--- title: "The Army’s New Supergun Could Put China On Blast" description: "The Army is working on a supergun with a 1,000-mile range that could potentially hit targets in the South China Sea from a gun pit on land, Army Secretary Mark Esper told reporters on Wednesday." date: "2019-01-24" modified: "2019-01-24" authors: - name: "Jeff Schogol" job_title: "Senior Pentagon Reporter" link: "https://taskandpurpose.com/authors/jeff-schogol.md" url: "https://taskandpurpose.com/news/army-artillery-esper/" categories: - "Army" - "Around the World" - "Artillery" - "China" - "Military Branches" - "News" - "Tech & Tactics" - "Vehicles" tags: - "indo-pacific command" --- # The Army’s New Supergun Could Put China On Blast ![]() The Army is working on a supergun with a 1,000-mile range that could potentially hit targets in the South China Sea from a gun pit on land, Army Secretary Mark Esper told reporters on Wednesday. "You can imagine a scenario where the Navy feels that it cannot get into the South China Sea because of Chinese naval vessels, or whatever," Esper said during a media roundtable. "We can – from a fixed location, on an island or some other place – engage enemy targets, naval targets, at great distances and maintain our standoff and yet open the door, if you will, for naval assets or Marine assets." The experiments with extended-range artillery are part of the Army's look at hypersonic technology, which the U.S. military initially decided not to weaponize years ago. When Task & Purpose asked Esper why the Army needs artillery that can lob a shell up to 1,000 miles, Esper explained the U.S. military needs to outrange enemy guns. "You want to be outside the range that they can hit you," Esper said. "Why was the spear developed? Because the other guy had a sword. A spear gives you range. Why was the sling developed? Because the spear closed off the range of the sword. You want to always have standoff where you can strike without being struck back. That's what extended-range cannon artillery gives us, case in point vis-à-vis the Russians." ### SEE ALSO: The Army Thinks It Can Eventually Fire Artillery At Enemies 1,000 Miles Away ## Author Jeff Schogol is the former senior Pentagon reporter for Task & Purpose. He reported on both the Department of Defense as a whole and individual services, covering a variety of topics that include personnel, policy, military justice, deployments, and technology. ### Author social links [Instagram]() [LinkedIn]() [Twitter]() ## More - [The Army’s new supergun can nail a target 43 miles away]() - [Watch the Army’s new supergun absolutely wreck a target from 43 miles away]() - [The Army accidentally released the wrong name for its brand new supergun]() - [Watch the Army’s new supergun nail a target from 40 miles away]() - [The Army’s dream of artillery that fires 1,000 miles is officially a dud]() - [The Pentagon wants a buttload of guided rockets to slap Russia and China from hundreds of miles away]() - [The Army’s newest supergun will cost half a billion dollars before it’s even ready for a fight]() - [The Army Thinks It Can Eventually Fire Artillery At Enemies 1,000 Miles Away]()