The U.S. Army has awarded BAE Systems PLC a $474 million contract for support of the newest version of the M109 family of vehicles. The contract covers technical support, systems, engineering, program management, logistics support, and software maintenance and management for the advanced vehicles and their artillery systems. The estimated completion date for the contract is Jan. 21, 2025.
The M109 howitzer is a long-running weapons system that is being modernized with the latest advances via a U.S. Army contract to BAE Systems. (Courtesy: BAE Systems)
The M109 is a large artillery system/vehicle with 155-mm howitzer that commonly provides indirect-fire support for brigades of armored and mechanized infantry divisions. It has a target range of about 20 miles. It is part of a long history in the development of self-propelled artillery units that began about 1963. The history included the M108 howitzers which were phased out during the Vietnam War and gradually replaced with M109 howitzers.
As part of that ongoing history, the M109 self-propelled howitzer system is scheduled for a complete overhaul and will receive a great deal of attention as part of this latest BAE Systems contract.
