Artillery

For other uses of the term, see Artillery (disambiguation). ther shot (if solid) or shell (if not). Shell is a widely
Artillery is a class of large military weapons built used generic term for a projectile, which is a component
of munitions.
By association, artillery may also refer to the arm of service that customarily operates such engines. In some
armies one arm has operated eld, coast, anti-aircraft artillery and some anti-tank artillery, in others these have
been separate arms and in some nations coast has been a
naval or marine responsibility. In the 20th Century technology based target acquisition devices, such as radar,
and systems, such as sound ranging and ash spotting,
emerged to acquire targets, primarily for artillery. These
are usually operated by one or more of the artillery arms.
The widespread adoption of indirect re in the early
20th Century introduced the need for specialist data for
eld artillery, notably survey and meteorological, in some
armies provision of these are the responsibility of the artillery arm.
Artillery originated for use against ground targets
against infantry, cavalry and other artillery. An early specialist development was coast artillery for use against enemy ships. The early 20th Century saw the development
of a new class of artillery for use against aircraft: antiaircraft guns.
French naval piece of the late 19th century

Artillery is arguably the most lethal form of land-based

armament currently employed, and has been since at least
to re munitions far beyond the range and power of the early Industrial Revolution. The majority of combat
infantry's small arms. Early artillery development fo- deaths in the Napoleonic Wars, World War I, and World
cused on the ability to breach fortications, and led to War II were caused by artillery.[1] In 1944, Joseph Stalin
heavy, fairly immobile siege engines. As technology said in a speech that artillery was the God of War.[1]
improved, lighter, more mobile eld artillery developed
for battleeld use. This development continues today;
modern self-propelled artillery vehicles are highly mobile
weapons of great versatility providing the largest share of 1 Artillery piece
an armys total repower.
In its earliest sense, the word artillery referred to any
group of soldiers primarily armed with some form of
manufactured weapon or armour. Since the introduction of gunpowder and cannon, the word artillery has
largely meant cannon, and in contemporary usage, it usually refers to shell-ring guns, howitzers, mortars, rockets
and guided missiles. In common speech, the word artillery is often used to refer to individual devices, along
with their accessories and ttings, although these assemblages are more properly called equipments. However,
there is no generally recognised generic term for a gun,
howitzer, mortar, and so forth: the United States uses
artillery piece, but most English-speaking armies use
gun and mortar. The projectiles red are typically ei-

Although not called as such, machines performing the

role recognizable as artillery have been employed in warfare since antiquity. The rst references in the western
historical tradition begin at Syracuse in 399 BC, and these
devices were widely employed by the Roman legions in
Republican times well before the Christian era. Until
the introduction of gunpowder into western warfare, artillery depended upon mechanical energy to operate, and
this severely limited the kinetic energy of the projectiles,
while also requiring the construction of very large apparatus to store sucient energy. For comparison, a Roman 1st-century BC catapult using stones of 6.55 kg red
with a kinetic energy of 16,000 joules, while a mid-19thcentury 12-pounder gun ring projectiles of 4.1 kg red
1

2 CREW
support, and may at dierent periods in history refer to
weapons designed to be red from ground-, sea-, and even
air-based weapons platforms.

2 Crew
The term "gunner" is used in some armed forces for the
soldiers and sailors with the primary function of using artillery.

French soldiers in the Franco-Prussian War 187071.

7-person gun crew ring a US M777 Light Towed Howitzer, War

in Afghanistan, 2009.

the projectile with a kinetic energy of 240,000 joules.

The gunners and their guns are usually grouped in teams

called either crews or detachments. Several such
crews and teams with other functions are combined into a
unit of artillery, usually called a battery, although sometimes called a company. In gun detachments, each role
is numbered, starting with 1 the Detachment Commander, and the highest number being the Coverer, the
second-in-command. Gunner is also the lowest rank
and junior non-commissioned ocers are Bombardiers
in some artillery arms.

From the Middle Ages through most of the modern era,

artillery pieces on land were moved by horse-drawn gun
carriages. In the contemporary era, the artillery and crew
rely on wheeled or tracked vehicles as transportation,
though some of the largest were railway guns. Artillery
used by naval forces has changed signicantly also, with
missiles replacing guns in surface warfare.

Batteries are roughly equivalent to a company in the infantry, and are combined into larger military organizations for administrative and operational purposes, either
battalions or regiments, depending on the army. These
may be grouped into brigades; the Russian army also
groups some brigades into artillery divisions, and the
Peoples Liberation Army has artillery corps.

Over the course of military history, projectiles were manufactured from a wide variety of materials, made in a
wide variety of shapes, and used dierent means of inicting physical damage and casualties to defeat specic
types of targets. The engineering designs of the means of
delivery have likewise changed signicantly over time,
and have become some of the most complex technological application today.

The term artillery is also applied to a combat arm of

most military services when used organizationally to describe units and formations of the national armed forces
that operate the weapons.

British 64 Pounder Ried Muzzle-Loaded (RML) Gun on a Moncrie disappearing mount, at Scaur Hill Fort, Bermuda. This is a
part of a xed battery, meant to protect against over-land attack
and to serve as coastal artillery.

In some armies, the weapon of artillery is the projectile,

not the equipment that res it. The process of delivering
re onto the target is called gunnery. The actions involved
in operating the piece are collectively called serving the
gun by the detachment or gun crew, constituting either
direct or indirect artillery re. The manner in which artillery units or formations are employed is called artillery

During military operations, the role of eld artillery is to

provide support to other arms in combat or to attack targets, particularly in depth. Broadly, these eects fall into
two categories, either to suppress or neutralize the enemy,
or to cause casualties, damage, and destruction. This is
mostly achieved by delivering high-explosive munitions
to suppress, or inict casualties on the enemy from casing
fragments and other debris and blast, or by destroying enemy positions, equipment, and vehicles. Non-lethal munitions, notably smoke, can also be used to suppress or
neutralize the enemy by obscuring their view.

4.1

Invention of gunpowder

Fire may be directed by an artillery observer or other ob- catapult, onager, trebuchet, and ballista, are also referred
server, including manned and unmanned aircraft pilots, to by military historians as artillery.[3]
or called onto map coordinates.
Military doctrine has played a signicant inuence on the
4.1
core engineering design considerations of artillery ordnance through its history, in seeking to achieve a balance
between delivered volume of re with ordnance mobility. However, during the modern period, the consideration of protecting the gunners also arose due to the late19th-century introduction of the new generation of infantry weapons using conoidal bullet, better known as the
Mini ball, with a range almost as long as that of eld
artillery.

Invention of gunpowder

The gunners increasing proximity to and participation in

direct combat against other combat arms and attacks by
aircraft made the introduction of a gun shield necessary.
The problems of how to employ a xed or horse-towed
gun in mobile warfare necessitated the development of
new methods of transporting the artillery into combat.
Two distinct forms of artillery developed: the towed gun,
which was used primarily to attack or defend a xed line;
and the self-propelled gun, which was designed to accompany a mobile force and provide continuous re support.
These inuences have guided the development of artillery
ordnance, systems, organisations, and operations until the
present, with artillery systems capable of providing support at ranges from as little as 100 m to the intercontinental ranges of ballistic missiles. The only combat in
which artillery is unable to take part in is close quarters
combat, with the possible exception of artillery recon- A depiction of an early vase-shaped cannon dated from around
1350 AD. The illustration is from the 14th century Ming Dynasty
naissance teams.[2]
[4]
book Huolongjing.

See also: Gunpowder artillery in the Song dynasty

Etymology

The word as used in the current context originated in the

Middle Ages. One suggestion is that 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. Hence, the naming of the Honourable Artillery
Company an essentially infantry unit until the 19th century. Another suggestion is that it comes from the Italian
arte de tirare (art of shooting), coined by one of the rst
theorists on the use of artillery, Niccol Tartaglia.

History

See also: History of gunpowder

The rst documented record of artillery with gunpowder

propellant used on the battleeld was on January 28,
1132, when General Han Shizhong of the Song dynasty
used escalade and Huochong to capture a city in Fujian.[5]
Early Chinese artillery had vase-like shapes. This includes the long range awe inspiring cannon dated from
1350 and found in the 14th century Ming Dynasty treatise
Huolongjing.[4] With the development of better metallurgy techniques, later cannons abandoned the vase shape
of early Chinese artillery. This change can be seen in the
bronze thousand ball thunder cannon, an early example
of eld artillery.[6] These small, crude weapons diused
into the Middle East (the madfaa, see also the German
Wikipedia and midfa) and reached Europe in the 13th
century, in a very limited manner.
In Asia, Mongols adopted the Chinese artillery and used
it eectively in the great conquest. By the late 14th century, Chinese rebels used organized artillery and cavalry
to push Mongols out.

As small smooth-bore tubes these were initially cast in

Mechanical systems used for throwing ammunition in an- iron or bronze around a core, with the rst drilled bore
cient warfare, also known as "engines of war, like the ordnance recorded in operation near Seville in 1247.

HISTORY

They red lead, iron, or stone balls, sometimes large

arrows and on occasions simply handfuls of whatever
scrap came to hand. During the Hundred Years War,
these weapons became more common, initially as the
bombard and later the cannon. Cannon were always
muzzle-loaders. While there were many early attempts at
breech-loading designs, a lack of engineering knowledge
rendered these even more dangerous to use than muzzleloaders.

4.2

Expansion of artillery use

First Battle of Panipat[7]

French gunner in the 15th century, a 1904 illustration.

In 1415, the Portuguese invaded the Mediterranean port

town of Ceuta. While it is dicult to conrm the use
of rearms in the siege of the city, it is known the Portuguese defended it thereafter with rearms, namely bombardas, colebratas, and falconetes. In 1419, Sultan Abu
Sa'id led an army to reconquer the fallen city, and Moroccans brought cannons and used them in the assault on
Ceuta. Finally, hand-held rearms and riemen appear in
Morocco, in 1437, in an expedition against the people of
Tangiers.[9] It is clear these weapons had developed into
several dierent forms, from small guns to large artillery
pieces.
The artillery revolution in Europe caught on during the
Hundred Years War and changed the way that battles
were fought. In the preceding decades, the English had
even used a gunpowder-like weapon in military campaigns against the Scottish.[10] However, at this time, the
cannons used in battle were very small and not particularly powerful. Cannons were only useful for the defense
of a castle, as demonstrated at Breteuil in 1356, when
the besieged English used a cannon to destroy an attacking French assault tower. By the end of the 14th century,

cannon were only powerful enough to knock in roofs, and

could not penetrate castle walls.
However, a major change occurred between 1420 and
1430, when artillery became much more powerful and
could now batter strongholds and fortresses quite eciently. The English, French, and Burgundians all advanced in military technology, and as a result the traditional advantage that went to the defense in a siege was
lost. The cannon during this period were elongated, and
the recipe for gunpowder was improved to make it three
times as powerful as before.[11] These changes led to the
increased power in the artillery weapons of the time.
Joan of Arc encountered gunpowder weaponry several
times. When she led the French against the English at
the Battle of Tourelles, in 1430, she faced heavy gunpowder fortications, and yet her troops prevailed in that
battle. In addition, she led assaults against the Englishheld towns of Jargeau, Meung, and Beaugency, all with
the support of large artillery units. When she led the
assault on Paris, Joan faced sti artillery re, especially
from the suburb of St. Denis, which ultimately led to her
defeat in this battle. In April 1430, she went to battle
against the Burgundians, whose support was purchased
by the English. At this time, the Burgundians had the
strongest and largest gunpowder arsenal among the Eu-

4.3

Smoothbores

5
also played a decisive role in the Battle of St. Jakob an
der Birs of 1444.

