U.S. Army Moves to Replace M777 With New Wheeled 155mm Howitzer for Stryker Brigades.

The U.S. Army is moving to rapidly acquire a wheeled 155 mm self-propelled howitzer to replace the M777 in Stryker Brigade Combat Teams, with a contract award targeted for July 2026. The effort reflects growing concern that towed artillery cannot survive in modern counter-battery environments, pushing the Army toward protected, shoot-and-scoot cannon systems.

The U.S. Army is preparing to make a fast, consequential bet on cannon artillery mobility, moving to acquire a wheeled 155 mm self-propelled howitzer intended to replace the towed M777 in Stryker Brigade Combat Teams and set the conditions for broader adoption in mobile and infantry formations. What stands out is not just the requirement, but the pace: the Army is driving toward a July 2026 contract award, with prototype proposal documents expected to follow in rapid succession in late February and March, signaling a program built around near-term fielding rather than a long technology marathon.
Follow Army Recognition on Google News at this link

Army Mobile Tactical Cannon aims to field a wheeled 155 mm self-propelled howitzer to replace the M777, with a July 2026 contract award target and rapid prototype deliveries to boost shoot-and-scoot survivability (Picture source: U.S. DoW).

In large-scale combat operations, towed guns have become harder to keep alive. Counter-battery radars, loitering munitions, and persistent intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance compress the time window between firing and being targeted. The Army’s own background language stresses the need for enhanced mobility, survivability, sustainability, and long-range lethal cannon fires, explicitly framing MTC as a replacement pathway for select systems now in service. In practice, that translates into “shoot-and-scoot” as a baseline behavior, not a best-case drill, and it is why a protected, self-propelled platform is being pursued for formations that today rely on a gun that must be emplaced, laid, fired, and then manhandled back onto a prime mover.

The U.S. Army is narrowing the aperture around a wheeled chassis and a modern long barrel. The prototype request specifies a 155 mm class weapon with a caliber length between 49 and 56 calibers, a clear indicator that the service wants the ballistic headroom associated with 52-caliber systems and growth beyond legacy 39-caliber performance. Ammunition compatibility is not being treated as a paperwork exercise. Offerors are pressed to demonstrate interoperability with U.S. inventory rounds and fuzes, from workhorse M795 high-explosive projectiles and modular charges up through precision munitions like Excalibur and the Precision Guidance Kit, plus an explicit growth lane toward high-performance charges and developmental extended-range projectiles such as NGRAP and ERAP. Just as important, the Army wants credible crew protection against counter-battery artillery and kinetic threats during mobility operations, while keeping the vehicle compatible with JP-8 or F-24 fuels to avoid creating a boutique sustainment tail.

The “system-of-systems” language matters because the gun is only half the fight. The statement of work calls for full integration into the U.S. fires network, including tactical radios, the Army’s MAPS Gen II position-navigation-timing device, and digital fire mission messaging compliant with U.S. military standards, alongside an English human-machine interface and the data needed to generate a ballistic kernel for U.S. fire direction computations. Cyber survivability is also being pushed left: the Army demands a software bill of materials, vulnerability assessments, and government-led cyber penetration events, with technical data expectations that reach into fire control, cannon, breech, and operator interfaces. In a telling acquisition-era detail, the draft prototype request even states the government may use AI tools to assist proposal analysis, while reserving all source-selection judgments for government personnel.

MTC is designed to close the gap between what heavy formations can do with tracked self-propelled artillery and what light and medium formations can do with towed systems. The U.S. Army’s M109A7 Paladin remains the armored brigade workhorse, but it is a tracked, 39-caliber platform optimized for keeping pace with Abrams and Bradleys. By contrast, the M777 brings 155 mm fires to lighter formations at the cost of exposure and time: crews operate in the open, displacement is slower, and the towing arrangement complicates rapid repositioning under threat. The Army’s move toward a wheeled self-propelled gun is an attempt to give Stryker and light formations protected mobility and faster transitions between march, occupy, fire, and displace, while preserving 155 mm effects and extending reach through longer barrels and future ammunition.

The program’s calendar is revealing: the Army requires delivery of six prototype systems, with the first arriving as early as 60 days after award and the remainder delivered within 360 days, plus options for up to 18 additional prototypes and associated training and resupply elements. It also wants cannon and breech assemblies delivered for proof-gun stand testing to support ammunition compatibility work, underscoring that it intends to validate internal ballistics and safety margins rather than simply accept vendor claims. Soldier evaluation is tentatively planned for fiscal year 2028, and the overall period of performance can run up to 48 months, creating a structured runway from early characterization to broader experimentation.

Strategically, this effort represents the post-ERCA artillery reset made tangible. After years of pursuing extreme-range solutions and encountering wear, sustainment, and integration challenges, the Army is now trying to buy maturity and then Americanize it fast. That includes a requirement to transition the supply chain, production, and final assembly to the United States within two years of contract award, with the capacity to produce at least 24 systems per year early and ramp to 48 annually. With multiple U.S. and allied industry teams expected to compete, the July decision point is shaping up as a force-design inflection, determining how U.S. brigades will survive, maneuver, and deliver cannon fires in the next high-threat fight.

Written by Evan Lerouvillois, Defense Analyst.

Evan studied International Relations, and quickly specialized in defense and security. He is particularly interested in the influence of the defense sector on global geopolitics, and analyzes how technological innovations in defense, arms export contracts, and military strategies influence the international geopolitical scene.