Comments for On artillery...

On artillery...

2009-04-03T12:19:40Z

Let's take a break from Canadian tanks.

First up - click this link and watch a M777 155mm gun crew fire a "Killer Junior" mission. The video is most impressive when viewed full-screen. The name Killer Junior dates back to Vietnam, and was a mission designed to defend fire bases against ground attack. You use an HE round with a time fuze set to burst approximately 30 feet off the ground at ranges of 200 to 1,000 meters. Depending on the terrain surrounding a firebase, crews actually preferred 'Killer Junior' to the purpose-built Beehive flechette round because the enemy could avoid Beehive by lying prone or crawling. Plus, Killer Junior could be used in conjunction with Beehive with the guns firing HE until the enemy closed to effective Beehive range and the range had closed to a point where HE began to be a risk to friendlies.

Another use was counter-sniper. The sniper fired one 7.62mm solid slug into the firebase, firebase returned 105mm high explosive to the sniper. To make this method responsive, guns had range cards, just like machine guns did, containing pre-computed data for the area to their front. And unlike machine guns - the cannon could reach with HE what would otherwise have been "dead space" to direct fire weapons. It's good to have an explosive bullet.

Next up - what's it's like to be on a rocket firing point, launching away at the infidel. And then what it's like to be on a rocket launching point when the people you launched on shoot back. Turn your sound down, at least until you have an idea what it sounds like wherever you're at when you watch the video. I don't know that this mission counts as successful counter-battery fire, as the editing of the video destroys the timeline, and I'm pretty sure the shooters escaped, and if we destroyed their launchers, well, crossed sticks and such aren't that hard to replace. The shooters might not have even been present, launching the rockets remotely.

The reason I put this up is to give you a sense of what it's like to be on the recieving end of incoming artillery fire. One round lands close enough to the camera to have caused a wardrobe change for the camera operator.... if he'd been present. Now you'll have something to compare movies to.

As an old school artilleryman, the first thing I noticed... only 1 gun firing in response. That's pretty much the rule these days. This mission demonstrates the problem inherent in that method. Imagine the effect on the target if all those rounds you see land - had all landed within about a 5 second window, instead of spread out as they are. After that first round, everybody in the target area would have gone to ground, and your chances of inflicting casualties are greatly reduced. You certainly inflict some stress casualties, and may get some effect from concussion. At least the artillery rounds are more accurately placed than the rockets likely were. But then, the bad guys don't really care where they land. The good guys care a lot.

The gun firing is close - not much time from bang-to-boom.

H/t ChinaBoy, via Bill, for the second video.

Comment from John of Argghhh! on 2009-04-04

2009-04-04T17:54:21Z

The Auld Soldier is not terribly garrulous on the subject.

I'm actually going to try to get him to *write* them down. He started to, once, then someone published a similiar book and he decided he didn't need to.

To which I say, Fie!

Comment from BillT on 2009-04-04

2009-04-04T17:40:07Z

Hey, I managed to drag a couple of stories out of Baby-San and Two-Niner, and I assume you *do* pay attention to the Auld Soldier's tales, correctomundo?

Just need the imprimatur...

Comment from John of Argghhh! on 2009-04-04

2009-04-04T14:21:45Z

I don't know if the Auld Soldier will return to this thread, but he has some interesting stories along those lines, too.

Comment from Josh on 2009-04-04

2009-04-04T14:07:24Z

Coincidentally enough, that was the same year our HoJo battery forgot to remove the locking pins from the rocket and launched the world's largest rocket-propelled dragster off OP 9 and into the Indian River...

That sounds like something I would do.

That is of course, using "forgot" in a very loose sense of the word.

Comment from BillT on 2009-04-04

2009-04-04T13:53:07Z

The only Coordinated Illum mission I saw popped each simultaneous round at 50 feet Above Ft. Drum Level. I'm told the succeeding rounds all popped simultaneously at 1,500 feet, but my view from OP 7 was obscured by the Range Inferno.

