The Perfect Soldier: Special Operations, Commandos, and the Future of Us Warfare by James F. Dunnigan
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Dirty Little Secrets
The Best Artillery in the World
by Harold C. Hutchison
July 7, 2005
Discussion Board on this DLS topic
The first artillery was towed, primarily by horses. Towed
guns always had some advantages over the faster and more expensive
self-propelled guns. They are lighter, which makes it easier to deploy them via
aircraft (thus ensuring that a light division will have support). They are
cheaper, which makes the bean-counters happy. They are also simpler, which
means much less can go wrong. That said, the low price, light weight, and
simplicity comes with a trade-off in tactical mobility. Towed howitzers, which
rely these days on trucks to move them, have a harder time keeping up with
mobile units (like armor and mechanized infantry) than self-propelled
artillery. That said, there are a number of good towed artillery pieces in the
world.
Russia has a variety of these guns. One of the most common
around the world is the D-30 howitzer. This 122mm gun has a range of 21.9
kilometers and fires a range of ammunition – to include chemical, incendiary
and HEAT rounds. Another common gun in the world from Russia is the D-20, a
152mm gun that was also used as the basis of the 2S3 howitzer. Russia did the
same with the 2A65 – which became the basis of the 2S5 self-propelled gun.
Russia has a new 152mm towed gun in service, the 2A36 Giatsint. It has a range
of 28.5 kilometers firing conventional shells or 44 kilometers with extended range
shells. Its ammunition system is incompatible with previous 152mm howitzers.
The United States has a 105mm howitzer, the M119, that was
built in the U.S. as a licensed copy of the L118, a British howitzer that was
proven in the 1982 Falklands War. This two-ton howitzer can fire shells as far
as 19 kilometers away. The M198 is the standard towed 155mm howitzer. It weighs
8 tons, and can fire conventional rounds as far as 22.4 kilometers (for
rocket-assisted projectiles, the range is 30 kilometers). The M198 is slated to
be replaced by the XM777, which will have a weight of about 5 tons (about 37
percent less than the M198). The XM777, which is going to be the basis of the
NLOS-C self-propelled gun, can fire conventional shells up to 30 kilometers, while
rocket-assisted projectiles will be able to travel 40 kilometers.
Europe also has a collection of towed 155mm howitzers.
Sweden’s Bofors FH 77 not only comes in a towed version, but also a
self-propelled version. It can fire shells as far as 40 kilometers. The FH 70
is in service with the United Kingdom and Japan. It fires conventional shells
24 kilometers, and rocket-assisted projectiles 30 kilometers. Germany’s FH
155-1 weighs about 10 tons, and can fire its shells 24 kilometers away. France
has the TRF-1, which weighs 19 tons, and can fire conventional shells 24
kilometers, with rocket-assisted projectiles going as far as 30 kilometers.
However, the best of the towed guns – at least on paper - is
from South Africa. The original G5 was developed by Dr. Gerald Bull (a real
genius with guns, who was killed by an Israeli hit squad after he went to work
for Saddam Hussein). Weighing in at 14 tons, it can reach out with conventional
shells and hit targets as far as 39 kilometers away. The newer G5-52 extends
this guns reach to just over 55 kilometers. Like the Russians, South Africa
created a self-propelled version of this gun, the G6 (with the newer version
being the G6-52). These guns reach even further (the extended-range version can
fire “velocity-enhanced” projectiles as far as 67 kilometers). That said, the
long range can be a handicap, since the G5 and G6 are reliant upon good target
acquisition systems (South Africa has designed a UAV, the Seeker II, for use
with the G6-52) and secure command and control facilities (it should be noted
that command and control is something the United States has had a history of
going after from the Revolutionary War on – just ask the British). In Desert
Storm, when Iraq’s target acquisition systems and command and control
facilities were taken out by Coalition air strikes, the G5s were unable to hit
the targets that they could not locate. Many ended up destroyed by either air
strikes (aircraft and helicopters can fly further than the G6-52 can fire its
shells) or MLRS counter-battery fire. When countries have been able to acquire
targets and protect command and control, the G5 has been devastating – as
Israel proved in 1986. The G5’s potential can only be achieved when the
soldiers using it are well-trained. The same, of course, can be said for any of
these artillery systems.
