Photo By Keith Hayes | A CH-47 Chinook helicopter air lifts a M777 howiitzer to transport it to a forward...... read more read more
When it comes to providing firepower to support the infantry units on the front line, the M777 Howitzer reigns king among the big guns in ground combat arms.
It is a lightweight cannon used by the Marine Corps and Army artillery units in Iraq and Afghanistan to fire 155-millimeter shells more than 18 miles with deadly accuracy.
Doug Van Dyke, artillery supervisor at PPB, Marine Depot Maintenance Command aboard the Yermo Annex of Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow, Calif., said one of the features of the M777 is its relatively light weight, just under five tons, which allows the artillery piece to be transported by helicopter to remote areas.
But pilots have to train on how to safely lift and transport the howitzers via helicopter, which is why Van Dyke’s crew is currently working on M777 “lift guns” for the Marine Corps.
“A lift gun is a real M777 howitzer which is selected to be a lift gun because it is inoperative due to severe damage and costs too much to repair,” he said. “Marines use the lift guns to train inexperienced helicopter pilots in how to fly with the howitzer suspended below the aircraft and ground crews in how to rig them up to the helicopter.”
Moving the guns by air is incredibly convenient for its deployment, he said, and the lift guns allow pilots to get use to the weight and movement of the M777 without putting an operative, and expensive, M777 at risk, Van Dyke explained.
“When the helicopter stops moving forward, the howitzer keeps going and can throw off the balance of the aircraft,” he said. “If that happens and the pilot can’t recover, the helicopter could crash. On top of the helicopter control stick is a button called the ‘pickle switch,’ which when pressed immediately drops the sling containing the howitzer, allowing the pilot to regain control of the helicopter. Using the lift guns to train gives the pilot experience so they’ll know what to do and won’t have to resort to using the pickle switch.”
The M777 lift gun is identified by a bright yellow and black sign painted on the barrel bearing the legend “used as lift gun trainer only.” Van Dyke also noted that the breech portion of the M777, which is the end the projectiles are loaded in to, is painted red as another very visual notification that the gun is inoperative and cannot fire.
Van Dyke said his crew have prepared eight of the M777 lift guns to be used by Marine pilots currently training at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton and Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms.
| Date Taken: | 06.08.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 06.08.2017 16:33 |
| Story ID: | 236931 |
| Location: | MARINE CORPS LOGISTICS BASE BARSTOW, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 348 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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