U.S. Army Says It Is Rethinking How Much Artillery It Will Need For A Potential Large-Scale Future Fight

 

 Business Insider: Watching Ukraine burn through ammo fighting Russia has the US Army rethinking how much it really needs for when war breaks out 

 * Both sides of the war in Ukraine have burned through insane amounts of ammo, straining stockpiles globally. 

 * The war has prompted the US Army to rethink how much it should be producing and stockpiling, both for itself and its allies. 

 * A US official told Business Insider the Army is both ramping up production and modernizing its process. 

With both sides of the war in Ukraine burning through ammo at astonishing rates, the US Army says it's rethinking what it needs for a potential large-scale future fight. 

But with production, particularly of 155mm artillery shells, ramping up, the Army is also looking at how to modernize its ongoing manufacturing and stockpiles — both to continue supporting allies like Ukraine and Israel, as well as have enough ammo should the US find itself in a high-intensity conflict of its own, especially against a major military power.  

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WNU Editor: The way I see it. If Ukraine runs out of artillery shells, they will lose this war. That is the lesson that the US Army should walk away with.

Why Are So Many U.S. Artillery Gun Crews Who Were Deployed To Bombard The Islamic State Facing Health And Psychological Issues?

U.S. soldiers assigned to 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, fire their M777 A2 Howitzer in Syria on Sept. 30, 2021. (Cpl. Isaiah Scott/Army) 

DNYUZ/New York Times: A Secret War, Strange New Wounds, and Silence From the Pentagon 

When Javier Ortiz came home from a secret mission in Syria, the ghost of a dead girl appeared to him in his kitchen. She was pale and covered in chalky dust, as if hit by an explosion, and her eyes stared at him with a glare as dark and heavy as oil. 

The 21-year-old Marine was part of an artillery gun crew that fought against the Islamic State, and he knew that his unit’s huge cannons had killed hundreds of enemy fighters. The ghost, he was sure, was their revenge. 

A shiver went through him. He backed into another room in his apartment near Camp Pendleton in California and flicked on the lights, certain that he was imagining things. She was still there.  

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 WNU Editor: This story hits close to home. My father commanded artillery units for the Soviet Army during the Second World War. Aside from suffering hearing loss, he was haunted by nightmares from that war for the rest of his life. My father's best friend (and my Godfather) also served in such a unit, and he committed suicide 20 years after the war. Everyone blamed his war experience for his suicide.

U.S. Ramping Up Artillery Production

 

WNU Editor: The AP covers the US Army's attempts to boost artillery shell production .... Unprepared for long war, US Army under gun to make more ammo (AP). 

The U.S. still has a long way to go to catch-up .... Going to war? Good news! The United States is 13 years behind in ammunition production, NYT reports (Business Insider).

US Army Ramps Up Artillery Production (Update)

Ukrainian servicemen fire a 2S7 Pion self-propelled gun toward Russian positions, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, on a frontline near Bakhmut in Donetsk region, Ukraine January 24, 2023. REUTERS/Oleksandr Ratushniak  

Defense News: With demand high in Ukraine, US Army ramps up artillery production 

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army is rapidly moving to expand its domestic production capacity of 155mm artillery shells, according to the Army’s acquisition chief, as Ukraine uses thousands daily fending off Russia. 

U.S. defense officials said last year Ukrainians expended roughly 3,000 rounds a day, while a Pentagon fact sheet issued this week said the U.S. government has already sent over 1 million 155mm rounds to the country. 

Prior to the war in Ukraine, the U.S. could build about 14,400 155mm artillery shells a month. But as Ukrainian forces burn through the ammunition for howitzers sent to the country, the U.S. is hoping to ramp up production to roughly 90,000 shells a month, according to a New York Times report this week.  

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WNU Editor: Ramping up production to roughly 90,000 shells a month is small when compared to Russia expending 20,000 artillery shells per day.

