The US Army hopes to devastate enemies at great distances with a new rocket-assisted artillery round

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With an eye on rivals like China and Russia, the US Army is looking to enhance its long-range precision fire capabilities.

While long-term goals involve the development of a long-range strategic cannon that can fire on targets over 1,000 miles away, the short-term aim is to double the range of the current 155 mm cannons to 70 kilometers.

The key to achieving this range is a new rocket-assisted projectile.

Army artillery experts are inching closer to the service's short-term goal of developing a 155-millimeter cannon that will shoot out to 70 kilometers, more than doubling the range of current 155s.

Under the Extended Range Cannon Artillery program, or ERCA, M109A8 155 mm Paladin self-propelled howitzers will be fitted with much longer, 58-caliber gun tubes, redesigned chambers and breeches that will be able to withstand the gun pressures to get out to 70 kilometers, Col. John Rafferty, director of the Long Range Precision Fires Cross-Functional Team, told an audience last week at the 2018 Association of the United States Army's Annual Meeting and Exposition.See the rest of the story at Business InsiderNOW WATCH: One bite from this tick could ruin red meat for the rest of your lifeSee Also:Here's how to win the lottery, according to a Romanian-born mathematician who hacked the system, won 14 times, and retired on a remote, tropical islandHere's where you can legally consume marijuana in the US in 2018Canada has legalized marijuana this map shows every US state that has legalized marijuana

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