The Ground-Shaking Power of the M777A2 Howitzer

From Popular Mechanics:

Thanks to some field testing during a joint exercise by the U.S. Marines and the Australian Army, we get this video of the M777A2 firing off rounds. The M777 Lightweight Towed Howitzer is the most recent 155 mm howitzer, debuting in 2005. The model used here, the A2, has additional software upgrades that allow it to use Excalibur GPS-guided rounds, making the M77A2 incredibly accurate from up to 25 miles away. (For comparison, the gun it replaced, the M198 howitzer, had an effective range of 14 miles, or just under 20 miles if using rocket-assisted artillery rounds.)

 

But the real selling point of the M777? The "Lightweight" part. It weighs just 9,800 pounds, meaning it can be towed into the battlefield via a variety of helicopters, from the MV-22 Osprey to the larger  CH-47 Chinook, and can be set up for firing within 3 minutes. Contrast this to the M198, which came in at 15,772 ​pounds, could only be moved by the lumbering CH-47 Chinook​, and took almost 10 minutes to be ready for action.

"That was an Earth shattering kaboom!" said Marvin the Martian.