 US Army Ramps Up Artillery Production (Update)

Ukraine is burning through artillery shells. Now the US is increasing production by 500% -- Business Insider  

Pentagon Will Increase Artillery Production Sixfold for Ukraine -- NYTimes  

New York Times: Pentagon to increase artillery production by 500% for Ukraine -- Kyiv Independent

U.S. Army To Triple The Production Of 155mm Artillery Shells By 2025

A Marine with Echo Battery, 2d Battalion, 10th Marine Regiment, 2d Marine Division, carries 155mm artillery shells during Exercise Rolling Thunder 22-2 at Fort Bragg, N.C., March 30, 2022. (Ryan Ramsammy/U.S. Marine Corps) 

 Defense News: Army plans ‘dramatic’ ammo production boost as Ukraine drains stocks 

SIMI VALLEY, Calif. ― As donations to Ukraine strain allied munitions stockpiles, the U.S. Army is seeking a “dramatic” ramp up in monthly production of 155mm artillery shells over the next three years, its chief weapons buyer said Saturday. 

Those plans hinge on emergency spending for Ukraine that Congress already approved, but also on the more than $600 million in industrial investments in the next tranche of aid and multiyear authorities in the annual defense policy bill still under debate in Congress, according to Doug Bush, the assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, technology and logistics.

“Funding is already in place, contracts are underway to basically triple 155mm production,” Bush told Defense News on the sidelines of the Reagan National Defense Forum. “There’s funding on the Hill, in the supplemental, to more than double that again. That would take a period of years. 

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WNU editor: The US Army's goal is to be manufacturing 42,000 155mm artillery shells per month by 2025. The problem is that Ukraine is going through 10,000 artillery shells per day.

China Successfully Tests A New Long-Range Rocket System

PLA put the precision strike capability of its new rocket launch system to the test at high altitude, with a maximum range of about 310 miles. pic.twitter.com/jhGxEmiSxh

— 彩云香江 (@louischeung_hk) July 21, 2022

WNU Editor: This new rocket system with its 310 mile range will now make it possible for China to attack most military positions on the island of Taiwan.

U.S. Army Plans To Stop Major Research And Development Work On It's 1,000 Mile Range Supergun

Warzone/The Drive: Army's 1,000 Mile Range Supergun Set To See Its Budget Slashed 

The Army's Strategic Long Range Cannon program had been planning to demonstrate a prototype weapon by 2023. 

The U.S. Army plans to stop major research and development work on a huge artillery piece, intended to be able to hit targets out to a range of 1,000 miles or more, by the end of this year. Instead, the service wants to move funds it would have spent specifically on this Strategic Long Range Cannon into a more general account that it could use to help mature various advanced technologies. 

The update on the Army's plans for the Strategic Long Range Cannon (SLRC) program were contained within its proposed budget for the 2022 Fiscal Year, which was released on May 28, 2021, as part of the larger U.S. military-wide budget request. In lieu of funding for the SLRC line item, the service asked for just over $72.6 million for a new account called Technology Maturation Initiative (TMI) Planning for Super-System and Technology Product Prototyping.  

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WNU Editor: It looks like the costs to develop and (maybe) deploy such a system became too high.

Artillery Is Going To Play A Key Role In The US Army

Breaking Defense graphic from Army data. KEY: ERCA = Extended Range Cannon Artillery. GMLRS-ER: Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System – Extended Range. PrSM = Precision Strike Missile. MRC = Mid-Range Capability. Not shown: Long Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW), whose range is classified.  

Breaking Defense: US Army Plans To Grow Artillery 

The Army will create new field artillery battalions in its heavy divisions, armed with the new Extended Range Cannon Artillery (ERCA) armored howitzer. It's part of a plan to add new Long-Range Precision Fire weapons at every level of command. 

WASHINGTON: After decades of neglect, the Army is vigorously investing in artillery, creating new units and new weapons — everything from long-barreled howitzers to hypersonic missiles. 

Now the service has made a major decision to expand the artillery force by creating new battalions to operate the new XM1299 Extended Range Cannon Artillery, a tracked, armored howitzer with double the range of current cannon, the director of artillery modernization at Army Futures Command told me.  

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WNU Editor: Regular readers of this blog know that I have always believed that future conflicts will be fought with missiles, drones, and accurate long range artillery backed by accurate tracking and targeting systems.It looks like the US Army has embraced this vision.

US Army's Extended Range Cannon Artillery Hits A Target 43 Miles Away

 

Battleswarm Blog: Extended Range Cannon Artillery: Going Boom 43 Miles Away 

Here’s some videos of BAE’s new M1299 self-propelled Extended Range Cannon Artillery (ERCA) firing Raytheon’s precision-guided M982 Excalibur artillery round. 

The round itself isn’t new, it’s been around for over a decade, but using the ERCA, they recently extended the effective range of the shell out to 43 miles:  

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WNU Editor: Hitting a target 43 miles away. That is incredible.

