On Wednesday, August 5, 2026, the US Department of State approved the potential sale to Norway of a package of M795 155 mm high-explosive artillery projectiles worth up to 270 million USD.
Photo: US Department of Defense
According to the published notice, the government in Oslo requested the possible acquisition of additional M795 155 mm high-explosive (HE) projectiles, technical assistance, technical documentation, US Government and contractor engineering, technical and logistics support services provided by American Ordnance and General Dynamics, as well as other related elements of logistics and program support. These are to be added to a previously requested package whose value was below the threshold requiring notification to Congress. The original Foreign Military Sales (FMS) case, valued at 99.99 million USD, covered an unspecified number of M795 projectiles.
The M795 is a standard artillery projectile used by the US Army and US Marine Corps (USMC). It was developed as a more effective, extended-range replacement for the M107, with a range of 22.5 km compared with 17.5 km. The complete round is 843 mm long, 155 mm in diameter, and has a total weight of 46.7 kg. The explosive charge weighs 10.8 kg. The US Army uses IMX-101, while the USMC continues to use TNT. An extended-range variant, designated M795E1, is also available, with a range of 28.7–37 km. The main manufacturers of M795 ammunition include the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant in Pennsylvania, owned by Chamberlain Manufacturing Corp., and the Day & Zimmermann facility in Parsons, Kansas, owned by Mason & Hanger – Silas Mason Company. M795 ammunition has recently been exported to countries including Australia and Israel, and previously to Austria and Lebanon. The United States has also supplied it to Ukraine as part of military assistance packages.
In the case of the Norwegian Army (Hæren), the ammunition will be used with 155 mm K9 VIDAR (Versatile InDirect ARtillery) self-propelled howitzers, the local variant of the South Korean K9A1 Thunder, operated by the Royal Norwegian Artillery Battalion (Artilleribataljonen). Norway currently operates 24 howitzers ordered in 2017 and delivered in 2021, while another four, ordered in 2022, were delivered in early 2025. In September last year, a further 28 were contracted, which will increase the fleet to a total of 56 howitzers.
On December 17, 2024, Norway received US approval for the purchase of a large batch of M1156A1 Precision Guidance Kit (PGK) modules for 155 mm artillery projectiles in a package worth up to 130 million USD.