# How the Pentagon Is Solving Its Guided Artillery Shell Accuracy Crisis Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-defense-tech-podcast-with-fexingo-government-contracting-aerospace-and-military-tech-7871833/how-the-pentagon-is-solving-its-guided-artillery-shell-accuracy-crisis Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-defense-tech-podcast-with-fexingo-government-contracting-aerospace-and-military-tech-7871833/how-the-pentagon-is-solving-its-guided-artillery-shell-accuracy-crisis.md Podcast: [The Defense Tech Podcast with Fexingo: Government Contracting, Aerospace, and Military Tech](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-defense-tech-podcast-with-fexingo-government-contracting-aerospace-and-military-tech-7871833) Published: 2026-06-10T07:52:20+00:00 Episode link: https://audio.fexingo.com/business/the-defense-tech-podcast/episode-0042.mp3 Audio file: https://audio.fexingo.com/business/the-defense-tech-podcast/episode-0042.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-defense-tech-podcast-with-fexingo-government-contracting-aerospace-and-military-tech-7871833/episodes/how-the-pentagon-is-solving-its-guided-artillery-shell-accuracy-crisis Duration seconds: 669 ## Resource In this episode, Lucas and Luna dive into one of the Pentagon's most urgent and underreported problems: the accuracy crisis in guided artillery shells. With a live data backdrop showing defense primes like LMT at $530, NOC at $548, and GD at $345, they explore why the U.S. Army's Extended Range Cannon Artillery program—a $4.5 billion effort to fire precision rounds 70 kilometers—is hitting a guidance-and-control bottleneck. Lucas breaks down the physics challenge: a 155mm shell traveling at Mach 3 must adjust its fins using tiny actuators that can survive 15,000 Gs of acceleration. The episode centers on a specific solution—rolling airframe control—pioneered by a small contractor called BAE Systems' Bofors division, and why the Army is now fast-tracking a second source competition for the guidance electronics. Luna questions whether the Pentagon's own testing infrastructure can validate these rounds fast enough, given that the service is spending $1.2 billion just on upgraded test ranges. A focused look at how one shell's electronics survival problem is forcing a rethink of manufacturing processes, supply chains, and acquisition speed. #GuidedArtillery #PrecisionMunitions #Pentagon #USArmy #ERCA #155mm #RollingAirframe #BAESystems #LMT #NOC #GD #DefenseTech #GuidanceSystems #SupplyChain #TestRanges #Business #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-defense-tech-podcast-with-fexingo-government-contracting-aerospace-and-military-tech-7871833/episodes/how-the-pentagon-is-solving-its-guided-artillery-shell-accuracy-crisis/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-defense-tech-podcast-with-fexingo-government-contracting-aerospace-and-military-tech-7871833/how-the-pentagon-is-solving-its-guided-artillery-shell-accuracy-crisis.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.