Three of the large Korean artillery, Chongtong in the Jinju National Museum. These cannons were made in the mid 16th century. The closest is a Cheonja chongtong"(
,
), the
second is a Jija chongtong"(
,
), and the third is a
Hyeonja chongtong"(
,
).

Bullocks dragging siege-guns up hill during Akbars Siege of

Ranthambore[8]

The new Ming Dynasty established the Divine Engine

Battalion (
), which specialized in various types of
artillery. Light cannons and cannons with multiple volleys
were developed. In a campaign to suppress a local minority rebellion near todays Burmese border, the Ming army
used a 3-line formation of arquebuses/muskets to destroy
an elephant formation.
Between 1593 and 1597, about 200,000 Korean and Chinese troops which fought against Japan in Korea actively
used heavy artillery in both siege and eld combat. Korean forces mounted artillery in ships as naval guns, providing an advantage against Japanese navy which used
Kunikuzushi (
Japanese breech-loading swivel gun)
and zutsu ( large size Tanegashima) as their largest
rearms.[16][17]

4.3 Smoothbores

The Austrian Pumhart von Steyr, the earliest extant supergun.[12]

ropean powers, and yet the French, under Joan of Arcs

leadership, were able to beat back the Burgundians and
defend themselves.[13] As a result, most of the battles of
the Hundred Years War that Joan of Arc participated in
were fought with gunpowder artillery.
The army of Mehmet the Conqueror, which conquered
Constantinople in 1453, included both artillery and
foot soldiers armed with gunpowder weapons.[14] The
Ottomans brought to the siege sixty-nine guns in fteen
separate batteries and trained them at the walls of the city.
The barrage of Ottoman cannon re lasted forty days, and
they are estimated to have red 19,320 times.[15] Artillery Artillery with Gabion fortication.

HISTORY

Bombards were of value mainly in sieges. A famous

Turkish example used at the siege of Constantinople in
1453 weighed 19 tons, took 200 men and sixty oxen to
emplace, and could re just seven times a day. The Fall
of Constantinople was perhaps the rst event of supreme
importance whose result was determined by the use of
artillery when the huge bronze cannons of Mehmed II
breached the citys walls, ending the Byzantine Empire,
according to Sir Charles Oman.[18]

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 toola
wormwas introduced to remove them. Gustavus Adolphus is identied as the general who made cannon an effective force on the battleeldpushing the development
of much lighter and smaller weapons and deploying them
in far greater numbers than previously. The outcome of
Bombards developed in Europe were massive smooth- battles was still determined by the clash of infantry.
bore weapons distinguished by their lack of a eld car- Shells, explosive-lled fused projectiles, were also develriage, immobility once emplaced, highly individual de- oped in the 17th century. The development of specialized
sign, and noted unreliability (in 1460 James II, King of piecesshipboard artillery, howitzers and mortarswas
Scots, was killed when one exploded at the siege of Rox- also begun in this period. More esoteric designs, like the
burgh). Their large size precluded the barrels being cast multi-barrel ribauldequin (known as organ guns), were
and they were constructed out of metal staves or rods also produced.
bound together with hoops like a barrel, giving their name The 1650 book by Kazimierz Siemienowicz Artis Magnae
to the gun barrel.[19]
Artilleriae pars prima[20] was one of the most important
The use of the word cannon marks the introduction
in the 15th century of a dedicated eld carriage with
axle, trail and animal-drawn limberthis produced mobile eld pieces that could move and support an army in
action, rather than being found only in siege and static
defences. The reduction in the size of the barrel was due
to improvements in both iron technology and gunpowder
manufacture, while the development of trunnions projections at the side of the cannon as an integral part of
the cast allowed the barrel to be xed to a more movable base, and also made raising or lowering the barrel
much easier.[19]

The Tsar Cannon (caliber 890 mm), cast in 1586 in Moscow. It

is the largest bombard in the world.

The rst land-based mobile weapon is usually credited

to Jan ika, who deployed his oxen-hauled cannon during the Hussite Wars of Bohemia (14181424). However cannons were still large and cumbersome. With the
rise of musketry in the 16th century, cannon were largely
(though not entirely) displaced from the battleeldthe
cannon were too slow and cumbersome to be used and
too easily lost to a rapid enemy advance.

contemporary publications on the subject of artillery. For

over two centuries this work was used in Europe as a basic
artillery manual.
One of the most signicant eects of artillery during this
period was however somewhat more indirect by easily
reducing to rubble any medieval-type fortication or city
wall (some which had stood since Roman times), it abolished millennia of siege-warfare strategies and styles of
fortication building.[19] This led, among other things, to
a frenzy of new bastion-style fortications to be built all
over Europe and in its colonies, but also had a strong integrating eect on emerging nation-states, as kings were
able to use their newfound artillery superiority to force
any local dukes or lords to submit to their will, setting the
stage for the absolutist kingdoms to come.[19]
Modern rocket artillery can trace its heritage back to the
Mysorean rockets of India. Their rst recorded use was in
1780 during the battles of the Second, Third and Fourth
Mysore Wars. The wars fought between the British East
India Company and the Kingdom of Mysore in India
made use of the rockets as a weapon. In the Battle of
Pollilur (1780), the Siege of Seringapatam (1792) and in
Battle of Seringapatam in 1799 these rockets were used
with considerable eect against the British.[21] After the
wars, several Mysore rockets were sent to England, and
from 1801, William Congreve copied the rockets with
minor modications as the Congreve rocket which were
used eectively during the Napoleonic Wars and the War
of 1812.[22]

4.4 Napoleonic artillery

Cannons continued to become smaller and lighter
Frederick II of Prussia deployed the rst genuine light
artillery during the Seven Years War.

Jean-Baptiste de Gribeauval, a French artillery engineer,

The combining of shot and powder into a single unit, a introduced the standardization of cannon design in the

4.5

Modern artillery

mid-18th century. He developed a 6-inch (150 mm) eld

howitzer whose gun barrel, carriage assembly and ammunition specications were made uniform for all French
cannons. The standardized interchangeable parts of these
cannons down to the nuts, bolts and screws made their
mass production and repair much easier. Another major
change at this time was the development of a intlock ring mechanism for the cannons to replace the old method
of igniting powder in the cannon touchhole. The intlock
was a far more reliable (and safe) mechanism.

7
see widespread use during the Crimean War.[25] The cast
iron shell of the Armstrong gun was similar in shape to a
Mini ball and had a thin lead coating which made it fractionally larger than the guns bore and which engaged with
the guns riing grooves to impart spin to the shell. This
spin, together with the elimination of windage as a result
of the tight t, enabled the gun to achieve greater range
and accuracy than existing smooth-bore muzzle-loaders
with a smaller powder charge.

These improvements in the French artillery were essential

for the later military successes of Napoleon. Napoleon,
himself a former artillery ocer, perfected the tactic of
massed artillery batteries unleashed upon a critical point
in his enemies line as a prelude to a decisive infantry and
cavalry assault.

4.5

Modern artillery

See also: Field Artillery in the American Civil War

8-inch Armstrong gun during American Civil War, Fort Fisher,
The development of modern artillery occurred in the 1865.

Armstrong gun deployed by Japan during the Boshin war (1868

69).

mid to late 19th century as a result of the convergence

of various improvements in the underlying technology.
Advances in metallurgy allowed for the construction of
breech-loading ried guns that could re at a much
greater muzzle velocity.
After the British artillery was shown up in the Crimean
War as having barely changed since the Napoleonic Wars
the industrialist William Armstrong was awarded a contract by the government to design a new piece of artillery. Production started in 1855 at the Elswick Ordnance Company and the Royal Arsenal at Woolwich,
and the outcome was the revolutionary Armstrong Gun,
which marked the birth of modern artillery.[23][24] Three
of its features particularly stand out.

His gun was also a breech-loader. Although attempts

at breech-loading mechanisms had been made since medieval times, the essential engineering problem was that
the mechanism couldn't withstand the explosive charge.
It was only with the advances in metallurgy and precision
engineering capabilities during the Industrial Revolution
that Armstrong was able to construct a viable solution.
The gun combined all the properties that make up an effective artillery piece. The gun was mounted on a carriage
in such a way as to return the gun to ring position after
the recoil.
What made the gun really revolutionary lay in the technique of the construction of the gun barrel that allowed it
to withstand much more powerful explosive forces. The
"built-up" method involved assembling the barrel with
wrought-iron (later mild steel was used) tubes of successively smaller diameter.[26] The tube would then be heated
to allow it to expand and t over the previous tube. When
it cooled the gun would contract although not back to its
original size, which allowed an even pressure along the
walls of the gun which was directed inward against the
outward forces that the gun ring exerted on the barrel.[27]

Another innovative feature, more usually associated with

20th-century guns, was what Armstrong called its grip,
which was essentially a squeeze bore; the 6 inches of the
bore at the muzzle end was of slightly smaller diameter,
which centered the shell before it left the barrel and at the
First, the piece was ried, which allowed for a much more same time slightly swaged down its lead coating, reducing
accurate and powerful action. Although riing had been its diameter and slightly improving its ballistic qualities.
tried on small arms since the 15th century, the necessary Armstrongs system was adopted in 1858, initially for
machinery to accurately rie artillery was only available special service in the eld and initially he only produced
by the mid-19th century. Martin von Wahrendor, and smaller artillery pieces, 6-pounder (2.5 in/64 mm) mounJoseph Whitworth independently produced ried cannon tain or light eld guns, 9-pounder (3 in/76 mm) guns for
in the 1840s, but it was Armstrongs gun that was rst to horse artillery, and 12-pounder (3 inches /76 mm) eld

The French Canon de 75 modle 1897, the rst modern artillery

piece.

HISTORY

The highly eective German 15cm eld howitzers during World

War I

guns.
The rst cannon to contain all 'modern' features is generally considered to be the French 75 of 1897.[28][29] It
was the rst eld gun to include a hydro-pneumatic recoil
mechanism, which kept the guns trail and wheels perfectly still during the ring sequence. Since it did not
need to be re-aimed after each shot, the crew could re
as soon as the barrel returned to its resting position. In
typical use, the French 75 could deliver fteen rounds
per minute on its target, either shrapnel or melinite highexplosive, up to about 5 miles (8,500 m) away. Its ring
rate could even reach close to 30 rounds per minute, albeit
only for a very short time and with a highly experienced
crew. These were rates that contemporary bolt action ries could not match. The gun used cased ammunition,
was breech-loading, had modern sights, a self-contained
ring mechanism and hydro-pneumatic recoil dampening.

direct laying in elevation which already existed. Despite

conservative opposition within the German army, indirect re was adopted as doctrine by the 1890s. In the early
1900s, Goertz in Germany developed an optical sight for
azimuth laying. It quickly replaced the lining-plane; in
English, it became the 'Dial Sight' (UK) or 'Panoramic
Telescope' (US).

