Marines of the 1st Battalion, 10th Marine Regiment, have successfully test-fired the new M1122 practise round at the US Marine Corps (USMC) Base Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, North Carolina, US.
Designed to provide more power at reduced cost to the artillery community, the new round was put through a series of demonstrations to evaluate it as a training cost reduction measure.
10th Marine Regiment operations officer lieutenant colonel Mike McCarroll said: "This round could be beneficial to the Marine Corps because it’s going to be a cost-saving initiative.
"Artillery ammunition is expensive. This could help us acquire rounds at a third of the cost of the traditional M795 high-explosive projectile."
With about one-seventh of the explosive impact, the M1122 training round allows for the scout-observer to make faster and more accurate adjustments.
The round will also allow the USMC to provide more training opportunities and enable marines to enhance their skills with the M77A7 gun.
McCarroll added: "The M1122 practise round is built from recycled shell casings from the dual-purpose improved conventional munition round, which will be removed entirely from the inventory before 1 January 2019.
"We’ve recycled this round by taking out (some of the explosives) and filling it with concrete, and from there we get to take advantage of having an efficient round at a lower cost for training than our current round."
While the USMC’s M795 will continue to remain the primary training high-explosive round, a suitable mix of M1122 and M795 rounds is also being determined.
The new M1122 round may be used at II Marine Expeditionary Force artillery batteries as early as 2017.
Image: Corporal Darion Binder, a fire supportman with 1st Battalion, 10th Marine Regiment radios in during a live-fire training event at Camp Lejeune. Photo: courtesy of Lance Cpl. Damarko Bone / US Marine Corps.