Here Comes The Next Generation Of Artillery Systems

 

Breaking Defense: No Time To Spare In Fielding Next-Generation Fires Technology 

Built on more than a century of excellence in advanced artillery solutions, Rheinmetall innovations offer ready now lethality solutions urgently needed to restore overmatch today and ensure it remains tomorrow.

In 1896, Heinrich Ehrhardt, a German engineer and entrepreneur, patented the recoiling barrel system and started a revolution in field artillery. Nearly 125 years later, the company he founded, Rheinmetall, remains a global leader in the development of artillery solutions. Today, Rheinmetall continues to set the standard of excellence for the highest priority modernization needs of artillery systems, particularly in key aspects of long-range precision fires – firing systems, cannon-delivered projectiles and propellants. Rheinmetall’s PzH2000 52-caliber length (L52) 155mm howitzer tube is widely considered the best in its class and the celebrated Assegai family of 155mm munitions, paired with Rheinmetall’s new Extended Range Top Charge propellants, have substantially outperformed conventional artillery systems in recent live fire testing. 

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WNU Editor: An interesting post on what Rheinmetall is doing to improve artillery systems.

U.S. Army's Extended Range Cannon Artillery Scores A Direct Hit On A Target 43 Miles Away

U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground conducts developmental testing of multiple facets of the Extended Range Cannon Artillery project, from artillery shells to the longer cannon tube and larger firing chamber the improved howitzer will need to accommodate them. (Army) 

Defense News: Army long-range cannon gets direct hit on target 43 miles away 

WASHINGTON — The Army’s Extended Range Cannon Artillery (ERCA) system under development hit a target 43 miles away — or 70 kilometers — on the nose at Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona, Dec. 19, using an Excalibur extended-range guided artillery shell, according to the general who is overseeing the service’s Long-Range Precision Fires modernization. 

“I don’t think our adversaries have the ability to hit a target on the nose at 43 miles,” Brig. Gen. John Rafferty, who is in charge of the effort, told a small group of reporters in a teleconference immediately following the test. 

The Army is racing to extend artillery ranges on the battlefield to take away advantages of high-end adversaries like Russia. 

The ERCA cannon, when fielded, should be able to fire and take out targets from a position out of the range of enemy systems. 

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WNU Editor: I think hitting a target 43 miles away is impressive. But some experts believe the US Army still needs to improve their artillery capabilities .... Does the U.S. Army Have Long-Range Fire Problem? (National Interest).

The U.S. Army Still Wants To Have A 1,000 km Range Super Cannon

Defence-Blog: U.S. Army criticized for crazy 1,000 km range super cannon concept 

U.S. Army is being criticized for the development of new deadly cannon, which is expected to fire rounds out to 1,000 km, or 620 miles. 

The Army is exploring possibilities both with Governments and the private sector to develop a new massive artillery system that can precision hit targets at 1000 kilometers. The Army interest in long-range cannon capable of firing a higher volume of low-cost rounds to help offset the cost of hypersonic weapons. 

The program called the Strategic Long Range Cannon (SLRC) is comprised of a weapon, prime mover and trailer, projectile and propelling charge capable of delivering massed fires at strategic ranges for multi-domain operations. The SLRC field battery will be included 4 special platforms with cannons and heavy equipment transporters. Some sources said that the crew of super cannon will be 8 personnel per platform. 

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WNU Editor: The US Air Force says their hypersonic missile will be better .... Air Force Says New Hypersonic Missile Will Hit Targets 1,000 Miles Away In Under 12 Minutes (Warzone/The Drive). Any bets that this hypersonic missile is going to be very expensive. As for the US Army's dream of having a 1,000 km range super cannon .... this is actually nothing new. The Canadian engineer Gerald Bull tried to develop a long range cannon, ending with Project Babylon, a space gun project commissioned by Iraqi president Saddam Hussein in 1998. Interestingly .... Gerald Bull was assassinated in Brussels in 1990. His murder is still unsolved.

U.S. Army Rushing To Have A Mid-Range Missile Capability By 2023

The High Mobility Artillery Rocket System will be the launcher for a long-range precision fires munition, which has been deemed critical for multidomain operations. (Senior Airman Isaac Johnson/U.S. Air Force)

Breaking Defense: Army Seeks New Mid-Range Missile Prototype By 2023

Meant to target Chinese warships and Russia’s rear bases, the new intermediate-range missile will fill the gap between the 500+ km PrSM and the Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon.