4.5.1

An implication of indirect re and improving guns was

increasing range between gun and target, this increased
the time of ight and the vertex of the trajectory. The
result was decreasing accuracy (the increasing distance
between the target and the mean point of impact of the
shells aimed at it) caused by the increasing eects of nonstandard conditions. Indirect ring data was based on
standard conditions including a specic muzzle velocity,
zero wind, air temperature and density, and propellant
temperature. In practice, this standard combination of
conditions almost never existed, they varied throughout
the day and day to day, and the greater the time of ight,
the greater the inaccuracy. An added complication was
the need for survey to accurately x the coordinates of
the gun position and provide accurate orientation for the
guns. Of course, targets had to be accurately located, but
by 1916, air photo interpretation techniques enabled this,
and ground survey techniques could sometimes be used.

Indirect re

Main article: Indirect re

Indirect re, the ring of a projectile without relying on
direct line of sight between the gun and the target, possibly dates back to the 16th century.[30] Early battleeld use
of indirect re may have occurred at Paltzig in July 1759,
when the Russian artillery red over the tops of trees,[31]
and at the Battle of Waterloo, where a battery of the Royal
Horse Artillery red Shrapnel indirectly against advancing French troops.[32]
In 1882, Russian Lieutenant Colonel KG Guk published
Indirect Fire for Field Artillery, which provided a practical method of using aiming points for indirect re by describing, all the essentials of aiming points, crest clearance, and corrections to re by an observer.[33]

The British halfheartedly experimented with indirect re

techniques since the 1890s, but with the onset of the Boer
War, they were the rst to apply the theory in practice in
1899, although they had to improvise without a liningplane sight.[34]
In the next 15 years leading up to World War I, the techniques of indirect re became available for all types of
artillery. Indirect re was the dening characteristic of
20th-century artillery and led to undreamt of changes in
the amount of artillery, its tactics, organisation, and techniques, most of which occurred during World War I.

A few years later, the Richtche (lining-plane) sight was In 1914, the methods of correcting ring data for the acinvented in Germany and provided a means of indirect tual conditions were often convoluted, and the availabillaying in azimuth, complementing the clinometers for in- ity of data about actual conditions was rudimentary or

4.6

Precision artillery

non-existent, the assumption was that re would always 4.6

be ranged (adjusted). British heavy artillery worked energetically to progressively solve all these problems from
late 1914 onwards, and by early 1918, had eective processes in place for both eld and heavy artillery. These
processes enabled 'map-shooting', later called 'predicted
re'; it meant that eective re could be delivered against
an accurately located target without ranging. Nevertheless, the mean point of impact was still some tens of yards
from the target-centre aiming point. It was not precision
re, but it was good enough for concentrations and barrages. These processes remain in use into the 21st Century with renements to calculations enabled by computers and improved data capture about non-standard conditions.
The British major-general Henry Hugh Tudor pioneered
armour and artillery cooperation at the breakthrough
Battle of Cambrai. The improvements in providing and
using data for non-standard conditions (propellant temperature, muzzle velocity, wind, air temperature, and
barometric pressure) were developed by the major combatants throughout the war and enabled eective predicted re.[35] The eectiveness of this was demonstrated
by the British in 1917 (at Cambrai) and by Germany the
following year (Operation Michael).

Precision artillery

M982 Excalibur guided artillery shell

Modern artillery is most obviously distinguished by its

long range, ring an explosive shell or rocket and a mobile
carriage for ring and transport. However, its most imMajor General J. B. A. Bailey, British Army (retired) portant characteristic is the use of indirect re, whereby
the ring equipment is aimed without seeing the target
wrote:
through its sights. Indirect re emerged at the beginning of the 20th century and was greatly enhanced by the
development of predicted re methods in World War I.
From the middle of the eighteenth century
However, indirect re was area re; it was and is not suitto the middle of the nineteenth, artillery is
able for destroying point targets; its primary purpose is
judged to have accounted for perhaps 50%
area suppression. Nevertheless, by the late 1970s preciof battleeld casualties. In the sixty years
sion munitions started to appear, notably the US 155 mm
preceding 1914, this gure was probably as
Copperhead and its Soviet 152 mm equivalent that had
low as 10 percent. The remaining 90 percent
success in Indian service. These relied on laser designafell to small arms, whose range and accuracy
tion to 'illuminate' the target that the shell homed onto.
had come to rival those of artillery. ... [By
However, in the early 21st Century, the Global PositionWWI] The British Royal Artillery, at over one
ing System (GPS) enabled relatively cheap and accurate
million men, grew to be larger than the Royal
guidance for shells and missiles, notably the US 155 mm
Navy. Bellamy (1986), pp. 17, cites the
Excalibur and the 227 mm GMLRS rocket. The intropercentage of casualties caused by artillery in
duction of these led to a new issue, the need for very acvarious theaters since 1914: in the First World
curate three dimensional target coordinates the mensuWar, 45 percent of Russian casualties and 58
ration process.
percent of British casualties on the Western
Front; in the Second World War, 75 percent
Weapons covered by the term 'modern artillery' include
of British casualties in North Africa and 51
"cannon" artillery (such as howitzer, mortar, and eld
percent of Soviet casualties (61 percent in
gun) and rocket artillery. Certain smaller-caliber mor1945) and 70 percent of German casualties
tars are more properly designated small arms rather than
on the Eastern Front; and in the Korean War,
artillery, albeit indirect-re small arms. This term also
60 percent of US casualties, including those
came to include coastal artillery which traditionally deinicted by mortars.[36]
fended coastal areas against seaborne attack and con J. B. A. Bailey (2004). Field artillery and
trolled the passage of ships. With the advent of powrepower
ered ight at the start of the 20th century, artillery also
included ground-based anti-aircraft batteries.
The term artillery has traditionally not been used for
An estimated 75,000 French soldiers were casualties of projectiles with internal guidance systems, preferring the
friendly artillery in the four years of World War I.[37]
term missilery, though some modern artillery units em-

10

AMMUNITION

ploy surface-to-surface missiles. Advances in terminal

electronic time including airburst
guidance systems for small munitions has allowed largecaliber guided projectiles to be developed, blurring this
Most artillery fuzes are nose fuzes. However, base fuzes
distinction.
have been used with armour piercing shells and for squash
head (HESH or HEP) anti-tank shells. At least one nuclear shell and its non-nuclear spotting version also used
5 Ammunition
a multi-deck mechanical time fuze tted into its base.
Impact fuzes were, and in some armies remain, the standard fuze for HE projectiles. Their default action is normally 'superquick', some have had a 'graze' action which
allows them to penetrate light cover and others have 'delay'. Delay fuzes allow the shell to penetrate the ground
before exploding. Armor- or concrete-piercing fuzes are
specially hardened. During World War I and later, ricochet re with delay or graze fuzed HE shells, red with a
at angle of descent, was used to achieve airburst.

Artillery ammunition can also make use of nuclear warheads, as

seen in this 1953 nuclear test.

One of the most important roles of logistics is the supply

of munitions as a primary type of artillery consumable,
their storage and the provision of fuses, detonators and
warheads at the point where artillery troops will assemble
the charge, projectile, bomb or shell.

HE shells can be tted with other fuzes. Airburst fuzes

usually have a combined airburst and impact function.
However, until the introduction of proximity fuzes, the
airburst function was mostly used with cargo munitions
for example, shrapnel, illumination, and smoke. The
larger calibers of anti-aircraft artillery are almost always
used airburst. Airburst fuzes have to have the fuze length
(running time) set on them. This is done just before ring using either a wrench or a fuze setter pre-set to the
required fuze length.

Early airburst fuzes used igniferous timers which lasted

into the second half of the 20th century. Mechanical time
fuzes appeared in the early part of the century. These
required a means of powering them. The Thiel mechanism used a spring and escapement (i.e. 'clockwork'),
A round of artillery ammunition comprises four compoJunghans used centrifugal force and gears, and Dixi used
nents:
centrifugal force and balls. From about 1980, electronic
time fuzes started replacing mechanical ones for use with
1: The fuze
cargo munitions.
2: The projectile

Proximity fuzes have been of two types: photo-electric or

radar. The former was not very successful and seems only
3: The propellant
to have been used with British anti-aircraft artillery 'unrotated projectiles (rockets) in World War II. Radar prox 4: The primer
imity fuzes were a big improvement over the mechanical
(time) fuzes which they replaced. Mechanical time fuzes
required an accurate calculation of their running time,
5.1 Fuzes
which was aected by non-standard conditions. With HE
(requiring a burst 20 to 30 feet (9.1 m) above the ground),
Main article: Artillery fuze
if this was very slightly wrong the rounds would either
hit the ground or burst too high. Accurate running time
Fuzes are the devices that initiate an artillery projectile, was less important with cargo munitions that burst much
either to detonate its high explosive (HE) lling or eject its higher.
cargo (illuminating are or smoke canisters being examples). The ocial military spelling is fuze.[38] Broadly The rst radar proximity fuzes (codenamed 'VT') were
initially used against aircraft in World War II. Their
there are four main types:
ground use was delayed for fear of the enemy recovering 'blinds (artillery shells which failed to detonate) and
impact (including graze and delay)
copying the fuze. The rst proximity fuzes were designed
to detonate about 30 feet (9.1 m) above the ground. These
mechanical time including airburst
air-bursts are much more lethal against personnel than
proximity sensor including airburst
ground bursts because they deliver a greater proportion

5.3

Stabilization

of useful fragments and deliver them into terrain where a

prone soldier would be protected from ground bursts.
However, proximity fuzes can suer premature detonation because of the moisture in heavy rain clouds. This
led to 'controlled variable time' (CVT) after World War
II. These fuzes have a mechanical timer that switched on
the radar about 5 seconds before expected impact, they
also detonated on impact.
The proximity fuze emerged on the battleelds of Europe
in late December 1944. They have become known as
the U.S. Artillerys Christmas present, and were much
appreciated when they arrived during the Battle of the
Bulge. They were also used to great eect in anti-aircraft
projectiles in the Pacic against kamikaze as well as in
Britain against V-1 ying bombs.[39]

11
ical, nuclear devices; high explosive anti-tank
(HEAT) and canister may be considered special
types of bursting shell.
Base Ejection: dual purpose improved conventional munitions (DPICM)-bomblets, which arm
themselves and function after a set number of rotations after having been ejected from the projectile (this produces unexploded sub-munitions,
or duds, which remain dangerous), scatterable
mines, illuminating, coloured are, smoke, incendiary, propaganda, cha[40] (foil to jam radars: originally known as window)[41] and modern exotics
such as electronic payloads and sensor-fuzed munitions.
Nose Ejection: shrapnel, star, incendiary and
echette (a more modern version of shrapnel).

