The AM General stand at the 2024 Association of the US Army (AUSA) exhibition, held in Washington, DC, from 14 to 16 October, was an indication that the company has great aspirations for the mobile artillery solutions it is developing in conjunction with fellow US company and artillery specialist Mandus Group.
Prominently displayed on the AM General stand was the Humvee 2-CT Hawkeye 105 mm Mobile Howitzer System (MHS), which uses patented soft recoil technology to mount the normally towed M119 105 mm howitzer onto the 2-CT two-door cargo variant of the Humvee tactical vehicle. The result is what AM General bills as “the lightest-weight, most highly manoeuvrable self-propelled howitzer in the world”.
While the US Army began testing out the system back in 2021, in April 2024 an example of the Hawkeye 105 mm MHS was sanctioned for transfer to Ukraine.
As Michael R Evans, AM General’s director of soft recoil technology and mobiles fires capabilities, put it to ESD at AUSA 2024 on 15 October, the Ukrainians “tested it, and then they took it down range, and we’ve got some incredible feedback”.
Drawing on such feedback and wider lessons from the conflict in Ukraine, Evans told ESD, “Towed guns aren’t going to be survivable in the next fight,” adding, “I think you’re going to see mobile artillery requirements come out of this war.”
The 2-CT Hawkeye system’s manoeuvrability is a key aspect of its survivability. It can fire a two-round mission and vacate the area in three minutes (equating to 90 seconds after the first round is fired). Meanwhile, the Hawkeye system uses a Humvee 2-CT ammunition support vehicle rather than a trailer, ensuring that the Hawkeye’s ammunition supplies can match the manoeuvrability of the MHS itself.
The range of the 2-CT Hawkeye MHS matches that of the weapon on which it is based; the M119 105 mm towed howitzer, which was itself derived from the British L119 light gun, has a maximum range of around 17,500 m using conventional ammunition.
The application of a digital fire control system, as used by the US Army’s latest M119A3 towed howitzer, further enhances the accuracy of the 2-CT Hawkeye MHS.
The scalability of the soft recoil technology is leaving AM General optimistic about its future prospects. Noting that the company has previously trialled a 155 mm howitzer on a Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles (FMTV) truck, Evans said that AM General is “now in a developmental effort with the [US] government with a different cannon to further explore the advantages of soft recoil technology”.
Meanwhile, also displayed on the AM General stand was the new Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) A2 general-purpose four-passenger vehicle, which features additional enhancements over the first-generation model. Key changes include an upgraded powertrain, improvements in noise reduction and improved corrosion protection. The company also displayed the associated JLTV-T Trailer, which can carry a payload of up to 5,100 lb (2,313 kg) and has a 47 cm travel, which AM General states makes it “a rugged compliment to the JLTV A2”.
AM General is currently preparing to go into production of the JLTV A2, having taken over JLTV production from Oshkosh Defense in a competitive tender.
