Strategic Long-Range Cannon effort on hold ahead of report March 9 Extended Range Cannon Artillery, or ERCA, will be an improvement to the latest version of the Paladin self-propelled howitzer that provides indirect fires for the brigade combat team and division-level fight, but the Army is looking to extend cannon ranges much farther through an ongoing science and technology effort. (Photo by Edward Lopez/U.S. Army) WASHINGTON — While some work on the Strategic Long-Range Cannon science and technology effort is ongoing, the Army is primarily waiting for the National Academy of Sciences to issue a report on the cannon’s technical feasibility, Brig. Gen. John Rafferty, who is in charge of the service’s long-range precision fires development, told Defense News.