Page "M109 howitzer" Paragraph 37

Prototypes of the vehicle are undergoing government testing in preparation for an low-rate initial production decision.

The testing includes reliability, availability and maintainability mission testing as well as ballistic hull and turret testing.

PIM is slated to begin low-rate initial production by 2013.

The U. S. Army plans on procuring a fleet of 580 PIM enabled sets of howitzers and ammunition support vehicles.

PIM is designed to accommodate networking technologies as they become ready.