Artillery
- For other uses of the term, see Artillery (disambiguation)
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Historically, artillery (from French artillerie) refers to any engine used for the discharge of projectiles during war. The term also describes ground-based troops with the primary function of manning such weapons. Artillery is sometimes known as "The King of Battle". This term includes coastal artillery which traditionally defended coastal areas against seaborne attack and controlled the passage of ships using their ability to deny access through the threat of coastal fire. It also includes land-based field artillery. With the advent of powered flight at the start of the 20th Century, artillery also included ground-based anti-aircraft batteries.
History
The word as used in the current context originated in the Middle Ages. It comes from the Old French atellier meaning "to arrange", and attillement meaning "equipment". From the 13th century an artillier referred to a builder of any war equipment, and for the next 250 years the sense of the word "artillery" covered all forms of military weapons.
Older engines like the catapult, onager, trebuchet and ballista are artillery, but the modern term dates from the mid 15th century with bombards and then cannon. See siege engines for more information on pre-gunpowder devices.
Bombards are the earliest of gunpowder artillery, distinguished by their lack of a field carriage, immobility once emplaced, highly individual design, and noted unreliability. The use of the word cannon marks the introduction of a dedicated field carriage with axle, trail and horse-drawn limber - this produced mobile field pieces that could move and support an army in action rather than being found only in siege and static defenses. Cannon were always muzzle-loaders, casting technology having standardized and removed the often dangerous breech-loading design.
Cannon operation was still a complex technical task, often undertaken at high-speed and in stressful conditions, where a mistake could easily be lethal. The field carriage eased movement in general, but traverse and elevation were still very limited and slow - the large number of people who were the cannon's crew ramming levers, handspikes, to force a movement of a few degrees. Larger movements were by brute force shoves of the entire unit, as was repositioning after recoil, an extremely enervating task.
The first documented record of artillery with gunpowder used on the battle field is on January 28, 1132. General Han Shizhong of the Song Dynasty used escalade and artillery to capture a city in Fujian from the Mongols.
The combining of shot and powder into a single unit, a cartridge, occurred in the 1620s with a simple fabric bag, and was quickly adopted by all nations. It speeded loading and made it safer, but unexpelled bag fragments were an additional fouling in the gun barrel and a new tool - a worm - was introduced to remove them. Shells, explosive-filled fused projectiles, were also developed - problems with the fuses were extremely common. The development of specialized pieces - shipboard artillery, howitzers and mortars - was also begun in this period. More esoteric designs, like the multi-barrel ribauldequin, were also built.
The 17th century book by Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth inventor Kazimierz Siemienowicz "Artis Magnae Artilleriae pars prima" ("Great Art of Artillery, the First Part," also known as "The Complete Art of Artillery") was one of the most important contemporary publications on the subject of artillery. For over two centuries this work was used in Europe as a basic artillery manual.
Oddly the development of cannon almost halted until the 19th century--improvements in metallurgy, chemistry, manufacturing, and so on, did not alter the basic design and operation of a cannon. From the 1860s artillery was forced into a series of rapid technological and operational changes, accelerating through the 1870s and on. The main impetus was the improvement in small arms, which increasingly allowed riflemen to threaten the large cannon crews and ammunition stocks. Artillery could thus no longer be deployed in the battle line, but had to either become smaller, lighter, and more mobile to stay with the troops or get much further away. The second option, using indirect fire, drove the development of the technologies and doctrines that have produced modern artillery.
Modern artillery
Modern artillery is distinguished by its large caliber, firing an explosive shell or rocket, and being of such a size and weight as to require a specialized mount for firing and transport. Weapons covered by this term include "cannon" artillery such as the howitzer, mortar, and field gun and rocket artillery. Certain smaller-caliber mortars are more properly designated small arms rather than artillery, albeit indirect-fire small arms.
The term "artillery" has traditionally not been used for projectiles with internal guidance systems, even though some artillery units employ surface-to-surface missiles. Advances in terminal guidance systems for small munitions has allowed large-caliber projectiles to be developed, blurring this distinction.
Types
The types of cannon artillery are generally distinguished by the velocity at which they fire projectiles. Naval guns or infantry support guns are typically longer-barreled, low-trajectory, high-velocity weapons designed primarily for a direct-fire role. Typically the length of a cannon barrel is greater than 25 times its caliber (inner diameter).
Howitzers are relatively shorter. Capable of both high- and low-angle fire, they are most often employed in an indirect-fire role, capable of operating in defilade. Typically, the length of a howitzer cannon is between 15 and 25 times its caliber.
