Been doubting the future of 155mm tube artillery for quite some time now. Think that the 120mm mortar on the one end, and MLRS on the other will take a considerable bite out of the 155's mission. Couple of thoughts below on how Netfires fits in:

M777 weight: 4400kg
Average Crew: 600kg
Typical pallet (45 shells, 60 MACS): about 2100kg (estimation)
Weight for one hour of sustained firing (@ 3 rounds/minute = 4 pallets): about 13500kg
Costs: USD3M for the M777, USD65k for a pallet of dumb ammo, USD80k for one Excalibur, USD260k for one hour of sustained dumb fire, or USD14M+ for one hour of Excalibur sustained fire (not including deployment and crew)
2D Mobility: MTVR
3D Mobility out: two CH-47 (gun, crew, ammo for one sustained hour)
3D Mobility back: one CH-47 hauling back gun and crew
Capabilities: traditional big boom shrapnel, cluster container, precision attack


Netfires CLU empty: 650kg
Netfires missile: 53kg
Loaded CLU: about 1450kg
Weight for one hour of firing (@ 3 rounds/minute = 12 CLU): about 17500kg
Costs: hard to say - Javelin USD75k, Hellfire USD60k, Spike USD5k, PAM shouldn't be more than USD20k per. CLU say USD350k per, USD4.2M for one hour sustained fire (not including deployment).
2D Mobility: MTVR with loader crane
3D Mobility out: three CH-47 (possibly with at small all-terrain forklift) to deploy the CLUs (CLUs for one sustained hour of firing); or six UH-60 with CLUs as ext load
3D Mobility back: one UH-60 with at least two guys to collect electronics packages
Capabilities: precision attack
Problem: sabotage, if unattended (same as with FCS' UGS)


That translates into:
# Role for 120mm Mortar: sustained (mostly suppressive) "dumb" big boom area shrapnel fire, short/medium range; precision mortar rounds will have a hard stand against PAM costwise, as with Excalibur only interesting if used sparingly
# Role for M777: sustained (mostly suppressive) "dumb" big boom area-shrapnelling, medium range, flexibly deployed; Excalibur cost effective only if not used more than ten times per hour or so (per battery)
# Role for Netfires: selective fire, precision attack, medium/long range, preferably road-deployed, optional unattended operation if airliftered to an unaccessible spot
# Role for MLRS++: massed technical targets, area targets, salvo assault, long range


Comments?