Marines Set New Record With 22-Mile Shot

A Marine unit broke records by hitting a group of Taliban insurgents with a 22-mile artillery shot, medications Marine Corps Times reports.  And you think you’re a good shot? Pfft – this shot was farther than most people’s commute to work.

Golf Battery, story 2nd Battalion, 11th Marines, out of Camp Pendleton, California launched a 155mm M982 Excalibur round on a group of Afghani insurgents. They fired the round out of an M77 howitzer at Forward Operating Base Zeebrugge, in Kajaki, launching the shot 36 kilometers into the neighboring Musa Qala district. The GPS-guided round was able to maintain its accuracy over an incredibly long distance and strike the Taliban insurgents out of the blue.

Not only did this set a record as the longest operational artillery shot in the history of the Marines, but it was also the longest shot with an Excalibur round, according to David Brockway of Raytheon Missile Systems, which is one of the companies involved in the development of Excalibur rounds. -[source]