WASHINGTON: Army wargames against Russia and China found a major gap in the service’s planned arsenal of long-range precision weapons, a gap it now plans to fill with a new intermediate-range missile that could fly as far as 2,000 miles. To speed development, the weapon will probably be derived from a missile already used by another service, such as the famous Tomahawk.

“[Navy] SM-6s and Tomahawks, that’s a capability I can see us as having in the future,” the Army Chief of Staff, Gen. James McConville, told a DefenseOne webcast this morning. “We are working that, [and] the Marine Corps is doing the same thing. If you don’t have to develop your own system, if you already have something that already works… it’s in all of our interest to go ahead and pursue those.”

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Update: For the US Army’s fires capability, 2023 is the year that will change everything (Defense News)

WNU Editor: I hope these missiles are not as expensive as the Tomahawk missile (i.e. $1.87 million) .... Tomahawk (missile) (Wikipedia).

Russia's Defense Establishment Highlight Recent Rocket Artillery Advancements

Tornado-S 9A52-4 Rocket Launcher performs a live demonstration at the Army Forum 2019 event. Photo: Defense-Update

Defense Update: Russian MOD, Industries Highlight Artillery Rockets Advancement

The Russian defense establishment’s perception of the place of artillery – in general, and rocket Artillery – in particular, has undergone a significant advancement over the past decade, placing these systems at a central place on the ground battlefield. This emphasis was evident at the recent Victory Parade in Moscow and at the Army Forum 2020 defense expo taking place in Kubinka this week.

The new concept, promoted since the end of the previous decade, was reiterated by the deployment of rocket formations during the Russian takeover of the Crimean peninsula (2014). This concept was endorsed by the Russian Defense Minister and senior officials in the defense ministry, and the Army, and is supported by the allocation of appropriate funds for development and fielding.

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WNU Editor: This is a good summary on Russian advancements in rocket artillery.

This Is How The U.S. Army Was Able To Double The Range Of Its 155mm Artillery

File photo - Artillerymen of 1st Battalion, 41st Field Artillery Regiment fire M109 Alpha 6 Paladins, on Tapa Army Base, Estonia, Nov. 27, 2015. (U.S. Army photo by: Sgt Caitlyn Byrne, 10th Press Camp Headquarters)

FOX News/Warrior Maven: How did the Army double the range of artillery attack?

The Army has employed engineering adjustments to increase its 155mm artillery power.

What if an attacking U.S. Army ground force knew its ultra-long-range artillery had already decimated enemy supply lines and troop fortifications in advance of their move to take out the enemy?

Moreover, what if all of that bombardment had been done from a safer standoff range? It is not hard to imagine that such a U.S. force could maneuver with more confidence and more clearly-defined objectives by virtue of having already achieved certain essential battle aims.

With this kind of scenario in mind, the Army has employed engineering adjustments to increase its 155mm artillery power and literally “double” the range out to as far as 70km (43.4 miles).

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WNU Editor: It was strange to read this post. The Pentagon is no longer keeping its secrets. They might as well publish the blueprints.

U.S. Army Tests New Precision-Strike Missile

An artist's impression shows the launching of a Precision Strike Missile. (Credit: Lockheed Martin)

FOX News/Warrior Maven: Army fires off test shot for new precision-strike missile

The U.S. Army has fired test shot number three for its fast-emerging Precision-Strike Missile, a new surface-to-surface weapon intended to destroy targets with precision accuracy from ranges as far as 500 km. (311 miles).

The shot, which took place earlier this year at Yuma Proving Grounds, Ariz., moved the development of the weapon into a new phase as a next generation method of pinpointing targets from safer stand-off ranges. The new PrSM is, among other things, intended to replace and improve upon the existing Army Tactical Missile System land-fired missile.

The test shot, senior Army leaders described, laid the foundation for the Army’s ultimate goal for the new system.

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Update: Army begins testing advanced seeker for Precision Strike Missile (US Army)

WNU Editor: Hitting a target 500km is impressive. This is a continuation on the development and expectation that short to medium term missiles will be playing a critical role in any future war.