Electronic multi-function fuzes started to appear around

1980. Using solid-state electronics they were relatively
cheap and reliable, and became the standard tted fuze in
operational ammunition stocks in some western armies. 5.3 Stabilization
The early versions were often limited to proximity air Ried Traditionally, artillery projectiles have been
burst, albeit with height of burst options, and impact.
spin-stabilised, meaning that they spin in ight so
Some oered a go/no-go functional test through the fuze
that gyroscopic forces prevent them from tumbling.
setter.
Spin is induced by gun barrels having riing which
Later versions introduced induction fuze setting and testengages a soft metal band around the projectile,
ing instead of physically placing a fuze setter on the fuze.
called a "driving band" (UK) or rotating band
The latest, such as Junghans DM84U provide options
(U.S.). The driving band is usually made of copper,
giving, superquick, delay, a choice of proximity heights
but synthetic materials have also been used.
of burst, time and a choice of foliage penetration depths.
Smoothbore/Fin-Stabilized In modern artillery
A new type of artillery fuze will appear soon. In addition
smoothbore tubes have been used mostly by mortars.
to other functions these oer some course correction caThese projectiles use ns in the airow at their rear
pability, not full precision but sucient to signicantly
to maintain correct orientation. The primary benereduce the dispersion of the shells on the ground.
ts over ried barrels is reduced barrel wear, longer
ranges that can be achieved (due to the reduced loss
of energy to friction and gas escaping around the
5.2 Projectiles
projectile via the riing) and larger explosive cores
for a given caliber artillery due to less metal needing
Main article: Shell (projectile)
to be used to form the case of the projectile because
of less force applied to the shell from the non-ried
sides of the barrel of smooth bore guns.
The projectile is the munition or bullet red downrange. This may or may not be an explosive device. Tra Ried/Fin-Stabilized A combination of the above
ditionally, projectiles have been classied as shot or
can be used, where the barrel is ried, but the proshell, the former being solid and the latter having some
jectile also has deployable ns for stabilization,[42]
form of payload.
guidance[43] or gliding.[44]
Shells can also be divided into three congurations: bursting, base ejection or nose ejection. The latter is sometimes called the shrapnel conguration. The most modern is base ejection, which was introduced in World War
I. Both base and nose ejection are almost always used with
airburst fuzes. Bursting shells use various types of fuze
depending on the nature of the payload and the tactical
need at the time.

5.4 Propellant

Most forms of artillery require a propellant to propel the

projectile at the target. Propellant is always a low explosive, this means it deagrates instead of detonating, as
with high explosives. The shell is accelerated to a high
velocity in a very short time by the rapid generation of
Payloads have included:
gas from the burning propellant. This high pressure is
achieved by burning the propellant in a contained area, ei Bursting: high-explosive, white phosphorus (Willie ther the chamber of a gun barrel or the combustion chamPete or Wilson Picket), coloured marker, chem- ber of a rocket motor.

12

AMMUNITION

ramjet-assisted, similar to rocket-assisted, but using

a ramjet instead of a rocket motor; it is anticipated
that a ramjet-assisted 120-mm mortar shell could
reach a range of 22 mi (35 km).[45]

152 mm howitzer D-20 during the IranIraq War.

Until the late 19th century, the only available propellant

was black powder. Black powder had many disadvantages as a propellant; it has relatively low power, requiring
large amounts of powder to re projectiles, and created
thick clouds of white smoke that would obscure the targets, betray the positions of guns, and make aiming impossible. In 1846, nitrocellulose (also known as guncotton) was discovered, and the high explosive nitroglycerin
was discovered at much the same time. Nitrocellulose
was signicantly more powerful than black powder, and
was smokeless. Early guncotton was unstable, however,
and burned very fast and hot, leading to greatly increased
barrel wear. Widespread introduction of smokeless powder would wait until the advent of the double-base powders, which combine nitrocellulose and nitroglycerin to
produce powerful, smokeless, stable propellant.
Many other formulations were developed in the following decades, generally trying to nd the optimum characteristics of a good artillery propellant; low temperature, high energy, non corrosive, highly stable, cheap, and
easy to manufacture in large quantities. Broadly, modern
gun propellants are divided into three classes: single-base
propellants which are mainly or entirely nitrocellulose
based, double-base propellants composed of a combination of nitrocellulose and nitroglycerin, and triple base
composed of a combination of nitrocellulose and nitroglycerin and Nitroguanidine.
Artillery shells red from a barrel can be assisted to
greater range in three ways:
rocket-assisted projectiles (RAP) enhance and sustain the projectiles velocity by providing additional
'push' from a small rocket motor that is part of the
projectiles base.
Base bleed uses a small pyrotechnic charge at the
base of the projectile to introduce sucient combustion products into the low-pressure region behind
the base of the projectile responsible for a large proportion of the drag.

Propelling charges for tube artillery can be provided in

one of two ways: either as cartridge bags or in metal cartridge cases. Generally, anti-aircraft artillery and smallercaliber (up to 3 or 76.2 mm) guns use metal cartridge
cases that include the round and propellant, similar to
a modern rie cartridge. This simplies loading and is
necessary for very high rates of re. Bagged propellant
allows the amount of powder to be raised or lowered, depending on the range to the target. It also makes handling
of larger shells easier. Each requires a totally dierent
type of breech to the other. A metal case holds an integral primer to initiate the propellant and provides the gas
seal to prevent the gases leaking out of the breech; this
is called obturation. With bagged charges, the breech itself provides obturation and holds the primer. In either
case, the primer is usually percussion, but electrical is also
used, and laser ignition is emerging. Modern 155 mm
guns have a primer magazine tted to their breech.

Battleship Ammunition: 16 artillery shells aboard one of the

United States Iowa-class battleships.

Artillery ammunition has four classications according to

use:
Service: ammunition used in live re training or
for wartime use in a combat zone. Also known as
warshot ammunition.
Practice: Ammunition with a non- or minimallyexplosive projectile that mimics the characteristics
(range, accuracy) of live rounds for use under training conditions. Practice artillery ammunition often
utilizes a colored-smoke-generating bursting charge
for marking purposes in place of the normal highexplosive charge.
Dummy: Ammunition with an inert warhead, inert primer, and no propellant; used for training or
display.

13
Blank: Ammunition with live primer, greatly reduced propellant charge (typically black powder),
and no projectile; used for training, demonstration
or ceremonial use.

Field artillery system

are judged. Cost is also an issue because artillery is expensive due to the large quantities of ammunition that it
uses and its level of manpower.
Communications underpin the artillery system, as it
must be reliable and available in real-time. During the
20th century communications often used ags, morse
code by radio, line and lights (which could include voice
and teleprinter, to name a few contrivances). Radio has
included HF, VHF, satellite and radio relay as well as
modern tactical trunk systems. In western armies radio
communications are now usually encrypted.
The emergence of mobile and man-portable radios after World War I had a major impact on artillery because
it enabled fast and mobile operations with observers accompanying the infantry or armoured troops. In World
War II, some armies tted their self-propelled guns with
radios. However, sometimes in the rst half of the 20th
century, hardcopy artillery re plans and map traces were
distributed.

Data communications can be especially important for

artillery because by using structured messages and dened data types re control messages can be automatically routed and processed by computers. For example,
Because eld artillery mostly uses indirect re the guns a target acquisition element can send a message with tarhave to be part of a system that enables them to attack get details which is automatically routed through the tactargets invisible to them in accordance with the combined tical and technical re control elements to deliver ring
data to the guns laying system and the gun automatically
arms plan.
laid. As tactical data networks become pervasive, they
The main functions in the eld artillery system are:
will provide any connected soldier with a means for reporting target information and requesting artillery re.
Communications
Command is the authority to allocate resources, typically
by assigning artillery formations or units. Terminology
Command: authority to allocate resources;
and its implications vary widely. However, very broadly,
Target acquisition: detect, identify and deduce the artillery units are assigned in direct support or in genlocation of targets;
eral support. Typically, the former mostly provide close
support to manoeuvre units, while the latter may provide
Control: authority to decide which targets to attack close support and or depth re, notably counter-battery.
and allot re units to the attack;
Generally, 'direct support' also means that the artillery
Computation of ring data to deliver re from a unit provides artillery observation and liaison teams to
the supported units. Sometimes, direct support units are
re unit onto its target;
placed under command of the regiment/brigade they sup Fire units: guns, launchers or mortars grouped to- port. General support units may be grouped into artillery formations; for example, brigades, even divisions,
gether;
or multi-battalion regiments, and usually under command
Specialist services: produce data to support the pro- of division, corps, or higher HQs. General support units
duction of accurate ring data;
tend to be moved to where they are most required at any
particular time. Artillery command may impose priori Logistic services: to provide combat supplies, parties and constraints to support their combined arms comticularly ammunition, and equipment support.
manders plans.
Cyclone of the 320th French Artillery, in Hoogstade, Belgium, 5
September 1917.

Organisationally and spatially, these functions can be arranged in many ways. Since the creation of modern indirect re, dierent armies have done it dierently at different times and in dierent places. Technology is often
a factor, but so are militarysocial issues, the relationships between artillery and other arms, and the criteria
by which military capability, eciency, and eectiveness

Target acquisition can take many forms, it is usually observation in real time, but may be the product of analysis.
Artillery observation teams are the most common means
of target acquisition. However, air observers have been
use since the beginning of indirect re and were quickly
joined by air photography. Target acquisition may also be
by anyone that can get the information into the artillery

14

6 FIELD ARTILLERY SYSTEM

system. Targets may be visible to forward troops or in

depth and invisible to them.
Observation equipment can vary widely in its complexity.
Unmanned air vehicles are the latest form of air observation, having been rst introduced in the early
1960s.
The equipment available to observation teams has
progressed from just prismatic compass, hand-held
or tripod mounted binoculars and sometimes optical Afghans with two captured artillery eld guns in Jaji, 1984.
range-nders.
Special equipment for locating hostile artillery: ash
spotting and notably sound ranging appeared in
World War I the latter has been undergone increasing renement as technology has improved. These
were joined by radar in World War II.

Broadly, there are two situations: re against opportunity

targets, and targets whose engagement is planned as part
of a particular operation. In the latter situation, command
assigns re units to the operation and an overall artillery
re planner makes a plan, possibly delegating resources
for some parts of it to other planners. Fire plans may also
In the mid-1970s several armies started equip- involve use of non-artillery assets, such as mortars and
ping their artillery observation teams with laser aircraft.
rangenders, ground surveillance radars and night
vision devices, these were soon followed by iner- Control of re against opportunity targets is an important
tial orienting and navigating devices to improve the dierentiator between dierent types of artillery system.
accuracy of target locations. The Global Position- In some armies, only designated artillery HQs have the
ing System (GPS) provided a smaller and cheaper tactical re control authority to order re units to engage
means of quick and accurate xation for target ac- a target, all 'calls for re' being requests to these HQs.
This authority may also extend to deciding the type and
quisition devices.
quantity of ammunition to be used. In other armies, an
Specialised units with ground surveillance radars, 'authorised observer' (for example, artillery observation
unattended ground sensors or observation patrols team or other target acquisition element) can order re
units to engage. In the latter case, a battery observation
operating in depth have also been used.
team can order re to their own battery and may be autho Targets in depth may also be 'acquired' by intelli- rised to order re to their own battalion, and sometimes to
gence processes using various sources and agencies many battalions. For example, a divisional artillery comsuch as HUMINT, SIGINT, ELINT and IMINT.
mander may authorise selected observers to order re to
the entire divisional artillery. When observers or cells are
Laser guided shells require laser target designators, not authorised, they can still request re.
usually with observation teams on the ground but
Armies that apply forward tactical control generally put
UAV installations are possible.
the majority of the more senior ocers of artillery units
Specialised artillery observation vehicles appeared forward in command observation posts or with the supin World War II and have greatly increased in so- ported arm. Those that do not use this approach tend to
put these ocers close to the guns. In either case, the
phistication since that time.
observation element usually controls re in detail against
Control, sometimes called tactical re control, is primar- the target, such as adjusting it onto the target, moving it,
ily concerned with 'targeting' and the allotment of re and coordinating it with the supported arm as necessary
units to targets. This is vital when a target is within range to achieve the required eects.
of many re units and the number of re units needed depends on the nature of the target, and the circumstances
and purpose of its engagement. Targeting is concerned
with selecting the right weapons in the right quantities to
achieve the required eects on the target. Allotment attempts to address the artillery dilemmaimportant targets are rarely urgent and urgent targets are rarely important. Of course importance is a matter of perspective;
what is important to a divisional commander is rarely the
same as what is important to an infantry platoon commander.