Mortars are smaller, low-velocity, high-angle weapons capable of only high-trajectory fire at a relatively short range. Typically the length of a mortar barrel is less than 15 times its caliber.
Modern field artillery can also be split into two other categories: towed and self-propelled. As the name suggests, towed artillery has a prime mover, usually a jeep or truck, to move the piece, crew, and ammunition around. Self-propelled howitzers are permanently mounted on a carriage or vehicle with room for the crew and ammunition and are thus capable of moving quickly from one firing position to another, both to support the fluid nature of modern combat and to avoid counter-battery fire. There are also mortar carrier vehicles, many of which allow the mortar to be removed from the vehicle and be used dismounted, potentially in terrain in which the vehicle cannot navigate or in order to avoid detection.
Sub-types
Types of artillery:
- Field artillery - mobile weapons used to support armies in the field. Subcategories include:
- infantry support guns - directly support infantry units (mostly obsolete).
- mountain guns - lightweight weapons that can be moved through difficult terrain.
- howitzers - capable of high angle fire.
- gun howitzers - capable of high or low angle fire with a long barrel.
- mortars - weapons that fire projectiles at an angle of over 45 degrees to the horizontal.
- rocket artillery - alternative propulsion.
- Motorized artillery - towed by Artillery tractors.
- Self-propelled artillery - typically guns, mortars or gun howitzers mounted on a vehicle.
- Naval artillery - cannons mounted on warships and used either against other ships or in support of ground forces. The crowning achievement of naval artillery was the battleship, bristling with guns of up to 18 inches (45 cm), but the advent of airpower and missiles have rendered this type of artillery largely obsolete.
- Coastal artillery - Fixed-position weapons dedicated to defense of a particular location, usually a coast (e.g. the Atlantic Wall in WW II) or harbor. Not needing to be mobile, coastal artillery used to be much larger than equivalent field artillery pieces, giving them longer range and more destructive power. Modern coastal artillery (eg, Russia's 'Bereg' system) is often self propelled, (allowing it to avoid counter-battery fire) and fully integrated, meaning that each battery has all of the support systems that it requires (maintenance, targeting radar, etc.) organic to its unit.
- Anti-aircraft artillery - weapons, usually mobile, designed for attacking aircraft from the ground. Some guns were suitable for dual-rôle anti-aircraft and field (anti-tank) use. The WWII German 88 mm gun was a famous example.
Artillery Ammunition
- Artillery ammunition has four classifications according to use:
- Service: ammunition used in live fire training or for wartime use in a combat zone.
- Practice: Ammunition with a low, or no explosive charge for use under training conditions.
- Dummy:Ammunition with no explosive charges for display or training use.
- Blank Ammunition with a low explosive and no projectile used for training or ceremonial use.
- Artillery ammunition consists of three components
- 1: The Fuse
- 2: The Projectile
- 3: The Propellant
Fuses
Proximity fuses can be set to detonate at a specified height above the ground, producing air-bursts which are much more lethal against personnel than explosions at ground level. In anti-aircraft fire the proximity fuse can be made to have a premature detonation because of the moisture in heavy rain clouds.
The proximity fuse emerged on the battlefields of Europe in late December 1944. They have become known as the US Artillery's Christmas present, and were much appreciated when they arrived during the Battle of the Bulge. Proximity fuses were extremely effective against German personnel in the open, and hence were very helpful in breaking up the German attacks. Electronic proximity fuses were a big improvement over the mechanical (non-proximity) fuses which they replaced, as time fuses required an accurate estimate of the rounds time of flight to the target and especially of the altitude of the target area. If the target's altitude was incorrectly estimated the rounds would either strike the ground or burst too high.
Delay fuses are used to allow the round to penetrate into the earth before exploding. This is very effective for attacking earthen bunkers. Similarly, hardened delay fuses are used against concrete bunkers.
Projectiles
The projectile is the ordnance or "bullet" fired downrange. This may or may not be an explosive device. Payloads include high-explosive, dual purpose improved conventional munitions (DPICM)- bomblet, canister or anti-personnel, flechette, illuminating or star-shell, armor-piercing including high explosive anti-tank (HEAT), incendiary (white phosphorus, "Willie Pete"), gas or aerosol, chemical or biological agents, smoke, and nuclear devices, and others.
Variations of projectiles include:
- Spin-stabilized - Use helical grooves or ridges on the inside of the barrel to impart a rotation to the projectile as it is travelling in the barrel. (See also rifling)
- Smoothbore - some projectiles, such as high explosive anti-tank (HEAT), are less effective if they are spinning.
