CTC’s Manufacturing Approaches Reduce M777 Howitzer Part Count, Weight, Cost, and Waste

The M777 program is a joint effort between the U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Army to replace aging, steel-intensive M198 155mm Howitzers.  Because titanium product forms are several times more expensive than steel and associated manufacturing practices are substantially more complex for titanium than for steel, the Navy Metalworking Center (operated by CTC since 1988) developed and implemented novel manufacturing approaches to reduce the part count and innovative forming technologies that reduced manufacturing cost and material waste.  In all, CTC applied Low Cost Titanium and casting and flow forming processing to reduce part count and eliminate welding in four major components of the Marine’s new titanium intensive 155mm Howitzer, saving $46 million in production cost.

Lightweight Howitzer (LW155) firing

Working with the Lightweight Howitzer Joint Program Management Office (JPMO) of Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey; BAE Systems of the United Kingdom; and a titanium foundry, the Navy Metalworking Center(NMC) developed single-piece investment cast spades for use on the M777 Lightweight 155mm Howitzer (LW155). The spades, which stabilize the LW155 during firing, were previously fabricated by machining and welding 60 individual parts—an expensive, labor-intensive task.  The NMC and its partners have reduced the part count from sixty to one by producing a near-net-shape spade casting.

Another challenging LW155 component is the saddle, which previously was fabricated by machining and welding together more than 110 individual sub-components.  The NMC, working with the JPMO, BAE Systems and a titanium foundry, created a single-piece investment cast saddle. 

The Joint Defense Manufacturing Technology Panel recognized the NMC for its "significant contributions to the DoD MANTECH Program," and for demonstrating leadership in the execution of the project.  The project was rated exceptional by a peer review, and cited as having "all the elements in place to have a significant positive impact on the future production of our weapons systems."