The United States had, by the 1970’s, realised that the majority of their artillery was ageing rapidly or just out of date. Open topped, slow, vulnerable, based on obsolete chassis, the existing self-propelled guns (SPG’s) in service were not suitable for a potential Cold War showdown with the Soviet Union, which had a more modern SPG force. Early development work took place under the program names Division Support Weapon System (DSWS) and Direct Support Armored Cannon System (DSACS). The DSWS had changed by 1979 into the Enhanced Self-Propelled Weapons System (ESPWS) program with the goal of producing a common platform for self-propelled artillery for the Army. All of these programs were also grouped under the general name of the Howitzer Improvement Program (HIP).

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An article by Andrew Hills 

Narrated by Lucian Stan 

Edited by Pavel Alexe 

Sound edited by Kraiger