This Artillery Round Can Hit Targets Under Bridges

FOX News/Warrior Maven: New Army artillery changes course to hit targets under bridges

Enemies of the U.S. Army are now deliberately hiding targets behind mountain ridges, under bridges, in rocky crevices and other locations intended to elude state-of-the art GPS-guided artillery round attacks -- complicating U.S. efforts to pinpoint and destroy targets

Existing guided artillery rounds, often using GPS, Inertial Measurement Systems and advanced seeker technology, have been effective in combat for years, giving ground attack commanders expanded attack options. A precision-guided 155m artillery round, called Excalibur, first emerged in warfare in 2007.

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WNU Editor: Impressive.

U.S. Army Tests Its New Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) Hitting A Target 50-Miles Away In Just 91 Seconds

Military.com: Army's New Missile Prototype Strikes 50-Mile Test Target in Just 91 Seconds

The U.S. Army's experimental long-range missile just completed its latest test to show it's just as effective at attacking enemy targets much closer than its maximum range of 310 miles.

The service's new Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) quickly closed the 85 kilometers, or 52 miles, and struck its target during an April 30 test at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, according to a recent Army news release.

The test was "the shortest and most challenging yet," Brig. Gen. John Rafferty, director of the Army's Long Range Precision Fires Cross-Functional Team, said in the release.

At shorter ranges, the PrSM must expend more energy to adjust its angle of attack in a short period of time, Rafferty said in the release.

"It has to start tipping as soon as it comes out of the launcher," he said. "It was a pretty exciting 91 seconds or so."

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WNU Editor: The PrSM will have a maximum range of 500 kilometers.

U.S. Army Testing Its Artillery, Missiles, And Its 'Super Gun'

The prototype M1299 armoured howitzer test-firing at Yuma Proving Ground on March 6, 2020.

Breaking Defense: Army Tests New A2/AD Tools: Howitzers, Missiles & 1,000-Mile Supergun

This spring’s successful test shots of the Precision Strike Missile and Extended-Range Cannon are just two pieces of a rapidly evolving portfolio of new long-range weapons.

WASHINGTON: As the Army urgently rebuilds its long-neglected artillery branch, it’s test-firing some impressive hardware in the southwestern desert and over the Pacific. But all those technologies, the Army’s artillery modernization director told me, are in service to a single purpose:

After decades of depending on air support, the Army needs its own long-range precision firepower to blow holes in high-tech defenses so US aircraft, warships, and ground troops can pour through.

No one wonder weapon can solve this problem on its own, Brig. Gen. John Rafferty told me in an interview ahead of this week’s successful Precision Strike Missile test. Instead, it requires a complete toolkit of complementary weapons with overlapping ranges, each optimized for a different set of targets at a different level of the future fight.

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WNU editor: The U.S. has a lot of ground to catch up .... Big Guns, Big Problems: Russia Is Outgunning The U.S. Army's Artillery (National Interest).

More News On The U.S. Army Testing Its Artillery, Missiles, And Its 'Super Gun'

US Army completes third test of Lockheed’s Precision Strike Missile -- Defense News
Lockheed Martin’s New Tactical Missile Scores Successful Flight Test -- Defense Update
Lockheed completes final test of Precision Strike Missile for Army -- UPI
Army: Lockheed PrSM Missile Aces Third Flight Test -- Breaking Defense
The Army's New Artillery Cannon Can Destroy Targets Over 1,000 Miles Away -- National Interest

U.S. Army Prepares Its Artillery Arm For Large-Scale Warfare

American HIMARS multiple rocket launchers during a live-fire exercise in Australia, part of the Talisman Saber 2019 wargames.

Breaking Defense: Army Rebuilds Artillery Arm For Large-Scale War

The service’s new AimPoint plan builds very different forces for Europe and the Pacific – but new high-level artillery HQs are central to both.

WASHINGTON: Call it the once and future king of battle. The Army’s artillery branch, neglected over 20 years of hunting guerrillas, is being revived as the long-range striking arm for multi-domain warfare against Russia and China. That will affect everything from what missiles the service buys, to which officers get promoted, to how the service organizes itself for battle – a force structure outlined in a new Army Futures Command study called AimPoint.

The biggest change? Having already created two experimental Multi-Domain Task Forces built around artillery brigades, the Army now plans to build new high-level headquarters called Theater Fires Commands to coordinate long-range missile warfare on a continent-wide scale.

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WNU Editor: The Americans are not the only ones who are modernizing their artillery forces .... Russian Military Modernizing Its Artillery (October 20, 2019).