The United States Needs to Get Serious About Artillery Again
Michael Jacobson and Robert H. Scales
October 6, 2016
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As the United States and its allies in Europe watch NATO’s eastern flank with increasing concern over Russian aggression, the U.S. Army’s artillery capabilities have rightfully received more scrutiny and public attention. Artillery might very well be the decisive factor in how a war with Russia would play out. Over the summer in The Washington Post, one of us described how the supremacy of U.S. Army warfighting capabilities have been eroded by the steady advance of Russian warfighting capabilities in recent years. The Russians have made formidable improvements to their ground-based artillery systems in terms of range and lethal effects. Many of these Russian artillery upgrades are in flagrant violation of their international treaty obligations under the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. Meanwhile, the United States is unilaterally implementing highly restrictive policies that essentially eliminate the U.S. military’s ability to destroy enemy armor formations. These self-imposed restrictions, together with a general neglect of improvement to artillery range and destructive power, leaves the U.S. military vulnerable in a ground fight with a capable peer or near-peer adversary, including Russia or China.
As it turns out, the state of play is, in fact, even worse than previously described. While the U.S. Army has made major advances by incorporating precision into artillery, the ability and opportunity to employ precision are premised on a world of low-intensity conflict. In high-intensity conflict defined by combined-arms maneuver, the employment of artillery based on a precise point on the ground becomes a much more difficult proposition, especially when the enemy commands large formations of moving, armored vehicles, as Russia does. The U.S. joint force has recognized this dilemma and compensates for it by employing superior air forces and deep-strike fires. But Russia has undertaken a comprehensive upgrade of not just its military technology but its doctrine. We should not be surprised that Russia’s goal in this endeavor is to offset U.S. advantages in air superiority and double-down on its traditional advantages in artillery and rocket mass, range, and destructive power. According to recent studies by the RAND Corporation, Russia is well on its way to achieving these goals. For the first time in decades, it could well be that America’s warfighting edge is dependent on regaining artillery parity and, eventually, superiority.
http://warontherocks.com/2016/10/the-united-states-needs-to-get-serious-about-artillery-again/
