Military

M485A2 - 155mm

The M485A2 provides battlefield illumination of 1 million candle power for 155mm artillery systems. The projectile accepts standard mechanical and electric time fuzing and is compatible with all fielded U.S. 155mm artillery systems. The M485A2 projectile provides 1,000,000 candlepower of illumination for 120 seconds. Considered sufficient to illuminate a circle 1000 meters in diameter. The M485 Series Illumination Projectiles expels the Illuminate candle, which lights approximately 7 Seconds later. The TFT AM-2 provides the firing data for the 600 meter height of burst, described in the TFT as the HOB (Height of Burst) for the illumination ignition. Approximate rate of fall is 5 meters per second. Illumination is a base-ejecting projectile that requires a fuze that makes the projectile expel its payload over the target area by mechanical time action. Two fuzes that perform this action are: M565 Mechanical Time and M577 Mechanical Time Super Quick. Since the M565 is an older fuze it is no longer in production.