They didn’t destroy us, just decimated us. Direct support artillery (units that directly support manuever forces) are largely intact, just somewhat fewer gun tubes per battalion. General support artillery is about 1/3 of what we had in 2003.
This has caused three separate but related problems:
1) Lack of ability to mass fires. The carnage has been in general support artillery. Instead of a Corps Artillery of 2-3 Brigades per Corps, we have a single brigade per corps. This limits the ability of the Army to reinforce units with extra artillery when they need to mass fires on an enemy.
2) Reduction in available firepower. HIMARS systems have partially replace MLRS (M270) systems (post #1 has pics of both). HIMARS systems are easier to move strategically by air, MLRS are tracked and not road bound like the HIMARS. The tradeoff is that HIMARS systems can carry one pod, MLRS carries two. So a HIMARS battalion has half the firepower of an MLRS battalion.
3) Less flexibility. Fewer systems, fewer people, reduce the amount of individual systems strategic, operational, and tactical planners and their commanders at all levels can use for each operation. With fewer systems comes the requirement to pick and choose who gets fire support and who doesn’t. Someone, somewhere will be left out. Murphy dictates that they are the one who will need it the most.
Another huge mistake of many that the Army has made in recent years. From an infantryman and aviator perspective, nothing puts the fear of God into you and forces you to go to ground more than massed artillery fires.
The Russians and Chinese haven't abandoned that concept.
ATACMS was our big hammer when conducting the deep attack mission with apache battalions. One of those basically takes out a grid square.
I’m talking more about the branch. The move to BCTs removed artillerymen for consideration from a lot of positions. I know several senior LTCs and COLs who were told POINT BLANK that an Artillerman would never command one of their brigades. This is stripping the branch of it’s senior officers like nothing else.
I was a Lance and MLRS officer before I got out, and nothing like that was ever close to happening before.