Sceptre is Coming to Change Artillery: For centuries, artillery has been described as the king of the battlefield. Today, the adage still holds true. Recent advancements in guidance technology have enabled artillery shells to strike with greater precision and lethality. In April 2026, a new milestone was reached to increase the range and accuracy of conventional artillery systems. A US/UK-based defense firm recently completed successful tests of a liquid-fueled ramjet projectile fired from a standard NATO 155mm howitzer. The tests marked a world first for guided artillery and could pave the way for a new generation of rocket-propelled precision munitions.
A World First for Artillery Systems
The tests were conducted by the California-based Tiberius Aerospace, which also has a registered office in London.
The company was testing a new rocket-propelled system called “Sceptre,” which is a 155mm precision-guided munition designed to operate from a typical NATO-standard 155mm howitzer.
The round reached an astonishing range of 93 miles (150 kilometers) and successfully struck its intended target. “This is a genuine world first breakthrough,” said Chad Steelberg, Tiberius Aerospace CEO and founder. “These tests prove not only the technology, but a new way of delivering capability at pace, at scale, and at significantly lower cost.”
Sceptre utilizes an 11.2 lbs payload and is fitted with a sophisticated guidance system for improved accuracy.
The tests revealed that the system has a circular error probability (CEP) of less than 16 feet (5 meters) even in GPS-contested environments.
According to the company, one of the biggest challenges of the project was ensuring the jet and guidance systems survived the initial artillery launch, which puts immense strain on all components. The tests showed that the system was reliable and capable of operating in real combat-like scenarios.
A U.S. M109 Paladin howitzer drives off the vessel Liberty Peace during offloading operations at the port of Koper, Slovenia on December 28, 2024. This Reception, Staging, and Onward Movement (RSOM) operation in the port of Koper is bringing in 1-3ID, the next Regionally Aligned Force (RAF), into the European Theater. These forces will be then transported by the 21st Theater Sustainment Command to their forward operating sites across NATO where they will conduct interoperability training with Allies and partners. The intent of these RAFs is to assure our allies and deter all adversaries.
U.S. Army Soldiers assigned to Alpha Battery, 3rd Battalion, 29th Field Artillery Regiment, 4th Infantry Division, fire a M109A6 Paladin in support of the joint training exercise Eager Lion ’19 at Training Area 1, Jordan, Aug. 27, 2019. Eager Lion is an annual, multinational training event in its ninth iteration which enables partnered nations to strengthen military relationships and exchange expertise. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Angel Ruszkiewicz)
M109 firing. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
The munition also utilizes widely available military-grade jet fuels such as JP-4 and JP-8, making logistics and mass production easier.
Rocket-Propelled Guided Artillery
Scepter is extremely modular in its design. It requires no modifications to existing artillery systems and can be continually upgraded.
Additionally, the tests demonstrated that it was possible to pair missile-like ranges and speed with the cost and deployability of a conventional unguided artillery shell.
Conventional shells are cheap and easy to produce, but they typically lack the range and accuracy of missiles, leaving regular guns within the range of counterbattery fire.
On the other hand, missiles are much more expensive to produce and are usually fielded in much smaller numbers. Sceptre combines the best of both worlds. It has the cost of a conventional shell but with the precision and range of a guided missile.
The test was a significant milestone towards the validation and certification of the new system. “Sceptre is an ambitious and complex project,” said Steelberg in a press release. “But these successful US test firing results prove we are quickly advancing along the right trajectory.” So far, Tiberius Aerospace has received only a single contract from the British Army.
The system is still relatively early in its development life and still has a long way to go before any army can put it into service.
However, the successful test of the platform is an important milestone in validating jet-powered 155mm artillery systems.
Sceptre vs Other Guided Artillery Systems
Scepter is not the first attempt to create a guided artillery shell as a low-cost alternative to missiles. In 2015, the U.S. began tests on the 155mm M982 Excalibur guided artillery shell, which uses laser and GPS guidance and fin stabilization to hit its target with precision.
Likewise, the Russians have been using the 152mm 2K25 Krasnopol guided artillery shell.
The system was first adopted by the Soviet Union back in 1986 and has been used and upgraded by the Russians ever since. The system uses laser guidance and fin stabilization for accuracy, and a base-burn system for increased range. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Russians have further increased the range and accuracy of the Krasnopol system.
However, both Excalibur and Krasnopol fall short in many areas compared to Scepter. Neither system has the range of the new rocket-propelled munition, with Excalibur reaching only 70 km while Krasnopol reaches only 60 km.
Neither system possesses rocket propulsion to increase its range. While Krasnopol uses a base burn system, this is done only to reduce drag on the munition, and does not contribute significantly to the shell’s range. Scepter stands above every other guided artillery shell in existence with its superior range.
The biggest concern for Sceptre is currently the reliability of its guidance systems. While tests were reportedly done “even in GPS-contested environments,” tests often vary significantly from real battlefield conditions. In the case of Excalibur, the weapon system reportedly had a 70% efficiency rate in Ukrainian service.
Just two months after its battlefield introduction, its efficiency dropped to 6% due to Russian jamming systems that had evolved to counter the current threat.
The biggest issue with guided munitions of any kind is that enemy jammers never remain static. Electronic warfare systems can be tuned much more easily than guidance systems can, and what worked one day can easily be rendered obsolete the next.
About the Author: Isaac Seitz
Isaac Seitz, a Defense Columnist, graduated from Patrick Henry College’s Strategic Intelligence and National Security program. He has also studied Russian at Middlebury Language Schools and has worked as an intelligence Analyst in the private sector.
