JUNE 16, 2026 – Cannon engineers here used literal cutting-edge technology to cut rifled grooves in the bore of a 155mm M284 cannon barrel, leaving barrel conditions optimal for achieving a long-desired goal: bonding protective coatings to the hard steel.
The achievement was part of a manufacturing technology demonstration on March 13 of electrochemical machining – or ECM – a new, no-contact process enabled by a cathode cutter, salt water and low-voltage electricity, which cut the 48 spiraling grooves down the full length of the 39-caliber barrel in a single pass.
The demonstration barrel proved ready for the application of advanced protective coatings, which aim to extend the life of cannons and improve cannon performance.
“The protective coating applied to the bore is the primary defense against the extreme thermal and erosive environment inside a firing cannon.” said Christopher Mulligan, a materials engineer at Benét Laboratories.
“Without a perfect bond, the protective coating would fail under the stresses generated by high-energy propellants used in modern artillery and quickly degrade the underlying barrel steel,” said Mulligan.
The ECM cutting process facilitates the perfect bond: “It allows us to create a highly optimized surface for protective coatings, which is essential for extending longevity and maintaining the performance of our artillery,” said Christopher Humiston, ECM project lead at Benét Laboratories who notes that traditional cutting methods struggle with the new, harder steel alloys used in modern cannons.
“The ECM process represents a significant advancement in cannon production,” said Humiston.
Benét Laboratories engineers noted several additional benefits of ECM. First, the ECM process is faster and unaffected by the hardness of cannon steel. The ECM tool, or cathode, experiences virtually no wear, eliminating the recurring costs of tool resharpening and replacement.
“It also provides the flexibility to engineer complex rifling profiles that were previously unmanufacturable,” said Humiston. Future concepts for cannon technology include variable-depth rifling.
“ECM technology provides more agile development of rifling geometries to match areas of innovation” said Tyler Heritage, a mechanical engineer at Benét Laboratories. “This agility, alongside other benefits of the ECM technology, allows us to facilitate developments in the surrounding engineering fields and produce the most advanced artillery for the warfighter.”
Another benefit of ECM flexibility is a reduced need for expensive re-tooling, allowing engineers to move more rapidly to prototype new designs.
The ECM effort was a collaboration involving the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM) Armaments Center’s Benet Laboratories and the U.S. Army’s cannon barrel production and industry partners, Voxel Innovations and Corrdesa, Inc.
The technology will be transitioned to Watervliet Arsenal, the nation’s cannon manufacturer, with the installation of a new production ECM machine.
The Army Manufacturing Technology (ManTech) program’s investment was instrumental in maturing this technology, advancing its Manufacturing Readiness Level from prototype Level 4 to Level 7, where a system is successfully demonstrated in a relevant environment.
ManTech is now a key component of Army’s Army flagship innovation engine, FUZE, under the Army’s Pathway for Innovation and Technology (https://pit.army.mil/pathway/mantech/).
Benét Laboratories is a directorate of the Armament Center’s Weapons and Software Engineering Center. The Armaments Center mission is tolead innovative research and lifecycle engineering of armaments solutions.
Story by Eric Kowal
Picatinny Arsenal