Artillery Ops to Become Smaller
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  1. #1
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    Exclamation Artillery Ops to Become Smaller

    By Gina Cavallaro - Staff writer
    Posted : Monday Jun 14, 2010 13:53:35 EDT

    Large-scale operations requiring artillerymen to lay down blankets of fire across wide swaths of enemy-held territory are likely a thing of the past, according to a Marine three-star general.

    The future of artillery will be defined by small, sea-based operations that will require precision fire and quick decision making at the platoon level.

    When operations in Afghanistan come to a close, many of the lessons of counterinsurgency will remain, such as the protection of people through precision fire, said Lt. Gen. George Flynn, deputy commandant for Combat Development and Integration Command, in a Pentagon interview June 3 with military reporters. But unlike Afghanistan, where batteries operate in one area and rarely provide maneuver fire, batteries will be split into smaller elements, and command and control of ground and air space will occur simultaneously from different locations, he said.

    “In artillery you’ll need the ability to mass at times, but you’re probably going to need the ability to respond with precision with the ability to minimize collateral damage,” he said.

    The use of fire support was reined in a year ago when Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, head of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, restricted the use of big-time firepower in situations where civilians could be killed. His guideline to commanders limited the use of close-air support, air-to-ground munitions and indirect fire against residential compounds.

    Artillerymen, who did anything but artillery-related jobs in Iraq, made a welcome return to their big guns in Afghanistan and are operating under McChrystal’s guidelines.

    But Flynn, a career artillery officer charged with defining the Corps’ future capabilities, sees a force that will return to its sea-based roots after Afghanistan. In addition, it will resume its role as a crisis-response force, operating more frequently at the company level, as opposed to the battalion level.

    In the coming years, the threat of a nonstate enemy with access to high-tech weaponry, including precision fires, is sure to grow, he said.

    Within that construct, Flynn said, the six-gun artillery battery will most likely remain the norm, but that battery might have to split up into three platoons, with two guns each to cover a dispersed battlefield.

    With multiple platoons scattered over large battle spaces, Flynn said, there will be a need for leaders who are well-trained to operate on their own while disconnected from the central grid. This will require a more rigorously coordinated targeting cycle and quick computations done by people at three locations. Security for the various platoons will also be an issue, Flynn said.

    Air space management will be more complicated, he said, because of the addition of unmanned aerial vehicles and other aircraft that would be part of a joint task force.


  2. #2
    That is a strange postion for an arty general. I figure three possible courses for this point of view:

    1. He really believes it after careful study of the next generation arty shells.
    2. He wants four star and figures kissing Gate's butt is a good idea, the Corps can always buy more guns halfway through the next war.
    3. He is overawed by the powerpoints he has been viewing made by the shell makers, and is wrong.


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