XM2001 Crusader
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The XM2001 Crusader was to be the
United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...
's next-generation self-propelled
howitzer The howitzer () is an artillery weapon that falls between a cannon (or field gun) and a mortar. It is capable of both low angle fire like a field gun and high angle fire like a mortar, given the distinction between low and high angle fire break ...
(SPH), designed to improve the survivability, lethality, mobility, and effectiveness of the artillery as well as the overall force. It was initially scheduled for fielding by 2008.
United Defense United Defense Industries (UDI) was an American defense contractor which became part of BAE Systems Land & Armaments after being acquired by BAE Systems in 2005. The company produced combat vehicles, artillery, naval guns, missile launchers and ...
was the prime contractor;
General Dynamics General Dynamics Corporation (GD) is an American publicly traded aerospace and defense corporation headquartered in Reston, Virginia. As of 2020, it was the fifth largest defense contractor in the world by arms sales and fifth largest in the Unit ...
the major subcontractor. In early May 2002, Secretary of Defense
Donald Rumsfeld Donald Henry Rumsfeld (July 9, 1932 – June 29, 2021) was an American politician, businessman, and naval officer who served as United States Secretary of Defense, secretary of defense from 1975 to 1977 under President Gerald Ford, and again ...
canceled the US$11 billion program because he considered it neither mobile nor precise enough. The prototype SPH vehicle is on display at the cannon park at
Fort Sill Fort Sill is a United States Army post north of Lawton, Oklahoma, about 85 miles (137 km) southwest of Oklahoma City. It covers almost . The fort was first built during the Indian Wars. It is designated as a National Historic Landmark a ...
.


Inception

The Crusader was conceived as the Advanced Field Artillery System (AFAS), part of a family of vehicles built around a common chassis in the
Armored Systems Modernization The Armored Systems Modernization (ASM) was a U.S. Army combat vehicle procurement program canceled in 1992. The Army sought to develop a family of six armored vehicles based on two common chassis, one heavy and one medium, which would both share ...
program. In October 1992, the Army canceled Armored Systems Modernization due to changing budgetary priorities caused by the collapse of the Soviet Union. In 1994 AFAS was renamed "Crusader." In 1996, the Crusader's experimental liquid propellant system was replaced by more traditional solid propellant bags. In 1997 the
Government Accountability Office The United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) is an independent, nonpartisan government agency within the legislative branch that provides auditing, evaluative, and investigative services for the United States Congress. It is the s ...
advised the Army to consider either upgrading the Paladin or to purchase the German
Panzerhaubitze 2000 The Panzerhaubitze 2000 (), meaning "armoured howitzer 2000" and abbreviated PzH 2000, is a German 155 mm self-propelled howitzer developed by KNDS Deutschland (formerly Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW)) and Rheinmetall in the 1980s and 1990s for t ...
instead. The Crusader was intended to replace the
M109A6 Paladin The M109 is an American 155 mm turreted Self-propelled artillery, self-propelled howitzer, first introduced in the early 1960s to replace the M44 self-propelled howitzer, M44 and M52 self-propelled howitzer, M52. It has been upgraded a number of ...
self-propelled howitzer and the M992 Field Artillery Ammunition Support Vehicle (FAASV). It was intended to be an automated gun artillery system to support the Interim Brigade Combat Teams (IBCT) Counterattack Corps and a basis for other vehicle developments. Key features of the Crusader design included: * A cooled XM297E2 cannon for sustained high rates of fire * Automated ammunition handling and loading * Cockpit with embedded command and control *
Composite armor Composite armour is a type of vehicle armour consisting of layers of different materials such as metals, plastics, ceramics or air. Most composite armours are lighter than their all-metal equivalent, but instead occupy a larger volume for the s ...
* Survivability features to protect the vehicle and crew * GE/Honeywell LV100-5
gas turbine A gas turbine or gas turbine engine is a type of Internal combustion engine#Continuous combustion, continuous flow internal combustion engine. The main parts common to all gas turbine engines form the power-producing part (known as the gas gene ...
engine to keep up with other fighting vehicles The Army required that the Crusader was to share a common engine with the
M1 Abrams The M1 Abrams () is a third-generation American main battle tank designed by Chrysler Defense (now General Dynamics Land Systems) and named for General Creighton Abrams. Conceived for modern armored ground warfare, it is one of the heavies ...
. The principal driver for this change was to shed weight off the Crusader.
Caterpillar Inc. Caterpillar Inc., also known as Cat, is an American construction, mining and other engineering equipment manufacturer. The company is the world's largest manufacturer of construction equipment. In 2018, Caterpillar was ranked number 73 on the ' ...
proposed a diesel engine, as did a joint venture of
General Dynamics General Dynamics Corporation (GD) is an American publicly traded aerospace and defense corporation headquartered in Reston, Virginia. As of 2020, it was the fifth largest defense contractor in the world by arms sales and fifth largest in the Unit ...
and
DaimlerChrysler Mercedes-Benz Group AG (formerly Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler, and Daimler) is a German multinational automotive company headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is one of the world's leading car manufacturers. Daimler-B ...
. In September 2000, the Army selected
Honeywell Honeywell International Inc. is an American publicly traded, multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. It primarily operates in four areas of business: aerospace, building automation, industrial automa ...
's LV 100 turbine engine. The Army was to procure as many as 3600 of these, including 2845 for the Abrams and 846 for the Crusader. Using the same chassis, the resupply vehicles (RSVs) would deliver automatic, reciprocal transfer of ammunition, data and fuel to the SPH or another RSV.


