible, and so specialized that it was effectively a one‑off terror tool rather than a practical battlefield system. The new generation of shells aims to keep the reach while fixing all of those flaws, shrinking extreme range into a package that fits standard 155mm howitzers and can hit specific vehicles or radars instead of just cities.
The clearest proof that this leap has arrived is a new type of 155mm artillery round produced by BAE Systems that, in testing, struck a target at a distance of 68 miles. That shot, conducted with the U.S. Army, pushed a gun‑launched projectile farther than some short‑range missiles can travel, while still using a 155mm form factor that fits existing artillery units. I read that achievement as the moment when long‑range cannon fire stopped being a niche experiment and became a credible alternative to expensive missile salvos for deep strikes.
How ramjet shells broke the range barrier
Reaching those distances requires more than clever guidance, it demands a fundamental rethink of how a shell flies. Traditional artillery rounds rely on the initial blast of propellant and then coast, bleeding speed as drag eats away at their energy. In contrast, the latest designs use air‑breathing propulsion to keep accelerating in flight, with concepts like the Ramjet 155 that scoop air into an inlet, compress it, mix it with onboard fuel, and burn it to generate thrust along the trajectory, a process described in detail in one ramjet-powered test report. The upshot is a shell that behaves less like a thrown stone and more like a miniature cruise missile, but one that still leaves the barrel of a conventional gun.
That approach has already produced record‑setting shots. In an indirect fire test, a team from Boeing and Nammo fired a Ramjet 155 munition from a 155 m class howitzer and demonstrated that the concept could survive the brutal acceleration of launch while maintaining stable powered flight, a milestone captured in a report on the Boeing Ramjet Artillery Indirect Test. Norwegian engineers at Nammo have framed this as part of a broader “range revolution,” arguing that ramjet artillery can push effective reach out to roughly 150 kilometers while still offering the responsiveness and volume of fire that make guns attractive, a vision they lay out in their own range revolution overview.
BAE’s XM1155-SC and the rise of smart sabot rounds
Not every record‑breaking shell relies on a ramjet, and some of the most practical advances are coming from more conventional but highly refined projectiles. BAE and the U.S. Army have been developing the XM1155-SC, a guided round that grew out of the company’s Hypervelocity Projectile work and is designed to defeat both fixed and moving targets at extended ranges, a lineage highlighted in a report that introduces readers to the phrase Meet the BAE Systems Hypervelocity Projectile heritage. In partnership with the Army, BAE Systems conducted the first XM1155-SC test fire from an M109 Paladin and confirmed that the projectile could hit at ranges that set new distance records for that self‑propelled howitzer, a performance the company linked to a development award it received in Oct 2021, as described in its own XM1155-SC update.
Part of what makes these shells so effective is the way they use sabot construction to cheat the usual trade‑offs between range and payload. A sabot round keeps the same rear diameter as a standard shell so it can be fired from existing guns, but it tapers to a thinner warhead at the front, reducing drag and allowing higher muzzle velocity without redesigning the entire artillery system, a design described in detail in one analysis of a Sabot-style 155mm round. When I look at that combination of aerodynamic shaping, guidance, and compatibility with legacy platforms like the Paladin, it is clear that the most disruptive artillery of the near future will not necessarily be the most exotic, but the smartest adaptation of what armies already field.
NATO’s “New Super Shell” and the 150 km frontier
The range race is not confined to one country, and NATO partners are treating long‑range artillery as a shared strategic project. American defense giant Boeing and Norway‑based Nammo have been working together on what has been dubbed NATO’s New Super Shell, a ramjet artillery concept that can strike 150km With Pinpoint Accuracy, a capability described in a report on NATO New Super Shell Ramjet Artillery Can Strike With Pinpoint Accuracy. That effort builds directly on the Ramjet 155 work and reflects a belief in allied capitals that long‑range precision guns will be central to deterring and, if necessary, defeating massed armor or air defenses without burning through limited missile inventories.
Industry voices have been explicit about how transformative they expect this to be. One detailed explainer on the Ramjet 155 concept describes a quiet revolution in artillery, arguing that technology like this will force every army to rethink how it fields and sustains long range fires, a point driven home in a video released in Sep that walks through the Ramjet 155 Revolution. I see that as more than marketing language, because once a standard 155mm battery can routinely hit at 150 kilometers with guided rounds, the distinction between “artillery” and “tactical missile” starts to blur, with major implications for arms control, escalation management, and how adversaries prioritize targets.
Guidance, survivability, and the future of gun-launched deep strike
Range alone is not enough, and the newest shells are pairing their extended reach with sophisticated seekers that can function even when GPS is jammed. The US Army is developing precision‑guided 155mm rounds that can conduct combat missions in a GPS‑denied war environment, using onboard sensors and alternative navigation methods to destroy targets without relying on satellite signals, a capability described in detail in a report on The US Army program. In parallel, companies like BAE Systems are fielding precision artillery projectiles such as the Scorpio-XR, which is designed to deliver extended range and high accuracy against moving targets, further blurring the line between artillery and small, affordable missiles.
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