The US Army wants to smooth the ordeal of firing artillery
•October 14, 2020
WASHINGTON — The Army is using internal development and small-business ideas to figure out how to fire artillery faster, exploring every facet from how projectiles are stored all the way to automated reloading.
Brig. Gen. John Rafferty, who is in charge of Long-Range Precision Fires modernization, told Defense News in an interview ahead of the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual conference that he is “a little bit embarrassed†to describe to innovative small companies how the Army handles ammunition in an artillery battalion, realizing that the process hasn’t changed in over 50 years.
“When you evaluate the amount of time and man hours these soldiers doing these tasks, one-by-one unbanding projectiles and inspecting them one-by-one, inventorying them one-by-one," Rafferty said. "What if we could automate some of those tasks? And then how much more effective that unit would be in its operational mission, if those soldiers were preparing for the next mission, were doing reconnaissance, were sleeping, eating, doing maintenance, point security,†Rafferty said. “Would that unit be available for missions rather than be out because it has to resupply?â€
https://news.yahoo.com/us-army-wants-smoothen-ordeal-121129022.html