Firing data has to be calculated and is the key to indirect

re; the arrangements for this have varied widely. In the
end, ring data has two components: quadrant elevation
and azimuth, to these may be added the size of propelling
charge and the fuze setting. The process to produce ring data is sometimes called technical re control. Before
computers, some armies set the range on the guns sights,
which mechanically corrected it for the guns muzzle velocity. For the rst few decades of indirect re, the ring
data were often calculated by the observer, who then adjusted the fall of shot onto the target.

15
However, the need to engage targets at night, in depth,
or hit the target with the rst rounds quickly led to predicted re being developed in World War I. Predicted re
existed alongside the older method. After World War II,
predicted methods were invariably applied, but the fall
of shot usually needed adjustment because of inaccuracy
in locating the target, the proximity of friendly troops, or
the need to engage a moving target. Target location errors
were signicantly reduced once laser rangenders, orientation, and navigation devices were issued to observation
parties.
In predicted re, the basic geospatial data of range, angle
of sight, and azimuth between a re unit and its target was
produced and corrected for variations from the 'standard
conditions. These variations included barrel wear, propellant temperature, dierent projectiles weights that all
aected the muzzle velocity, and air temperature, density, wind speed & direction, and rotation of the Earth
that aect the shell in ight. The net eect of variations can also be determined by shooting at an accurately
known point, a process called 'registration'.

Members of the 3rd Marine Division complete construction of

M101 105 mm howitzer positions at a mountain-top re support
base, Vietnam, 1968

controller. Generally it is a battery, but sub-divided batteries are quite common, and in some armies very common. On occasions a battery of 6 guns has been 6 re
units. Fire units may or may not occupy separate positions. Geographically dispersed re units may or may not
All these calculations to produce a quadrant elevation (or have an integral capability for technical re control.
range) and azimuth were done manually by highly trained
Specialist services provide data need for predicted re.
soldiers using instruments, tabulated data, data of the
Increasingly, they are provided from within ring units.
moment, and approximations until battleeld computers
These services include:
started appearing in the 1960s and '70s. While some early
calculators copied the manual method (typically substi Survey: accurate xation and orientation of the
tuting polynomials for tabulated data), computers use a
guns, historically this involved specialists within
dierent approach. They simulate a shells trajectory by
eld artillery units and specialist units. In some
'ying' it in short steps and applying data about the conarmies mapping and amp supply has also been an
ditions aecting the trajectory at each step. This simuartillery responsibility. Survey is also essential for
lation is repeated until it produces a quadrant elevation
some target acquisition devices. Traditional survey
and azimuth that lands the shell within the required 'closmethods of measurement and calculation have been
ing' distance of the target coordinates. NATO has a stanreplaced by inertial orientation and navigators and
dard ballistic model for computer calculations and has exGPS.
panded the scope of this into the NATO Armaments Ballistic Kernel (NABK)[46] within the SG2 Shareable (Fire
Meteorological data: historically these were usually
Control) Software Suite (S4).
divisional level specialist teams but advances in techTechnical re control has been performed in various
nology mean they are now increasingly part of arplaces, but mostly in ring batteries. However, in the
tillery units.
1930s, the French moved it to battalion level and com Calibration: periodically establishing the normal
bined it with some tactical re control. This was copied
muzzle velocity of each gun as it wears. Originally
by the US. Nevertheless, most armies seemed to have rethis involved special facilities and army level teams.
tained it within ring batteries, and some duplicated the
Measurement using Doppler radar, introduced in
technical re control teams in a battery to give operathe 1950s, started to simplify arrangements. Some
tional resilience and tactical exibility. Computers rearmies now have a muzzle velocity measuring radar
duced the number of men needed and enabled decentralipermanently tted to every gun.
sation of technical re control to autonomous sub-battery
re units, such as platoons, troops, or sections, although
some armies had sometimes done this with their manual Logistic services, supply of artillery ammunition has almethods. Computation on the gun or launcher, integrated ways been a major component of military logistics. Up
with their laying system, is also possible. MLRS led the until World War I some armies made artillery responsiway in this.
ble for all forward ammunition supply because the load of
A re unit is the smallest artillery or mortar element, small arms ammunition was trivial compared to artillery.
consisting of one or more weapon systems, capable of be- Dierent armies use dierent approaches to ammunition
ing employed to execute a re assigned by a tactical re supply, which can vary with the nature of operations. Differences include where the logistic service transfers ar-

16

7 CLASSIFICATION OF ARTILLERY

tillery ammunition to artillery, the amount of ammunition carried in units and extent to which stocks are held at
unit or battery level. A key dierence is whether supply
is 'push' or 'pull'. In the former the 'pipeline' keeps pushing ammunition into formations or units at a dened rate.
In the latter units re as tactically necessary and replenish
to maintain or reach their authorised holding (which can
vary), so the logistic system has to be able to cope with
surge and slack.
Artillery has always been equipment intensive and for
centuries artillery provided its own articers to maintain
and repair their equipment. Most armies now place these
services in specialist branches with specialist repair elements in batteries and units.

Classication of artillery

Artillery types can be categorised in several ways, for example by type or size of weapon or ordnance, by role or
by organizational arrangements.

7.1

Types of ordnance

The types of cannon artillery are generally distinguished

by the velocity at which they re projectiles. Types of
artillery:

Field artillery: mobile weapons used to support

armies in the eld. Subcategories include:
infantry support guns: directly support infantry units.
mountain guns: lightweight weapons that can
be moved through dicult terrain.
eld guns: capable of long range re.
howitzers: capable of high angle re, they are
most often employed for indirect-re.
gun howitzers: capable of high or low angle
re with a long barrel.
mortars:
typically short-barreled, hightrajectory weapons designed primarily for an
indirect-re role.
anti-tank artillery: weapons, usually mobile,
designed for attacking tanks.
anti-aircraft artillery: weapons, usually mobile, designed for attacking aircraft from the
ground. Some guns were suitable for dualrole anti-aircraft and eld (anti-tank) use. The
World War II German 88 mm gun was a famous example.
rocket artillery: rocket-launched instead of
shot or shell.
Motorized artillery: towed by Artillery tractors or
APU-installed.
Self-propelled artillery: typically guns, mortars or
gun howitzers mounted on a vehicle.
Railway gun: large-caliber weapons that are
mounted on, transported by and red from speciallydesigned railway wagons.

German Army PzH 2000 self-propelled artillery

Ukrainian Navy artillery boat Zhuk class U170 Skadovsk. Bay

of Sevastopol, Crimea.

Naval artillery: guns mounted on warships and used

either against other ships or in support of ground
forces. The crowning achievement of naval artillery
was the battleship, but the advent of airpower and
missiles have rendered this type of artillery largely
obsolete. They are typically longer-barreled, lowtrajectory, high-velocity weapons designed primarily for a direct-re role.
Coastal artillery: Fixed-position weapons dedicated
to defense of a particular location, usually a coast
(for example, the Atlantic Wall in World War II) or
harbor. Not needing to be mobile, coastal artillery
used to be much larger than equivalent eld artillery
pieces, giving them longer range and more destructive power. Modern coastal artillery (for example,
Russias Bereg system) is often self-propelled, (allowing it to avoid counter-battery re) and fully integrated, meaning that each battery has all of the support systems that it requires (maintenance, targeting
radar, etc.) organic to its unit.

7.2

Organizational types

17
Fortress or garrison artillery, manned a nations
xed defences using guns, howitzers or mortars, either on land or coastal frontiers. Some had deployable elements to provide heavy artillery to the eld
army. In some nations coast defence artillery was a
naval responsibility.

Naval piece of artillery, early 19th century

Modern eld 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. Selfpropelled 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 ring
position to another, both to support the uid nature of
modern combat and to avoid counter-battery re. 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.

7.2

Mountain artillery, a few nations treated mountain

artillery as a separate branch, in others it was a speciality in another artillery branch. They used light
guns or howitzers, usually designed for pack animal
transport and easily broken down into small easily
handled loads
Naval artillery, some nations carried pack artillery
on some warships, these were used and manhandled by naval (or marine) landing parties. At times,
part of a ships armament would be unshipped and
mated to makeshift carriages and limbers for actions ashore, for example during the Second Boer
War, during the First World War the guns from the
stricken SMS Knigsberg formed the main artillery
strength of the German forces in East Africa.

Organizational types

Firing of an 18-pound gun, Louis-Philippe Crepin, (17721851)

Australian gunners, wearing gas masks, operate a 9.2-inch (230
mm) howitzer during World War I.

At the beginning of the modern artillery period, the late

19th century, many armies had three main types of artillery, in some case they were sub-branches within the
artillery branch in others they were separate branches or
corps. There were also other types excluding the armament tted to warships:
Horse artillery, rst formed as regular units in the
late 18th century, with the role of supporting cavalry, they were distinguished by the entire crew being mounted.
Field or foot artillery, the main artillery arm of
the eld army, using either guns, howitzers or mortars. In World War II this branch again started using
rockets and later surface to surface missiles.

After World War I many nations merged these dierent

artillery branches, in some cases keeping some as subbranches. Naval artillery disappeared apart from that belonging to marines. However, two new branches of artillery emerged during that war and its aftermath, both
used specialised guns (and a few rockets) and used direct
not indirect re, in the 1950s and 1960s both started to
make extensive use of missiles:
Anti-tank artillery, also under various organisational
arrangements but typically either eld artillery or
a specialist branch and additional elements integral
to infantry, etc., units. However, in most armies
eld and anti-aircraft artillery also had at least a secondary anti-tank role. After World War II anti-tank
in Western armies became mostly the responsibility
of infantry and armoured branches and ceased to be
an artillery matter, with some exceptions.

18

7 CLASSIFICATION OF ARTILLERY

Anti-aircraft artillery, under various organisational

arrangements including being part of artillery, a separate corps, even a separate service or being split
between army for the eld and airforce for home
defence. In some cases infantry and the new armoured corps also operated their own integral light
anti-aircraft artillery. Home defence anti-aircraft
artillery often used xed as well as mobile mountings. Some anti-aircraft guns could also be used as
eld or anti-tank artillery, providing they had suitable sights.

combinations, of which guns and howitzers are but two.

