James T. Quinlivan, War On The Rocks: Artillery Returns To The Battlefield In the War Against The Islamic State
Amid Russian air and cruise missile strikes, civilian casualties, proposed no-fly zones, air-to-air shoot-downs, and new surface-to-air missiles in Syria, relatively few news stories have discussed the introduction of Russian artillery into the theater. Though the introduction of artillery may seem less significant than aerial attacks, remember that Napoleon observed: “With artillery, war is made.” By reintroducing artillery to Syria to support combined arms operations, the Russians may have revealed something about the war they and the Syrians envision. Together with increased air attacks, the Syrians and their Russian advisors seek to revitalize combined arms forces, and artillery is critical to their vision of such forces. Artillery is particularly important for offensive operations, providing a continuous presence that current Russian air deployments cannot sustain. The Syrian ground forces are now taking and holding ground, fighting urban and village battles where they must, but posing a threat of encirclement and maneuver where they can.
Read more ....
WNU Editor: Quoting my father who commanded an Soviet artillery unit during the Second World War .... "Artillery .... if deployed and used properly .... will effectively destroy any enemy concentration". We all saw how effective Russian artillery can be during the Ukraine war in 2014-2015. The Ukraine army had many problems, but when rebel artillery was directed at them, Ukraine military units were almost always incinerated. We now know that Russia has deployed artillery units in Syria .... and I will not be surprised if they are not only being used on a regular basis, but are training their Syrian counterparts on how to use it effectively. I am wiling to bet that this is going to change the dynamics of that war, and I will not be surprised if more Russian artillery units are deployed this year. On a side note .... the Israelis are probably the best in the Middle East when it comes to using artillery. The Israelis have all the fancy planes/helicopters and missiles when it comes to war-fighting, but it it is always the artillery that we see on TV pounding the other side.
10 comments:
Artillery do not return to the battlefield, it was already there in the last 4 years. Both side rely heavily on artillery (rebels a bit more), but he dynamics won't change, not even because of russia. The more is better, but there are already a lot there.
WNU
One of the key element of an effective conventional artillery in my opinion is that fact that in the old days the concentration of fire will be corrected by an individual called (artillery observer). Usually it will be a low rank officer with an activity chart or a topographic card and a radio team .
Making a 3 members team . observer , radio operator and security.
Another important factor in how well the artillery battery is set in the field and how knowledgeable the crew's are on setting up their obus.
Unfortunately it seems like we have moved away from this form . for GPS systems compare (777. 105 mm 255mm )
777 is GPS guided and can be operate as a single unit .
105 and 255 mm are more effective by using as a battery.
Si-vis-pasen-
A long long time ago in Southeast Asia, the pre GPS 105 reigned king. Your FO could get the second barrage on target within 8 to 10 minutes of first call of the fire mission. Oh yeah, FO's and mission callers were notorious liars about Danger Close regs. Think 50 meters most of the time.
The 255 mm was created by the need of digging out the Japanese of their deep fox holes during ww2 this machine are unbelievable precision tool for a well trained crew .
A friend of mine, back in the old days when he was in the army, he was deployed to a Luna-M (rocket artillery) unit. He told me, when they fired practice shots, in long distance, indirect fire, only relied to so called "orientation points" (I do not know if this is the right word for them in English), they could directly hit a 2x2m target from 20km or more. He always pointed out that a well mainted and updated "orientation point" was the key for the accuracy, but this take a lot of work in peace time and only work in your own territory. In Syria, this is not a problem. As far as I know there was a rule for everyone who was planning to build even the smallest building, had to inform the Air Inteligence about what he plan to build, where and what it's like. In Syria, they seems to take attention on this even before the war, and accuracity in Syria (of the SAA at least) is not really a problem, however in Ukraine we seen a lot of failed aiming, and huge collateral damages from both sides.
mlacix,
". He told me, when they fired practice shots, in long distance, indirect fire, only relied to so called "orientation points" (I do not know if this is the right word for them in English)" I know what you're trying to say, but the word escapes me too. Perhaps a red legger like Si-vis-pasen- would know.
Oh yeah, I've almost forgot. Do you think the Iraqis have finally secured Ramadi? Something still smells about that operation.
Si-vis-pasen-,
Sorry, I should explain. A red leg in old army parlance was the arty boys who had a red stripe on their Class a uniforms pants legs. They and the FOs were well love and I assure you the FOs well looked after.
Mlacix
The orientation point is reference to an stick around 5 foot tall whit markings on it the is use in conjunction with the artillery piece rear view sight,to position the obus on please.
That the way the command post knows de direction of battery in relation to the topography card.
There is no communication between the observations team and the artillery crew's at all.
The observation team communication is with the command post they both have the same numerical order on the strike chart and the command post transfer this number's into elevation and direction and guidance the artillery salvos .
James:
I checked the word, it's in English mean more like a landmark or something like that, but it's any object which is previously measured and market on military maps, to make a reference point to help your calculations on both your and your target's position.
About Ramadi, I think the situation is calm now. I read reports that Iraqi forces keep capturing back areas inside the city step by step, but it's a long way still. The thing I worried about is a counterattack from the inside, by letting the Iraqis advance on easier areas, like along the river, and then with the use of tunnels IS could easily regroup their forces in the two pocket they had south from the main road. Luckly this never happened, otherwise the Iraqi forces would been pushed to the river. My eyes now on North Latakia, and the al-Firliq forest. The recent liberation of the city of Salma give a nice look of how the SAA advance will go on now on that frontline.
mlacix,
Maybe I'm going to have to change the tune I've been singing. We'll see.
Post a Comment