Program timeline

* 1QFY95 Approved to commence program definition and risk reduction (PDRR) phase. * 2QFY98 In-process review completed and manufacture of the PDRR prototype systems begun. * 3QFY99 Delivery of first RSV prototype. * 2QFY00 Delivery of first prototype howitzer SPH 1. * 1QFY02 Successful preliminary design review. * 1QFY02 More than 4000 rounds fired from SPH 1. * 2QFY02 Program discontinued.


Specifications


Cancellation

In October 1999, Army Chief of Staff
Eric Shinseki Eric Ken Shinseki (; , born 28 November 1942) is a retired United States Army general who served as the seventh United States secretary of veterans affairs from 2009 to 2014 and as the 34th chief of staff of the Army from 1999 to 2003. Shinseki ...
outlined a future that envisioned transforming heavy brigades into lighter brigades outfitted with wheeled
Interim Armored Vehicle The Interim Armored Vehicle (IAV), previously known as the Medium Armored Vehicle (MAV), was a U.S. Army armored fighting vehicle acquisition program. General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS) and General Motors Defense proposed a vehicle based on the ...
s, later renamed "Stryker." Shinseki said the priority of a lighter, more mobile army could shift resources from heavier armored vehicle acquisitions. The following month Shinseki said the vehicles were too heavy: the howitzer and its resupply vehicle would weigh a combined 110 tons, more than could be carried by any of the Air Force's aircraft, including the
C-5 Galaxy The Lockheed C-5 Galaxy is a large military transport aircraft designed and built by Lockheed, and now maintained and upgraded by its successor, Lockheed Martin. It provides the United States Air Force (USAF) with a heavy intercontinental-rang ...
if flight rules aren't waived. Shinseki spoke with contractor
United Defense United Defense Industries (UDI) was an American defense contractor which became part of BAE Systems Land & Armaments after being acquired by BAE Systems in 2005. The company produced combat vehicles, artillery, naval guns, missile launchers and ...
about bringing down the combined weight of the two vehicles by 20 tons, which United agreed was possible. In April 2001, a panel convened by Secretary of Defense
Donald Rumsfeld Donald Henry Rumsfeld (July 9, 1932 – June 29, 2021) was an American politician, businessman, and naval officer who served as United States Secretary of Defense, secretary of defense from 1975 to 1977 under President Gerald Ford, and again ...
recommended canceling the Crusader and other defense modernization programs. An official involved called the Crusader "a wonderful system -- for a legacy world." As of 2002, the Army planned to acquire 480 Crusaders at a program cost of $11 billion. In February 2002, President
George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...
allocated $475 million for the Crusader program in the White House's 2003 budget proposal, which also proposed increased
Pentagon In geometry, a pentagon () is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple polygon, simple pentagon is 540°. A pentagon may be simple or list of self-intersecting polygons, self-intersecting. A self-intersecting ...
spending by $48 billion. In April, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, whose concerns about defense modernization overspending had intensified, met with Pentagon officials including Army Secretary Thomas E. White to discuss defense spending cuts to free funding for more essential modernization programs. The officials discussed cuts to the Crusader, RAH-66 Comanche helicopter, and
F-22 Raptor The Lockheed Martin/Boeing F-22 Raptor is an American twin-engine, jet-powered, all-weather, supersonic stealth fighter aircraft. As a product of the United States Air Force's Advanced Tactical Fighter (ATF) program, the aircraft was de ...
. Some officials questioned whether the howitzer was redundant given the parallel development of a lighter howitzer for the Future Combat Systems modernization effort. On 9 May, Rumsfeld announced that he would ask Congress to cancel the $11 billion program. Days before, Congress members favorable to the Crusader received talking points from Army officials who sought to save the program. The last-minute lobbying prompted anger from Rumsfeld and an internal Army investigation into its congressional liaison office. The investigation culminated with the resignation of the Army official who had distributed the talking points. After being absolved himself of wrongdoing in the matter, Army Secretary White assured that he supported Rumsfeld's decision and said the Army was analyzing alternatives to the Crusader including the
M982 Excalibur The M982 Excalibur (previously XM982) is a 155 mm extended-range guided artillery shell developed in a collaborative effort between the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) and the United States Army Armament Research, Development and Engineerin ...
155 mm guided artillery shell. The House Appropriations Committee responded, after rejecting a measure that would have sustained the program until the fall, asking the Pentagon to delay plans to cancel the Crusader. Later that month President Bush asked Congress to reallocate the Crusader's budget towards other Army developmental weapons including $310 million for Future Combat Systems in the proposed 2003 Pentagon budget.


Similar vehicles

* * *


See also

*
Armored Systems Modernization The Armored Systems Modernization (ASM) was a U.S. Army combat vehicle procurement program canceled in 1992. The Army sought to develop a family of six armored vehicles based on two common chassis, one heavy and one medium, which would both share ...
, a wide-ranging U.S. Army combat vehicle acquisition program cancelled after the end of the Cold War * XM1203 non-line-of-sight cannon, a U.S. Army self-propelled howitzer canceled in 2011 that was a part of the
Future Combat Systems Manned Ground Vehicles The Manned Ground Vehicles (MGV) was a family of lighter and more transportable ground vehicles developed by Boeing and subcontractors BAE Systems and General Dynamics as part of the U.S. Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS) program. The MGV program ...
program * M1299, a U.S. Army replacement for the
M109 howitzer The M109 is an American 155 mm turreted self-propelled howitzer, first introduced in the early 1960s to replace the M44 and M52. It has been upgraded a number of times, most recently to the M109A7. The M109 family is the most common Western ...
cancelled in 2024 * M8 armored gun system, a U.S. Army light tank project cancelled in 1996


References


External links

{{Commons category
United Defense Crusader marketing page
Self-propelled howitzers of the United States Tracked self-propelled howitzers Abandoned military projects of the United States 155 mm artillery United Defense