However, modern howitzers have higher velocities and
longer barrels than the equivalent guns of the rst half
of the 20th century.
True guns are characterized by long range, having a maximum elevation signicantly less than 45, a high muzzle
velocity and hence a relatively long barrel, smooth bore
(no riing) and a single charge. The latter often led to
xed ammunition where the projectile is locked to the
cartridge case. There is no generally accepted minimum
muzzle velocity or barrel length associated with a gun.

However, the general switch by artillery to indirect re

before and during World War I led to a reaction in some
armies. The result was accompanying or infantry guns.
These were usually small, short range guns, that could be
easily man-handled and used mostly for direct re but
some could use indirect re. Some were operated by
the artillery branch but under command of the supported
unit. In World War II they were joined by self-propelled
assault guns, although other armies adopted infantry or
close support tanks in armoured branch units for the same
purpose, subsequently tanks generally took on the accompanying role.
A British 60-pounder (5-inch (130 mm)) gun at full recoil, in action during the Battle of Gallipoli, 1915. Photo by Ernest Brooks.

7.3

Equipment types

Continental Artillery crew from the American Revolution handling a cannon.

The three main types of artillery gun are guns, howitzers and mortars. During the 20th century, guns and
howitzers have steadily merged in artillery use, making
a distinction between the terms somewhat meaningless.
By the end of the 20th century, true guns with calibers
larger than about 60 mm had become very rare in artillery
use, the main users being tanks, ships, and a few residual anti-aircraft and coastal guns. The term cannon
is a United States generic term that includes guns, howitzers and mortars; it is not used in other English speaking
armies.

Howitzers can re at maximum elevations at least close

to 45; elevations up to about 70 are normal for modern howitzers. Howitzers also have a choice of charges,
meaning that the same elevation angle of re will achieve
a dierent range depending on the charge used. They
have ried bores, lower muzzle velocities and shorter barrels than equivalent guns. All this means they can deliver re with a steep angle of descent. Because of their
multi-charge capability, their ammunition is mostly separate loading (the projectile and propellant are loaded separately).
That leaves six combinations of the three criteria, some
of which have been termed gun howitzers. A term rst
used in the 1930s when howitzers with a relatively high
maximum muzzle velocities were introduced, it never became widely accepted, most armies electing to widen the
denition of gun or howitzer. By the 1960s, most
equipments had maximum elevations up to about 70,
were multi-charge, had quite high maximum muzzle velocities and relatively long barrels.
Mortars are simpler. The modern mortar originated in
World War I and there were several patterns. After that
war, most mortars settled on the Stokes pattern, characterized by a short barrel, smooth bore, low muzzle velocity, elevation angle of ring generally greater than 45,
and a very simple and light mounting using a baseplate
on the ground. The projectile with its integral propelling
charge was dropped down the barrel from the muzzle to
hit a xed ring pin. Since that time, a few mortars have
become ried and adopted breech loading.

The traditional denitions dierentiated between guns

and howitzers in terms of maximum elevation (well less
than 45 as opposed to close to or greater than 45), number of charges (one or more than one charge), and having higher or lower muzzle velocity, sometimes indicated
by barrel length. These three criteria give eight possible There are other recognized typifying characteristics for

7.4

Caliber categories

artillery. One such characteristic is the type of obturation used to seal the chamber and prevent gases escaping through the breech. This may use a metal cartridge
case that also holds the propelling charge, a conguration called QF or quickring by some nations. The
alternative does not use a metal cartridge case, the propellant being merely bagged or in combustible cases with
the breech itself providing all the sealing. This is called
BL or breech loading by some nations.
A second characteristic is the form of propulsion. Modern equipment can either be towed or self-propelled (SP).
A towed gun res from the ground and any inherent protection is limited to a gun shield. Towing by horse teams
lasted throughout World War II in some armies, but others were fully mechanized with wheeled or tracked gun
towing vehicles by the outbreak of that war. The size of
a towing vehicle depends on the weight of the equipment
and the amount of ammunition it has to carry.

19

7.4 Caliber categories

A third form of artillery typing is to classify it as light,
medium, heavy and various other terms. It appears
to have been introduced in World War I, which spawned
a very wide array of artillery in all sorts of sizes so a simple categorical system was needed. Some armies dened
these categories by bands of calibers. Dierent bands
were used for dierent types of weaponseld guns,
mortars, anti-aircraft guns and coast guns.

8 Modern operations

A variation of towed is portee, where the vehicle carries

the gun which is dismounted for ring. Mortars are often
carried this way. A mortar is sometimes carried in an armored vehicle and can either re from it or be dismounted
to re from the ground. Since the early 1960s it has been
possible to carry lighter towed guns and most mortars by
helicopter. Even before that, they were parachuted or
landed by glider from the time of the rst airborne trials in the USSR in the 1930s.
In an SP equipment, the gun is an integral part of the vehicle that carries it. SPs rst appeared during World War
I, but did not really develop until World War II. They are
mostly tracked vehicles, but wheeled SPs started to appear in the 1970s. Some SPs have no armor and carry little or no ammunition. Armoured SPs usually carry a useful ammunition load. Early armoured SPs were mostly
a casemate conguration, in essence an open top armored box oering only limited traverse. However, most
modern armored SPs have a full enclosed armored turret, usually giving full traverse for the gun. Many SPs
cannot re without deploying stabilizers or spades, sometimes hydraulic. A few SPs are designed so that the recoil
forces of the gun are transferred directly onto the ground
through a baseplate. A few towed guns have been given
limited self-propulsion by means of an auxiliary engine.
Two other forms of tactical propulsion were used in the
rst half of the 20th century: Railways or transporting the
equipment by road, as two or three separate loads, with
disassembly and re-assembly at the beginning and end of
the journey. Railway artillery took two forms, railway
mountings for heavy and super-heavy guns and howitzers
and armored trains as ghting vehicles armed with light
artillery in a direct re role. Disassembled transport was
also used with heavy and super heavy weapons and lasted
into the 1950s.

Two French Army Giat GCT 155mm (155 mm AUF1) Selfpropelled Guns, 40th Regiment d' Artillerie, with IFOR markings
are parked at Hekon base, near Mostar, Bosnia-Herzegovina, in
support of Operation Joint Endeavor.

List of countries in order of amount of artillery:[47]

1. Russia 26,121[48]
2. Democratic
17,900+[49]

Peoples

Republic

3. China 17,700+[50]
4. India 11,258+[51]
5. Republic of Korea 10,774+[52]
6. United States 8,137[53]
7. Turkey 7,450+[54]
8. Israel 5,432[55]
9. Egypt 4,480[56]
10. Pakistan 4,291+[57]
11. Syria 3,805+[57]
12. Algeria 3,465[57]
13. Iran 3,668+[57]
14. Jordan 2,339[57]

of

Korea

20

15. Iraq 2,300+[57]

16. Finland 1,398[58]
17. France 758[57]
18. Brazil 900[57]
19. Cameroon 883

MODERN OPERATIONS

units under command of the directly supported formation. Nevertheless, the batteries re can be concentrated
onto a single target, as can the re of units in range and
with the other tactical missions.

8.1 Application of re
[57]

20. Morocco 848[57]

21. Hungary 835
Artillery is used in a variety of roles depending on its type
and caliber. The general role of artillery is to provide
re support"the application of re, coordinated with
the manoeuvre of forces to destroy, neutralize or suppress
the enemy. This NATO denition, of course, makes
artillery a supporting arm although not all NATO armies
agree with this logic. The italicised terms are NATOs.[59]
Unlike rockets, guns (or howitzers as some armies still
call them) and mortars are suitable for delivering close
supporting re. However, they are all suitable for providing deep supporting re although the limited range of
many mortars tends to exclude them from the role. Their
control arrangements and limited range also mean that
mortars are most suited to direct supporting re. Guns
are used either for this or general supporting re while
rockets are mostly used for the latter. However, lighter
rockets may be used for direct re support. These rules
of thumb apply to NATO armies.

A 155 mm artillery shell red by a United States 11th Marine

Regiment M-198 howitzer

There are several dimensions to this subject. The rst is

the notion that re may be against an opportunity target
or may be prearranged. If it is the latter it may be either
on-call or scheduled. Prearranged targets may be part of
a re plan. Fire may be either observed or unobserved, if
the former it may be adjusted, if the latter then it has to
be predicted. Observation of adjusted re may be directly
by a forward observer or indirectly via some other target
Modern mortars, because of their lighter weight and sim- acquisition system.
pler, more transportable design, are usually an integral
NATO also recognises several dierent types of re suppart of infantry and, in some armies, armor units. This
port for tactical purposes:
means they generally do not have to concentrate their re
so their shorter range is not a disadvantage. Some armies
Counterbattery re: delivered for the purpose of dealso consider infantry operated mortars to be more restroying or neutralizing the enemys re support syssponsive than artillery, but this is a function of the contem.
trol arrangements and not the case in all armies. However, mortars have always been used by artillery units
Counterpreparation re: intensive prearranged re
and remain with them in many armies, including a few
delivered when the imminence of the enemy attack
in NATO.
is discovered.
In NATO armies artillery is usually assigned a tactical
mission that establishes its relationship and responsibilities to the formation or units it is assigned to. It seems that
not all NATO nations use the terms and outside NATO
others are probably used. The standard terms are: direct support, general support, general support reinforcing
and reinforcing. These tactical missions are in the context
of the command authority: operational command, operational control, tactical command or tactical control.

Covering re: used to protect troops when they are

within range of enemy small arms.

In NATO direct support generally means that the directly

supporting artillery unit provides observers and liaison
to the manoeuvre troops being supported, typically an
artillery battalion or equivalent is assigned to a brigade
and its batteries to the brigades battalions. However,
some armies achieve this by placing the assigned artillery

Harassing re: a random number of shells are red

at random intervals, without any pattern to it that the
enemy can predict. This process is designed to hinder enemy forces movement, and, by the constantly
imposed stress, threat of losses and inability of enemy forces to relax or sleep, lowers their morale.

Defensive re: delivered by supporting units to assist

and protect a unit engaged in a defensive action.
Final Protective Fire: an immediately available prearranged barrier of re designed to impede enemy
movement across defensive lines or areas.

8.1

Application of re

21

Interdiction re: placed on an area or point to prevent the enemy from using the area or point.

what eects are required, for example, neutralization

or suppression;

Preparation re: delivered before an attack to

weaken the enemy position.

the proximity of and risks to own troops or noncombatants;

These purposes have existed for most of the 20th century,

although their denitions have evolved and will continue
to do so, lack of suppression in counterbattery is an omission. Broadly they can be dened as either:
Deep supporting re: directed at objectives not in
the immediate vicinity of own force, for neutralizing or destroying enemy reserves and weapons, and
interfering with enemy command, supply, communications and observation; or
Close supporting re: placed on enemy troops,
weapons or positions which, because of their proximity present the most immediate and serious threat
to the supported unit.

what types of munitions, including their fuzing, are

to be used and in what quantities;
when the targets should be attacked and possibly for
how long;
what methods should be used, for example, converged or distributed, whether adjustment is permissible or surprise essential, the need for special procedures such as precision or danger close
how many re units are needed and which ones they
should be from those that are available (in range,
with the required munitions type and quantity, not
allotted to another target, have the most suitable
line of re if there is a risk to own troops or noncombatants);
The targeting process is the key aspect of tactical re control. Depending on the circumstances and national procedures it may all be undertaken in one place or may be distributed. In armies practicing control from the front, most
of the process may be undertaken by a forward observer
or other target acquirer. This is particularly the case for a
smaller target requiring only a few re units. The extent
to which the process is formal or informal and makes use
of computer based systems, documented norms or experience and judgement also varies widely armies and other
circumstances.

