The U.S. Army has decided to drop research work on the Strategic Long-Range Cannon program after Congress directed the service to cease funding the SLRC initiative in the fiscal 2022 appropriations measure, Defense News reported Monday.
The military branch’s decision also “eliminates potential redundancy, and ensures we effectively use tax dollars to achieve modernization objectives,” Ellen Lovett, a spokesperson for the Army, told the publication in a May 20 statement.
“Pursuing the effort could cost billions of dollars even if the science and technology effort succeeded because the Army would have to enter into a development program, procure the system, and create entirely new units to operate it,” Lovett added.
She noted that any unused funding originally earmarked for the long-range cannon will still be directed toward other science and technology projects as per the order of the assistant secretary of the Army for acquisitions, logistics and technology.
The other four long-range precision fires projects that are scheduled to reach operational units in 2023 are the Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon; Precision Strike Missile; Mid-Range anti-ship Missile; and the Extended Range Cannon Artillery.
