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From: muller@ecn.purdue.edu (Mark B Muller)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: Computerized Counter Battery Artillery
Message-ID: <1991Feb8.012817.16082@cbnews.att.com>
Date: 8 Feb 91 01:28:17 GMT
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From: muller@ecn.purdue.edu (Mark B Muller)
>Why is it every time the Iraqi's light up their arty, we hear how the Harriers
>  went in and shut them up with a few cluster bombs?  

   It is probably a question of range.  I would imagine that their arty is 
   firing at targets close to the frontier (within 4 miles?) and are firing
   their maximum range.  If our artillery had the same range as theirs
   (in fact the mainstay of their artillery, the russian built 122mm howitzers,
   which are either towed or self propelled, out range our standard 155mm,
   203mm and 105mm howitzers, although I can't quote any figures to back this
   up at this time.  However, the MLRS system in our inventory has about 20
   miles of range, out ranging just about everything on the battlefield, but
   we don't have a lot of them), then our arty would have to be as far forward
   as the positions being shelled, putting them in danger of receiving fire, as
   well as putting them close to the action.  In US doctrine, the limited arty
   we have (by soviet standards) is far too valuable to risk doing this. 
   This is evidenced by the reports of our arty'f use that were on CNN about a
   week and a half ago, where the guns were brought up into position and fired
   for about ten minutes, and then pulled back to safety.

   For the Harrier (or other attack planes, for that matter) there is little 
   risk for them to drop some cluster bombs, and they have the advantage of 
   being able to tell if they hit their targets or not, unlike most arty
   units.

   I can't comment too much on our counterbattery systems, except that the best
   way to detect enemy arty is through a radar system designed for the purpose,
   which, in the US Army, are divisionally assets that would likely be found
   with MLRS units, as they are also at the divisional level, as well as being
   dedicated for the counter battery role.  They are also few and far between,
   with a corps having typically a battalion of 27 launchers. As for flight
   time, it depends on the range and the gun being used, but is typically on the
   order of one to two minutes.

  *-------------------------------------------------------------------------*
  *  Mark Muller                  Undergraduate at Purdue University        *
  *  muller@gn.ecn.purdue.edu     Aeronautics & Astronautics Engineering    *
  *-------------------------------------------------------------------------*