- Fin-stabilized - Use fins at the rear of the projectile in the airflow to maintain correct orientation.
- Inverted tube - Some weapons have been built with the tube built into the projectile and fitted onto a rod fitted to the carriage. These are commonly known as spigot rounds, and are usually used for mortars.
Propellant
All forms of artillery require a propellant to fire the projectile at the target. A number of different configurations have been developed, each with varying characteristics. They include:
- Tube fired - utilize the pressure of burnt propellant inside a barrel to force a projectile out of the mouth of the barrel.
- Recoilless - A tube fired weapon with a breech designed to perforate a bursting disk at firing, and permit a mass of burnt propellant gases with momentum equal to the projectile to exit from the rear of the barrel, to prevent recoil from affecting the weapon.
- Rocket propelled - Tube or rail launched - A reaction propulsion system mounted to the projectile provides continuous thrust for an initial period of the flight.
- Rocket assist - A combination of tube fired and rocket propelled - uses a rocket motor in the base of the projectile to extend the range by about 30%.
- Base bleed - Similar to a rocket assist projectile, uses a small pyrotechnic charge at the base of the projectile. The charge introduces sufficient combustion products into the low-pressure region behind the base of the projectile responsible for a large proportion of the drag to substantially (> 30%) increase range. Like a rocket assist projectile, trajectory is changed to non-ballistic, which may complicate counter-battery location.
Modern artillery operations
Depending on the caliber of the weapons, artillery is used in a variety of roles. Mortars fire relatively short range and small- to medium-caliber (up to about 120 mm) projectiles. Modern mortars, because of their lighter weight and simpler, more transportable design, are an integral part of infantry and armor units, allowing greater responsiveness and negating their shorter range.
Howitzers are generally used in direct support of infantry and armor, where the guns of a battery or even a battalion will be massed to fire simultaneously onto a single point or area target. Howitzers are usually between about 105 mm and 155 mm in caliber.
Counter-battery fire
Attacks aimed at enemy artillery pieces or their crews, rather than infantry or fortifications, are known as counter battery fire.
Large-scale use of counter-battery fire began in World War I, which due to the static nature of trench warfare was especially dominated by artillery. Fixes on enemy batteries were obtained using both multiple spotters watching for muzzle flashes, and microphones recording the sound of the shot. Each system was effective in ideal conditions, but microphones could easily be swamped by continuous fire and spotters had to be certain they were looking at the same muzzle flash. Flash spotting and acoustic measurements continued to be used until near the end of World War II, when radar coupled to (initially primitive) computers began to be introduced. Radar can more accurately track a projectile in flight back to its firing point, which can then be used for targeting information for counter-battery fire. Today the combination of radars for determining the location of artillery fire with computerized fire control computers allows rapid counterbattery. During the 1991 Persian gulf war, MLRS units were tasked specifically with counterbattery duties due to their long range and enormous striking power. MLRS units were able to perform this feat in under a minute. In many cases MLRS rockets were being launched before the enemy rounds had landed.[1]
When artillery fire is directed via radio by a forward observer (FO), the location of FO's transmitter can be calculated and attacked with artillery as well. If successful, this counter-attack will limit the effectiveness of the FO's artillery fire. Radar also improves the all-weather flexibility of modern artillery.
The rise in counter-battery abilities has driven field artillery to adopt "shoot-and-scoot" tactics emphasizing constant maneuver within a designated position area, usually from hide point to firing point and back again. This has required reliance on sometimes temperamental technology and increased the cost of modern field artillery systems.
Field artillery team
Modern field artillery (Post-World War I) has three distinct parts: the forward observer (or FO), the fire direction center (FDC) and the actual guns themselves. The forward observer observes the target using tools such as binoculars, laser range-finders, designators and call back fire missions on his radio, or relays the data through a portable computer via an encrypted digital radio connection protected from jamming by computerized frequency hopping.
The FO can communicate directly with the battery FDC, of which there is one per each battery of 4-8 guns. Otherwise the several FOs communicate with a higher FDC such as at a Battalion level, and the higher FDC prioritizes the targets and allocates fires to individual batteries as needed to engage the targets that are spotted by the FOs or to perform preplanned fires.