Self-propelled artillery got its start in World War I, about
the same time as the tank. It was intended to provide a much more mobile source
of fire support, available at any time in any weather. Artillery is one of the
most reliable means to support armor and infantry in offensive or defensive
operations. Nothing can decoy or intercept an incoming artillery shell. Which
is the best of the current self-propelled artillery among the major powers?
Most of these howitzers are 152mm or 155mm howitzers. These
shells weigh anywhere from 96 to 100
pounds. These self-propelled systems are usually on tracked vehicles, to
provide the ability to operate on all forms of terrain.
Russia has three 152mm self-propelled howitzers: The 2S3,
the 2S5, and the 2S19. The 2S3 is a self-propelled version of the D-20 towed
howitzer (the howitzer is simply mounted in a turret). It hurls its 96-pound
shells as far as 17 kilometers (or 30 kilometers with a rocket-propelled shell).
It has a top speed of 50 kilometers an hour, and can travel 450 kilometers
before needing to refuel. The 2S5 is a purpose-built self-propelled gun that
was intended to replace the 130mm towed guns as a long-range fire-support
system. The 2S5 can fire nuclear rounds, as well as chemical and conventional
rounds as far as 28.5 kilometers, and can fire rocket-assisted projectiles 40
kilometers. It can go as fast as 63 kilometers per hour and travel 500
kilometers. The 2S19 is the newest Russian self-propelled 152mm howitzer. This
used a T-72 tank chassis, and carries its 152mm gun in a turret. This was
intended to replace all of the other 122mm and 152mm self-propelled howitzers,
but budgetary restraints make this unlikely. It fires its shells as far as 29 kilometers.
Several Western European countries have 155mm howitzers.
Germany has a 155mm self-propelled howitzer in the PzH2000, which has a top
speed of 60 kilometers per hour and can travel 420 kilometers. It fires its
shells 30 kilometers (40 with rocket assistance). The United Kingdom operates
the AS90, which has a top speed of 53 kilometers per hour and can travel
420 kilometers. Its early version fired shells 24.7 kilometers, while the
current version with a longer barrel fires its shells 30 kilometers. France
operates the AUF-1, which has a top speed of 60 kilometers per hour, and can
fire normal shells 23.5 kilometers, with extended-range shells being fired 30
kilometers. France is also developing a new self-propelled gun called CAESAR,
which has a longer barrel (52 calibers as opposed to the 39 calibers on the
AUF-1). CAESAR uses a UNIMOG truck chassis with six wheels, and can be carried
by a C-130, which is very rare for a self-propelled howitzer.
The United States currently uses the M109A6 Paladin
howitzer. The Paladin has a top speed of 61 kilometers per hour, and can travel
299 kilometers. Its gun can fire conventional shells 22 kilometers, while
rocket-assisted shells can be fired at targets as far as 30 kilometers away.
The Paladin, though, weighs 32 tons, and the basic M109 design is nearly 50
years old. The United States was looking for something new. The Crusader had
been planned to fill this role, going 67 kilometers per hour, with a cruise
range of 404 kilometers. It was also intended to be capable of firing at
targets as far as 50 kilometers away, and it had an impressive fire-control
system. The Crusader had a problem though. At 55 tons, it was heavy, and the
resupply vehicle was another 50 tons. In the post-9/11 world, this was a morbidly
obese system, and it was cancelled in 2002. The Army still needed a new system,
and so the Non-Line-Of-Sight-Cannon (NLOS-C) was begun. Using the lightweight
M777 howitzer in a tracked vehicle using a hybrid diesel-electric drive, it
comes in at 23 tons (and the goal is to get it slimmed down to 20 tons), making
it C-130-transportable. Its M777 howitzer can fire normal shells 30 kilometers,
and rocket-assisted shells can be fired 40 kilometers. It has taken advantage
of a lot of the Crusader’s technology (mostly in fire-control).
When NLOS-C comes into service, it will be the most
capable system in the world – easily transported anywhere in the world, with a
long range comparable to other, larger self-propelled howitzers, and capable of
handling terrain due to its tracks. Currently, though, the best of these
systems is the German PzH2000, due to its long-range firepower. Its 55-ton
weight, though, will limit its deployability.
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