A Howitzer Round That Flies 150 km

Tiberius Aerospace's liquid-fueled ramjet munition SCEPTRE is rewriting how NATO armies close the fires gap — without buying new guns.

By The Defense Desk

In April, Tiberius Aerospace achieved what it calls a world first: liquid-fueled ramjet ignition from a NATO-standard 155mm howitzer, with stable flight [1]. Now the company is moving to live shots at 150 kilometers or further, with certification targeted for the end of this year and deliveries slated for Q1 next year [1].

The design logic is blunt. SCEPTRE is built to close that gap using hardware already in service across NATO — no new platform required.

Liquid fuel is central to the engineering. The round survives a 16,500-G launch by replacing moving parts with an injection system built to take that load; the payoff is a weapon that can run on diesel, Jet A-1, or JP-10, ships defueled as an inert device, and needs only a battery and an O-ring replaced every 10 years for a couple hundred dollars [1]. Thrust curves are adjustable in flight, unlike solid-fueled alternatives.

The broader argument is about tempo. Defense procurement built on decade-long cycles cannot keep pace with adversaries who iterate every few months — so the supply chain itself becomes a strategic asset, structured for continuous deployment rather than stockpile drawdown.

Whether SCEPTRE completes certification on schedule will be the first real test of whether Defense-as-a-Service is a model or a marketing line [1].

Today you can see further than you can shoot.Chad Steelberg