The Battery FDC computes firing data--ammunition to be used, powder charge, fuse settings, the direction to the target, and the quadrant elevation to be fired at to reach the target, what gun will fire any rounds needed for adjusting on the target, and the number of rounds to be fired on the target by each gun once the target has been accurately located--to the guns. Traditionally this data is relayed via radio or wire communications as a warning order to the guns, followed by orders specifying the type of ammunition and fuse setting, direction, and the elevation needed to reach the target, and the method of adjustment or orders for fire for effect (FFE). However in more advanced artillery units, this data is relayed through a digital radio link.
Other parts of the field artillery team include meteorological analysis to determine the temperature, humidity and pressure of the air and wind direction and speed at different altitudes. Also radar is used both for determining the location of enemy artillery and mortar batteries and to determine the precise actual strike points of rounds fired by battery and comparing that location with what was expected to compute a registration allowing future rounds to be fired with much greater accuracy.
MRSI
It is possible for modern computer-controlled artillery to fire more than one volley at a target and have all the shells arrive simultaneously, which is called MRSI (Multiple Rounds Simultaneous Impact). This is because there is more than one trajectory for the rounds to fly to any given target - typically one is below 45 degrees from horizontal and the other is above it, and if you can vary the amount of propellant with each shell, you can create more trajectories. Because the higher trajectories cause the shells to arc higher into the air, they take longer to reach the target and so if the shells are fired on these trajectories for the first volleys (starting with the shell with the most propellant and working down) and then after the correct pause more volleys are fired on the lower trajectories, the shells will all arrive at the same time. This is useful because many more shells can land on the target with no warning. With traditional volleys along the same trajectory, anybody at the target point will have a certain amount of time (however long it takes to reload and re-fire the guns) to run away or take cover between volleys. In addition, if guns in more than one location are firing on one target, with careful timing it can be arranged for all their shells to land at the same time for the same reason.
Examples of MRSI guns are South Africa's Denel G6-52 (which can land six rounds simultaneously at targets at least 25 km away) and Germany's Panzer Haubitze 2000 (which can land five rounds simultaneously at targets at least 17 km away). The United States Crusader program (now cancelled) was slated to have MRSI capability.
Time on Target
A technique called Time on Target was developed by the US Army during World War 2. This technique uses a precise determination of the time of flight from each firing battery to the target area. When a Time on Target (TOT) is designated each battery that will join in firing on that target subtracts the time of flight from the TOT to determine the time to fire. Individual firing batteries train to fire their rounds as close to simultaneously as possible. When each firing battery fires their rounds at their individual time to fire every round will reach the target area nearly simultaneously. This is especially effective when combined with techniques that allow fires for effect to be made without preliminary adjusting fires.
Airburst
An additional wrinkle can be added when some or all of the shells are set for airburst, meaning they explode in the air above the target instead of upon impact. This can be accomplished either through time fuses or proximity fuses. Time fuses use a precise timer to detonate the round a certain amount of time after firing. Unfortunately, this technique is tricky and slight variations in the functioning of the fuse can cause it to explode too high and be ineffective, or to strike the ground instead of exploding above it. Since December of 1944 proximity fused artillery rounds have been available that take the guesswork out of this process. These rounds use a miniature radar to detect the ground and explode them at a predetermined height above it.
This is a very effective tactic against infantry and light vehicles because it scatters the fragmentation of the shell over a larger area and prevents it from being blocked by terrain or entrenchments that do not include some form of robust overhead cover. Combined with TOT or MRSI tactics that give no warning of the incoming rounds these rounds are especially devastating because many enemy soldiers are likely to be caught in the open. This is even more so if the attack is launched against an assembly area or troops moving in the open rather than a unit in an entrenched tactical position.
technical - metal, propellant, recuperation, manufacturing - obturation, etc. doctrine - direct vs indirect fire, predicted fire, observed fire - forward observation, pre-planned fire - registered fire, barrage, creeping barrage, STOP (simultaneous time on top)
See also
- List of artillery
- 88 mm gun
- Field artillery
- Field Artillery in the American Civil War
- Artillery battery
- Field artillery team
- Paris Gun
- Nuclear artillery
- Self-propelled artillery
- Shell (projectile)
- Siege engine
- Harry S. Truman a "redleg" in World War I
External links
- [2] Portsmouth Action Field Gun Pictures and Video]
- Cannon Artillery - The Voice Of Freedom's Thunder
- Modern Artillery
- Video: Inside one of Missouri’s 16" gun room, about 1955. (Windows Media File)
- Artilley and weapons used in the Boer Wars
- Artillery Tactics and Combat during the Napoleonic Wars
- Artillery of Napoleon's Imperial Guard