USMC M-198 ring outside of Fallujah, Iraq in 2004

Two other NATO terms also need denition:

Neutralization re: delivered to render a target temporarily ineective or unusable; and
Suppression re: that degrades the performance of
a target below the level needed to fulll its mission.
Suppression is usually only eective for the duration
of the re.

Surprise may be essential or irrelevant. It depends on

what eects are required and whether or not the target is
likely to move or quickly improve its protective posture.
During World War II UK researchers concluded that for
impact fuzed munitions the relative risk were as follows:
men standing 1
men lying 1/3
men ring from trenches 1/151/50
men crouching in trenches 1/251/100

Airburst munitions signicantly increase the relative risk

The tactical purposes also include various mission for lying men, etc. Historically most casualties occur in
verbs, a rapidly expanding subject with the modern con- the rst 1015 seconds of re, i.e. the time needed to
react and improve protective posture, however, this is less
cept of eects based operations.
relevant if airburst is used.
Targeting is the process of selecting target and matching
the appropriate response to them taking account of oper- There are several ways of making best use of this brief
ational requirements and capabilities. It requires consid- window of maximum vulnerability:
eration of the type of re support required and the extent
ordering the guns to re together, either by execuof coordination with the supported arm. It involves decitive order or by a re at time. The disadvantage is
sions about:

22

8
that if the re is concentrated from many dispersed
re units then there will be dierent times of ight
and the rst rounds will be spread in time. To some
extent a large concentration osets the problem because it may mean that only one round is required
from each gun and most of these could arrive in the
15 second window.

burst re, a rate of re to deliver three rounds from

each gun within 10 or 15 seconds, this reduces the
number of guns and hence re units needed, which
means they may be less dispersed and have less variation in their times of ight. Smaller caliber guns,
such as 105 mm, have always been able to deliver
three rounds in 15 seconds, larger calibers ring
xed rounds could also do it but it wasn't until the
1970s that a multi-charge 155 mm howitzer, FH-70
rst gained the capability.

MODERN OPERATIONS

batteries for attack using a counter-battery re at the appropriate moment in accordance with a plan developed
by artillery intelligence sta. In other situations counterbattery re may occur whenever a battery is located with
sucient accuracy.
Modern counter-battery target acquisition uses unmanned aircraft, counter-battery radar, ground reconnaissance and sound-ranging. Counter-battery re may
be adjusted by some of the systems, for example the
operator of an unmanned aircraft can 'follow' a battery
if it moves. Defensive measures by batteries include
frequently changing position or constructing defensive
earthworks, the tunnels used by North Korea being an
extreme example. Counter-measures include air defence
against aircraft and attacking counter-battery radars physically and electronically.

multiple round simultaneous impact (MRSI).

time on target, re units re at the time less their time
of ight, this works well with prearranged scheduled
re but is less satisfactory for opportunity targets because it means delaying the delivery of re by selecting a 'safe' time that all or most re units can achieve.
It can be used with both the previous two methods.

8.2

Counter-battery re

Main article: Counter-battery re

Modern artillery ammunition. Caliber 155 mm as used by the
PzH 2000

Modern counter-battery re developed in World War I,

with the objective of defeating the enemys artillery. Typically such re was used to suppress enemy batteries when
they were or were about to interfere with the activities of 8.3 Field artillery team
friendly forces (such as to prevent enemy defensive artillery re against an impending attack) or to systemati- Main article: Field artillery team
cally destroy enemy guns. In World War I the latter required air observation. The rst indirect counter-battery
'Field Artillery Team' is a US term and the following dere was in May 1900 by an observer in a balloon.
scription and terminology applies to the US, other armies
Enemy artillery can be detected in two ways, either by are broadly similar but dier in signicant details. The
direct observation of the guns from the air or by ground 'Field Artillery System' above gives a more comprehenobservers (including specialist reconnaissance), or from sive description. Modern eld artillery (postWorld War
their ring signatures. This includes radars tracking the I) has three distinct parts: the forward observer (or FO),
shells in ight to determine their place of origin, sound the re direction center (FDC) and the actual guns themranging detecting guns ring and resecting their position selves. The forward observer observes the target using
from pairs of microphones or cross-observation of gun tools such as binoculars, laser rangenders, designators
ashes using observation by human observers or opto- and call back re missions on his radio, or relays the data
electronic devices, although the widespread adoption of through a portable computer via an encrypted digital ra'ashless propellant limited the eectiveness of the lat- dio connection protected from jamming by computerized
ter.
frequency hopping. A lesser known part of the team is the
Once hostile batteries have been detected they may be FAS or Field Artillery Survey team which setups up the
engaged immediately by friendly artillery or later at an Gun Line for the cannons. Today most artillery batoptimum time, depending on the tactical situation and talions use a(n) Aiming Circle which allows for faster
the counter-battery policy. Air strike is another option. setup and more mobility. FAS teams are still used for
In some situations the task is to locate all active enemy checks and balances purposes and if a gun battery has is-

8.5

MRSI

23

sues with the Aiming Circle a FAS team will do it for 8.5
them.

MRSI

The FO can communicate directly with the battery FDC,

of which there is one per each battery of 48 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 res to individual batteries
as needed to engage the targets that are spotted by the
FOs or to perform preplanned res.
The Battery FDC computes ring dataammunition to
be used, powder charge, fuse settings, the direction to the
target, and the quadrant elevation to be red at to reach
the target, what gun will re any rounds needed for adjusting on the target, and the number of rounds to be red on
the target by each gun once the target has been accurately
locatedto 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 re for eect (FFE). However, in more advanced
artillery units, this data is relayed through a digital radio
link.
Other parts of the eld 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 red
by battery and comparing that location with what was expected to compute a registration allowing future rounds
to be red with much greater accuracy.

8.4

Time on Target

A technique called Time on Target was developed by the

British Army in North Africa at the end of 1941 and early
1942 particularly for counter-battery re and other concentrations, it proved very popular. It relied on BBC time
signals to enable ocers to synchronize their watches to
the second because this avoided the need to use military
radio networks and the possibility of losing surprise, and
the need for eld telephone networks in the desert.[60]
With this technique the time of ight from each re unit
(battery or troop) to the target is taken from the range
or ring tables, or the computer and each engaging re
unit subtracts its time of ight from the TOT to determine the time to re. An executive order to re is given
to all guns in the re unit at the correct moment to re.
When each re unit res their rounds at their individual
ring time all the opening rounds will reach the target area
almost simultaneously. This is especially eective when
combined with techniques that allow res for eect to be
made without preliminary adjusting res.

Illustration of dierent trajectories used in MRSI: For any muzzle

velocity there is a steeper (> 45, solid line) and a lower (<45,
dashed line) trajectory. On these dierent trajectories, the shells
have dierent ight times.

This is a modern version of the earlier "time on target"

concept in which re from dierent weapons was timed
to arrive on target at the same time. It is possible for artillery to re several shells per gun at a target and have
all of them arrive simultaneously, which is called MRSI
(Multiple Rounds Simultaneous Impact). This is because
there is more than one trajectory for the rounds to y to
any given target: typically one is below 45 degrees from
horizontal and the other is above it, and by using dierent size propelling charges with each shell, it is possible
to create multiple 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 red on
these trajectories for the rst volleys (starting with the
shell with the most propellant and working down) and
then after the correct pause more volleys are red 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 area may
have time (however long it takes to reload and re-re the
guns) to take cover between volleys. However, guns capable of burst re can deliver several rounds in 10 seconds
if they use the same ring data for each, and if guns in
more than one location are ring on one target they can
use Time on Target procedures so that all their shells arrive at the same time and target.
To engage targets using MRSI requires two things, rstly
guns with the requisite rate of re and suciently dierent size propelling charges, secondly a re control computer that has been designed to compute such missions
and the data handling capability that allows all the ring
data to be produced, sent to each gun and then presented
to the gun commander in the correct order. The number of rounds that can be delivered in MRSI depends primarily on the range to the target and the rate of re, for

24

10

maximum rounds the range is limited to that of lowest

propelling charge that will reach the target.

9 See also

Examples of guns with a rate of re that makes them

suitable for MRSI includes UKs AS-90, South Africa's
Denel G652 (which can land six rounds simultaneously at targets at least 25 km (16 mi) away), Germany's
Panzerhaubitze 2000 (which can land ve rounds simultaneously at targets at least 17 km (11 mi) away) Slovakia's
155 mm SpGH ZUZANA model 2000. The Archer
project (developed by BAE-Systems in Sweden) is a 155
mm howitzer on a wheeled chassis which is claimed to
be able to deliver up to seven shells on target simultaneously from the same gun. The 120 mm twin barrel AMOS
mortar system, joint developed by Hgglunds (Sweden)
and Patria (Finland),[61] is capable of 7 + 7 shells MRSI.
The United States Crusader program (now cancelled) was
slated to have MRSI capability. It is unclear how many
re control computers have the necessary capabilities.

Indirect re

Two-round MRSI rings were a popular artillery demonstration in the 1960s, where well trained detachments
could show o their skills for spectators.

Counter-battery re

REFERENCES

Advanced Gun System

Aiming point
Artillery battery
Artillery fuze
Artillery museums
Barrage (artillery)
Beehive anti-personnel round
Combustion light-gas gun
Cordite

Counter-battery radar
Fuze

8.6

Air burst

Main article: Air burst

The destructiveness of artillery bombardments can be enhanced when some or all of the shells are set for airburst,
meaning that 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 shell after a preset delay.
This technique is tricky and slight variations in the functioning of the fuse can cause it to explode too high and
be ineective, or to strike the ground instead of exploding above it. Since December 1944 (Battle of the Bulge),
proximity fuzed artillery shells have been available that
take the guesswork out of this process. These embody a
miniature, low powered radar transmitter in the fuse to
detect the ground and explode them at a predetermined
height above it. The return of the weak radar signal completes an electrical circuit in the fuze which explodes the
shell. The proximity fuse itself was developed by the
British to increase the eectiveness of anti-aircraft warfare.

Project Babylon
Gun laying
Howitzer
Light-gas gun
List of artillery
Nuclear artillery
Paris Gun
Railgun
Shell (projectile)
Shoot-and-scoot
Shrapnel shell
Sound ranging
Suppressive re

This is a very eective tactic against infantry and light

10 References
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 10.1 Notes
of robust overhead cover. Combined with TOT or MRSI
tactics that give no warning of the incoming rounds, these [1] Christopher Bellamy, Oxford Companion to Military History: artillery
rounds are especially devastating because many enemy
soldiers are likely to be caught in the open. This is even [2] otnar, Ji; Carbol, Michal; Blaha, Martin.
more so if the attack is launched against an assembly area
Modernization of artillery reconnaissance (PDF).
or troops moving in the open rather than a unit in an enINASE. Applied Mathematics, Computational Science
and Engineering. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
trenched tactical position.

10.1

Notes

25

[3] See siege engines for more information on pre-gunpowder

devices.

