Forecasting and Costing of a New 105mm Modular Propellant: In support of the Royal Canadian Artillery Regiment

The current propellant system used by the Canadian Armed Forces for both the LG1 and C3 105mm howitzer is the M67 propellant. This is made of seven charge bags with differing amounts of propellant in each bag. The number of charge bags used to fire a round is selected as a function of the ballistic requirements (desired trajectory and distance to target). Most often, fewer than the seven charge bags are used and whatever charge bags remain are destroyed. To mitigate the amount of propellant destroyed, a modular charge system has been developed that would allow for potential reuse of unused charge increments. To assist in evaluating the potential value to the Army of this new propellant system, a forecasting model based on historical usage has been integrated into a Monte-Carlo based simulation. Results indicate that the modular propellant yields both a financial cost savings and a significant reduction in environmental damage.