The stats say that a good crew can do 5 rounds per minute .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GW91hDQGRw

my question is ,
when they are going that fast, are they getting information from someone way down range that can
let them ( the firing crew) know if they are hitting any damn thing?


is there a drone upstairs showing them a real time view of where their bombs are landing ?

Those guys need more practice.

At five rounds per minute, more than likely they are simply firing the same deflection and quadrant; i.e., fire for effect.

If adjusting fire, there is the time of flight for the round to land & explode, an observer reports corrections to the fire direction center, who compute new firing data for the gun and the gun crew has to apply new deflection and quadrant setting to the gun before firing. All this is not happening in one minute.

I am not a gun bunny, but I did have to learn how to call for indirect fire. Back in the day, they'd shoot a round based on our initial grid, then we'd give corrections until the rounds landed on the desired target. Then we'd tell them to fire for effect and they'd unload.

Nowadays I guess they do something similar, though drones, GPS and digital comms probably make them a LOT more accurate a LOT faster (probably to the point where the first round is on target).

Based on my extensive experience watching WWII movies, they have a ground spotter or FAC aircraft to get them sighted in. When the command "fire for effect" is given, they unload.

Someone will be spotting whether an FO on the ground or air or drone.

I was Fire Direction Control in the Army, '65-'67.
We had forward observers that fed us data that we manually calculated and forwarded to the guns. When we were on target "Fire for Effect". I think a lot of the calculations are computerized now but you still need an FO, Drone or aircraft.

Those rounds are 96 pounds each so that guy that fell while bringing up a round has some sore legs and arms.

Geez, how about where the one kid trips with the projectile and ruins the fuze! The other guy tells him the round is good just get another fuze. I'm thinking I'd want someone else carrying fuzed warheads!!

quote:

... they have a ground spotter or FAC aircraft to get them sighted in. When the command "fire for effect" is given, they unload.

basically this.. the ground unit's FO is in constant contact with the artillery fire control center

he has a separate radio net dedicated just for artillery support

and also remember a fire mission is typically shot with multiple guns (a battery is 6 guns) so you are getting a lot of BOOM in that 'Fire for Effect'

I was Infantry but my house-mates were Artillery guys

One artillery battalion (3 batteries) typically supports and Infantry Brigade +/-

so it worked out to one battery (6 guns) supporting an Infantry battalion but of course that could be task organized in different ways as the 'main effort' became prioritized

and of course there are also - battalion (81mm) and company level (60mm) mortars that can be brought into the fray

this fine gentleman was the FSO of one of the infantry battalion's I was in

a fine American

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregory_D._Gadson

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IN BNs now have 120mm mortars as well, really ups the range and punch over the 81s! (They still have the 81s for dismounted use)

I like mortars because they are the most responsive, you can get booms on target really fast. Downside is way less punch, 60mm mortars are basically like slightly bigger grenades.

In a deliberate attack, if you had arty available, you would prep with the artillery, then as you closed within a few hundred meters, switch to mortars to cover the rest of the approach. Ideally, the enemy is kept under cover almost until you are breaching the wire with your direct fire machine gun support position engaging.

13A here.

The 13F, forward observer, sends coordinates to the FDC, fire control center, and it's processed to make sure the gun-target line is clear of aircraft and no fire control measures are violated. A fire control measure can be something like an NFA, no fire area, or RFA, restricted fire area. Example of RFA could be something such as no cratering munitions.

There is something called the attack guidance which is determined by the ground commander by the munition and number of rounds depending on the target. For instance, a target such as troops in the open would call for HE, high explosive, munitions along with a VT, variable timing, fuze which would airburst to spread the shrapnel over an area as wide as possible. It's been a while since I've worked the FSO, fire support officer, side but I believe the lethal radius is around 55 meters for a 155 round.

If there is no 13F available, UAV can be used to call for fire.

The 5 rounds per minute is the maximum rate. There's a manual stating how many minutes that could be sustained for.

I spent time as company and battalion FSO both deployed.

Missed part of the OP questions:

During the adjust fire phase, that's really the time when additional processing time is needed. When the round finally gets on target, the information of deflection and elevation is sent to the cannon and the crew will fire what the attack guidance says.

I've never been on a M777 but I've been on a M119.

The fire direction center enters information such as where the observer is at in relation to the target and gun and makes calculations sent to the cannons. Information is processed and accounts for things such as:

munition weight
distance to target (time of flight)
rotation of the earth
temperature
humidity
right twist of the munition as it travels to its target
charge of the powder
high angle or low angle

quote:

right twist of the munition as it travels to its target

Otherwise known as "drift".

I was working with the marines and army when the lightweight howitzer trials were being held. There was a point where the vsel ulh(m777 prototype), the Royal ordnance lth, and 2 m198's comprised the battery. One of the tests had the vsel, ro, and an m198 fire 150 rounds each to evaluate sustained fire effectiveness. Due breach location and lack of of a automated load tray (in the prototype) the vsel finished last.
The gun crews were burned out after that exercise.
Fired 7.5 tons of ammo EACH in ~1 hour.

quote:

Originally posted by djpaintles:
Geez, how about where the one kid trips with the projectile and ruins the fuze! The other guy tells him the round is good just get another fuze. I'm thinking I'd want someone else carrying fuzed warheads!!

Have not read all the responses, but when I was in the mortar platoon, the rounds had a bore riding safety pin. The round could not explode until it had been fired, or some other way to get that bore riding safety pin out of the round. I have no way of knowing for sure about artillery rounds, but would suspect they have something similar. Last thing a gun crew needs is for someone to drop a round and have it detonate!

quote:

and of course there are also - battalion (81mm) and company level (60mm) mortars that can be brought into the fray

Back before dirt, we had 81MM mortars at the company level. Don't recall ever seeing a 60mm mortar. Our battalion had 4.2 inch mortars. We used to piss them off when we could hit their targets before they could. We had binoculars and a lensatic compass. They had range finders, somewhat sophisticated other calculations devices to help their FDC develop firing solutions.

quote:

and of course there are also - battalion (81mm) and company level (60mm) mortars that can be brought into the fray

quote:

I like mortars because they are the most responsive, you can get booms on target really fast. Downside is way less punch, 60mm mortars are basically like slightly bigger grenades.

We used to get a lot of "punch" with our 81mm mortars. Especially when firing HE heavy rounds which could have fuses set for time to detonate. Had a fire power demo one time when we were firing white phosphorous rounds. AIR, we could set the time to detonate so we could get air bursts, or just point detonate when it hit the ground. Really, really nasty stuff, that WP.

In the old days 3Rd-Bn 12Th Marines fired in excess of 2000 rounds of 105mm-HE in support of operation Starlite Republic of Viet-Nam. Grid map,compass,binoculars and a field-radio those were the tools.

Elk,

What was it like fighting the red coats?