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Posted on 09/06/2004 11:23:18 PM PDT by SAMWolf
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 are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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| Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel free to address their specific circumstances or whatever issues concern them in an atmosphere of peace, understanding, brotherhood and support. The FReeper Foxhole hopes to share with it's readers an open forum where we can learn about and discuss military history, military news and other topics of concern or interest to our readers be they Veteran's, Current Duty or anyone interested in what we have to offer. If the Foxhole makes someone appreciate, even a little, what others have sacrificed for us, then it has accomplished one of it's missions. We hope the Foxhole in some small way helps us to remember and honor those who came before us.
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 The modern artillery piece is an incredibly lethal and (in the public eye) totally unappreciated piece of machinery. It lacks the popularity and accessibility of the personal firearm or the glamour of the main battle tank, but artillery is an absolutely crucial component of combined-arms tactics in ground warfare. Sci-fi fan discussions of ground warfare often assume that artillery is unnecessary in the presence of air support, but this is a totally unrealistic approach. While artillery doesn't produce pretty pictures of smart bombs hitting buildings for CNN, it does produce results, particularly against targets which are not easily seen from the air. Unlike aircraft, artillery is unaffected by cloud cover or similar visibility conditions; as long as the spotter can relay the target location, the act of aiming is performed through mathematical computation rather than visual target acquisition. Furthermore, artillery isn't as easily fooled by cardboard decoys or other guerilla tricks, since its targeting is based on forward observers rather than detection from a distance. An artillery piece is also much less expensive than an aircraft, and a high explosive shell is much less expensive than a multi-million dollar guided missile. Artillery has an effective 100% duty cycle in the local combat area, unlike aircraft which cover large areas and must periodically return to base for refueling, maintenance, etc. Artillery is also much harder to detect than aircraft. Even a stealth aircraft is neither invisible or silent, while a camouflaged artillery piece can avoid detection until it opens fire, even in daytime.  Artillery pieces can range from small 52mm mortars to massive 8-inch self-propelled howitzers such as the M110A1, and they serve two purposes: close-range infantry support and long-range destruction of enemy units. Since artillery fires projectiles in an arcing trajectory, it has the absolutely priceless ability to hit targets without a line of sight. The importance of this capability simply cannot be overstated. An enemy tank column can be attacked by field artillery from behind geographical obstructions, and even if the attacking artillery is within range, the tanks still wouldn't be able to shoot back. In mountainous terrain, this capability is absolutely crucial; an army without artillery is a dead army. Of course, this leads to the obvious question of how artillery is aimed, and that job falls to fire control and the forward observer. Forward observers operate independently, and their job is to locate the target. They can be anything from specially equipped vehicles to men on foot, and they are typically equipped with laser rangefinders and accurate positioning systems such as GPS systems, so that they can relay very accurate targeting data back to fire control. Fire control then performs mathematical computations to determine the ideal firing angle and charge in order to hit the target, factoring in such variables as wind, humidity, temperature, etc. Modern systems even have multiple simultaneous strike capability, which is accomplished by firing three times in rapid succession: once at very high elevation, once at medium elevation, and once at low elevation. All three shots are timed so that they hit the target at the same time, from three different angles. Against a hardened target, this can effectively triple the power of the weapon. Against soft targets like infantry, the approach is somewhat different; a single proximity-fused projectile is set to explode in the air above the target and shower it with shrapnel. Either way, whether the target is a bunker, a column of armoured vehicles, or a group of infantry, if the artillery can find it, the artillery can destroy it.  Unfortunately, the greatest advantage of the artillery piece is also its greatest weakness: the parabolic trajectory of its projectile. While it allows the artillery piece to hit its target at great distances without a line of sight, it also allows a well-equipped enemy to swiftly locate the artillery piece, simply by tracking the arc of its projectile and mathematically computing its source. Specialized systems have been designed for just this purpose: for example, the EMI Cymbeline radar system is a specialized mortar-locating radar system, and the US Army's Firefinder system can locate both mortars and field artillery pieces. This means that field artillery is as much of a target as a threat, and the best efforts at concealment are basically for naught when the gun is ordered to open fire. However, the enemy must be well equipped in order to exploit this weakness, thus further underscoring the necessity of artillery: an enemy without effective artillery of his own would be helpless to exploit this weakness, so you would be able to attack him with impunity. Another point of vulnerability is the forward observer, since your artillery cannot target the enemy if your forward observers have been killed or captured. A possible alternative to the forward observer is the small aerial RPV (remote piloted vehicle), which is already in use for naval gunnery. However, the RPV is an expensive device, and forward observers are expected to be available on the battlefield by the time artillery is deployed.  Mobile warfare is hampered by immobile artillery support, so a full-scale conventional warfare scenario requires self-propelled artillery pieces. The doctrine of self-propelled gun deployment calls for large numbers of independent units to situate themselves around the countryside and move with the infantry and armour units. When a target is identified by the spotters, all of these artillery pieces will simultaneously open fire and shower it with shells, before pulling up stakes and changing positions in order to avoid the inevitable enemy artillery counter-attack (the slang term is "shoot and scoot". In this way, mobile artillery units achieve the dangerous combination of mobility, dispersion, and firepower concentration.
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Did you get bailed out of jail to finish your outprocessing like your humble servant?
Congrats on becoming a PCS
Permeant
Civilian
Status
Good morning Aeronaut.
Good morning manna.
LOL.
What a neat idea. Thanks PE.
And I get to read about heavily armed recreational vehicles this morning too! Thanks for the thread and I hope this finds everyone well.
Good morning Mayor.
Morning Gail.
Tanks for dropping by DD. :-)
Hello Colonel. All's well on the western front. :-)
Hi to you!
Glad things are well with you. I've got the north nailed down so between you, me and Sam we appear to control about quarter of the continental U.S. I feel good about that ;)
Morning Colonel.
Had a good Labor Day weekend. Good to hear you enjoyed yours.
Morning DD. Thanks for dropping by.
That really is a thing of beauty.
Israel Military Industry Unveil New Extended Range Artillery Ammunition
Israel Military Industry IIMI) is developing an extended range, modular, artillery projectile (ERMAP) that will be able to reach distances of up to 80 km without increasing the firing pressures in the barrel. The developers are planning to achieve this effect by deploying aerodynamic surfaces and autonomous guidance, based on Global Satellite Positioning (GPS) inside the projectile. The new ammunition is designed to hit target at such range, with accuracy of 30 CEP, good enough for effective attack by scatterable munitions or smart submunitions
Side note:
Allong with overhead ROV'S for real time targeting,
Israel has used covert insertion of FIST teams or FCD's in South Lebanon.
Hizbullah and Syrian forces respond with their hunter teams,
cat and mouse drama.....in South Lebanon
I LIKE IT!!
ROFLMAO is an understatement. Just an example, the FCC used to have form 610, a simple 2 page, single sheet form used for all actions regarding an Amateur Radio license. Goron had the FCC combine the forms for any type of radio license, Amateur, Business, Marine, Aircraft, etc., together into a single form 605. Now, instead of everyone having their own 2 page form, everyboby uses the same 24 page form, wasting 22 pages per transaction.
So much for saving trees. DOH!
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