Coincidentally enough, that was the same year our HoJo battery forgot to remove the locking pins from the rocket and launched the world's largest rocket-propelled dragster off OP 9 and into the Indian River...

Comment from John of Argghhh! on 2009-04-04

2009-04-04T12:44:35Z

Let's not forget Coordinated Illum, range and lateral spread, which was used to burn off the Fort Sill ranges more times than lightning ever did, and my personal fave, "Scare the poo outta the passing helo crew," also known as "Mark Center of Sector"

Comment from BillT on 2009-04-04

2009-04-04T10:16:54Z

What's Killer Senior then?

Anything that's not Killer Junior, Beehive, Illum, Smoke, H&I, ICM, DPICM, WP, AT Direct Fire, Registration, Counterbattery, or Put This One Into That Cave On The Mountain.

Comment from BillT on 2009-04-04

2009-04-04T10:08:34Z

*fix-fix-fix-reboot*

*thump-whap-tweak-reboot-twe Farking Vista ak-whap-%$#@!-tweak-reboot*

*whew*

Okaaaay, Happy *Second* Day After to the Senior Artilleryman!

Back in my misspent yoot, the answer to my question, "WTF is that?" in reference to the *chuff-chuff-chuff* accompanying the *vreeoooo* and immediately preceding the *bang* which sprayed splinters and dirt into the bunker at Sill we were occupying was, "Loose obturating band on the round."

Since the one who provided the answer was my gunnery instructor, I tucked the answer into the "Important Gunnery Stuff" compartment. Since he was also a Marine, I was remiss in not researching the nomenclature -- but he *did* teach me to shoot well.

Comment from Josh on 2009-04-03

2009-04-04T03:58:14Z

What's Killer Senior then?

Comment from CJ on 2009-04-03

2009-04-04T02:18:26Z

Having been on the receiving end of Iraqi artillery (that's how I was injured outside Samawah), I'm all too intimate with that sound. What worse is when it's getting walked in on you and you can't move out!

Comment from Grumpy on 2009-04-03

2009-04-03T21:50:01Z

On the receiving end, constipation is not an issue!

Comment from John of Argghhh! on 2009-04-03

2009-04-03T21:09:57Z

Schooled by a real Auld School Artilleryman.

Happy Day After Your Birthday, Auld Soldier.

Comment from Dad on 2009-04-03

2009-04-03T21:03:58Z

Perhaps Bill T meant rotating band. Obturation is the sealing of the breach from expanding powder gasses. Projos did (and probably still do ) occasionally strip a off a piece of the rotating band on firing. One of my batteries in RVN had one M101 that did it with such irritating regularity that we finally replaced the tube to placate the grunts whose bunker collected the frgments.

Comment from Pogue on 2009-04-03

2009-04-03T14:23:28Z

Never did that... Don't know what you're talking about.... That would be a safety violation... I've got receipts to prove I wasn't there... :-)

Comment from John of Argghhh! on 2009-04-03

2009-04-03T14:16:00Z

*And* the whoop-whoop-whoop noise an empty illum or smoke canister makes as it whuffs by overhead because someone neglected their range-to-impact safety considerations.

Comment from John of Argghhh! on 2009-04-03

2009-04-03T14:13:44Z

...or when some clown on the crew put a couple of razor blades (old style for you youngsters) sticking out from under the fuze.

Comment from BillT on 2009-04-03

2009-04-03T14:08:28Z

...that incoming makes a very distinctive sound...

You oughta hear one with a loose obturating band going overhead...

Comment from Kirk on 2009-04-03

2009-04-03T13:52:18Z

The second vid should give anyone a profound sense of appreciation for what the cannon-cockers bring to the battle. I NEVER want to be on the receiving end of anything like that. Just the sound of the incoming round would provide one with ample opportunity to soil themselves.

Comment from Tim on 2009-04-03

2009-04-03T13:51:42Z

Boy, that incoming makes a very distinctive sound, doesn't it? I was kinda hoping for a hit right in front of the camera.