[25] The Emergence of Modern War.

[26] Armstrong Ried Breech Loading (RBL) 6-Pounder

[4] Needham 1987, pp. 314316

[5]

History of Song

[6] Needham, Joseph (1987). Science & Civilisation in China,

volume 7: The Gunpowder Epic. Cambridge University
Press. pp. 317319. ISBN 0-521-30358-3.
[7] unknown (1590s). 1526, First Battle of Panipat, Ibrahim
Lodhi and Babur. Baburnama.

[27] Holley states that Daniel Treadwell rst patented the concept of a central steel tube kept under compression by
wrought-iron coils.. and that Armstrongs assertion that he
(Armstrong) rst used a wrought-iron A-tube and hence
did not infringe the patent, was disingenuous, as the main
point in Treadwells patent was the tension exerted by the
wrought-iron coils, which Armstrong used in exactly the
same fashion. Holley, Treatise on Ordnance and Armour,
1865, pages 863870

[8] Unknown (159095). Bullocks dragging siege-guns up

hill during Akbars attack on Ranthambhor Fort. the Akbarnama.

[28] Chris Bishop, Canon de 75 modle 1897, The encyclopedia of weapons of World War II, pg. 137

[9] Cook, Weston F., Jr. Warfare and Firearms in Fifteenth

century Morocco, 14001492. 1993

[29] Priscilla Mary Roberts, French 75 gun, World War One,

pg. 726

[10] (Sieges of Stirling Castle)

[11] Rogers, Cliord J. (1993). The Military Revolutions of
the Hundred Years War. The Journal of Military History 57 (2): 24178. doi:10.2307/2944058. ISSN 15437795. JSTOR 2944058 via JSTOR. (registration required (help)).
[12] Schmidtchen 1977, p. 162
[13] DeVries, K: The Use of Gunpowder Weaponry By and
Against Joan or Arc During the Hundred Years War.
1996
[14] Nicolle, David (2000). Constantinople 1453: The end of
Byzantium. London: Osprey. pp. 2930. ISBN 1-84176091-9.
[15] Nicolle, David (1983). Armies of the Ottoman Turks
13001774. Osprey. pp. 2930. ISBN 0-85045-511-1.
[16]
[17]
[18] Holmes, p.70
[19] Keegan, John, A History of Warfare (Vintage, 1993).
[20] Ordway, Vice-Commander of Artillery of the Polish king,
Wladyslaw IV, Great Art of Artillery, the First Part, also
known as The Complete Art of Artillery, pp.407416.
[21] Frederick C. Durant III, Stephen Oliver Fought, John F.
Guilmartin, Jr. Rocket and missile system. Encyclopdia Britannica. Retrieved 19 December 2011.
[22] Tipus missile launch pad in shambles. The Hindu (Karnataka, India). 23 June 2005. Retrieved 16 December
2011.
[23] Bastable, Marshall J. (1992). From Breechloaders to
Monster Guns: Sir William Armstrong and the Invention
of Modern Artillery, 1854-1880. Technology and Culture (Society for the History of Technology) 33 (2): 213
47. doi:10.2307/3105857. ISSN 1097-3729. JSTOR
3105857 via JSTOR. (registration required (help)).
[24] William Armstrong.

[30] Artillery - its origin, heyday and decline, Brigadier OFG

Hogg, 1970, C Hurst and Company
[31] Christopher Bellamy, Red God of War: Soviet Artillery
and Rocket Forces, London, 1986, p.16, quoted in Knox,
MacGregor; Murray, Williamson (2001). The Dynamics
of Military Revolution. New York: Cambridge University
Press. p. 135. ISBN 0-521-80079-X.
[32] Against All Odds!: Dramatic Last Stand Actions; Perret, Brian; Cassell 2000; ISBN 978-0-304-35456-6: discussed during the account of the Hougoumont action.
[33] Knox, MacGregor; Murray, Williamson (2001). The Dynamics of Military Revolution. New York: Cambridge
University Press. p. 136. ISBN 0-521-80079-X.
[34] Frank W. Sweet (2000). The Evolution of Indirect Fire.
Backintyme. pp. 2833. ISBN 0-939479-20-6.
[35] Knox, MacGregor; Murray, Williamson (2001). The Dynamics of Military Revolution. New York: Cambridge
University Press. p. 141. ISBN 0-521-80079-X..
[36] Bailey, Jonathan B. A. (2004), Field artillery and repower, Naval Institute Press, ISBN 1-59114-029-3
[37] General Percin, 1921 Le massacre de notre infanterie,
19141918. Percin supports his claim with hundreds of
items of battleeld correspondence from all parts of the
Western Front.
[38] http://nso.nato.int/nso/zPublic/ap/aap6/AAP-6.pdf
[39] 102.001 - PROXIMITY FUSE, Science Service Historical Image Collection
[40] p.266, Browne & Thurbon
[41] p.262, International Aeronautic Federation
[42] Fin-stabilized artillery shell. patentstorm.us. August
24, 2004.
[43] Excalibur Precision Projectile. globalsecurity.org.
[44] Guided artillery missile with extremely long range.
patentstorm.us. August 24, 2004.

26

12

[45] McNab, Chris; Hunter Keeter (2008). Tools of Violence:

Guns, Tanks and Dirty Bombs. Osprey Publishing. p. 145.
ISBN 1-84603-225-3.
[46] The public NABK Brochure NABK
[47] Hackett, James, (ed.), The Military Balance 2010, The
International Institute for Strategic Studies, 2010; Note:
Only conventional tube ordnance is given, in use with land
forces
[48] Hackett, James, (ed.), The Military Balance 2010, The
International Institute for Strategic Studies, 2010, p.223;
Note: the number given is for Land Forces only. Naval Infantry and Coastal Defense forces, Federal Border Guard
Service, and Interior Troops use an additional 500+ ordnance pieces
[49] Hackett, James, (ed.), The Military Balance 2010, The International Institute for Strategic Studies, 2010, p.412
[50] Hackett, James, (ed.), The Military Balance 2010, The International Institute for Strategic Studies, 2010, p.400
[51] Hackett, James, (ed.), The Military Balance 2010, The International Institute for Strategic Studies, 2010, p.360
[52] Hackett, James, (ed.), The Military Balance 2010, The International Institute for Strategic Studies, 2010, p.414
[53] Hackett, James, (ed.), The Military Balance 2010, The
International Institute for Strategic Studies, 2010, p.33;
Note: the total is composed of 6,270+ ordnance used by
the US Army, Army Reserve and National Guard with
1,867 used by the USMC
[54] Hackett, James, (ed.), The Military Balance 2010, The International Institute for Strategic Studies, 2010, p.165
[55] Hackett, James, (ed.), The Military Balance 2010, The International Institute for Strategic Studies, 2010, p.255
[56] Hackett, James, (ed.), The Military Balance 2010, The
International Institute for Strategic Studies, 2010, p.248;
Note: Syria, Egypts strategic partner in the past wars
against Israel, uses 3,440+ artillery pieces, and is the 11th
ranking artillery user in the World

EXTERNAL LINKS

Holmes, Richard (1988). The World Atlas of Warfare: Military Innovations that Changed the Course
of History. New York: Viking Studio Books. ISBN
978-0-670-81967-6. OCLC 17840438.
McCamley, N J (2004). Disasters Underground.
Barnsley: Pen & Sword Military. ISBN 978-184415-022-9. OCLC 53241739.
McNaughton, Andrew (January 1929). The Development of Artillery in the Great War. Canadian
Defence Quarterly 6 (2).
Ordway, Frederick I (July 1970). History of Astronautics Symposium: Mar Del Plata, Argentina, October 1969. Technology and Culture 11 (3). ISSN
0040-165X.
Browne, J P R; Thurbon, M T (1998). Electronic Warfare. Brasseys air power, v. 4. London: Brasseys. ISBN 978-1-85753-133-6. OCLC
38292289.
International Aeronautic Federation (JanuaryJune
1977). Interavia (Geneva: Interavia SA) 32: 262.
ISSN 0020-5168. Missing or empty |title= (help)
Schmidtchen, Volker (1977). Riesengeschtze des
15. Jahrhunderts. Technische Hchstleistungen
ihrer Zeit [Giant cannon of the 15th century: technical masterpieces of their era]. Technikgeschichte
(in German) (Munich: Deutsches Museum) 44 (2):
153173 (162164). OCLC 85351643.

11 Further reading
Hogg, Oliver Frederick Gillilan (1970). Artillery:
Its Origin, Heyday and Decline. London: C. Hurst.
ISBN 978-0-900966-43-9. OCLC 99454.
Bailey, J B A (2004). Field Artillery and Firepower.
AUSA Institute of Land Warfare book. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-59114029-0. OCLC 51931033.

[57] Hackett, James, (ed.), The Military Balance 2010, The International Institute for Strategic Studies, 2010, p.368
[58] NEWS ANALYSIS: In a changing world, Finlands artillery stays the same.
[59] AAP-6(2006) NATO Glossary of Terms and Denitions.

12 External links
Portsmouth Action Field Gun Pictures and Video
Naval Weapons of the World

[60] The Development of Artillery Tactics and Equipment,

Brigadier AL Pemberton, 1950, The War Oce, pg 129

Cannon Artillery - The Voice of Freedoms Thunder

[61] http://www.patriahagglunds.fi/

Modern Artillery

10.2

Bibliography

TM 9-2300

Evans, Nigel F. (20012007) "British Artillery in

World War 2"
Artillery Tactics and Combat during the Napoleonic
Wars

27
Artillery of Napoleons Imperial Guard
French artillery and its ammunition. 14th to the end
of the 19th century
Historic lms showing artillery in World War I at
europeanlmgateway.eu
Video: Inside shrieking shrapnel. Hear the great
sound of shrapnels - Finnish eld artillery re video
year 2013

28

13

13
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6c/1526-First_Battle_of_Panipat-Ibrahim_Lodhi_and_Babur.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Baburnama Original artist:
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File:152_mm_howitzer_D-20_belong_to_Military_of_Iran.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/152_
mm_howitzer_D-20_belong_to_Military_of_Iran.jpg License: GFDL Contributors: http://gallery.sajed.ir/home.html?func=detail&id=
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src='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Wikidata-logo.svg/20px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png'
width='20'
height='11' srcset='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Wikidata-logo.svg/30px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png 1.5x,

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29

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href='//commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Category:Files_created_by_the_United_States_Marine_Corps_with_known_
IDs,<span>,&,</span>,lefrom=001120-M-6514O-001#mw-category-media'>(next)</a>.
This tag does not indicate the copyright status of the attached work. A normal copyright tag is still required. See Commons:Licensing for more information.

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File:16-in_Battleship_Ammunition.JPG
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Ammunition.JPG License: Public domain Contributors: Photo from the Federation of American Scientists Website Original artist:
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File:3rdMarineDivisionVietnam1968h.JPEG
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File:60_pounder_Cape_Helles_June_1915.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c6/60_pounder_Cape_

Helles_June_1915.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: This is photograph Q 13340 from the collections of the Imperial War Museums
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%28RML%29_Gun_on_Moncrieff_disappearing_mount%2C_at_Scaur_Hill_Fort%2C_Bermuda.jpg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: With a Canon EOS camera
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