Posted on 12/08/2005 3:29:45 PM PST by Clive
FORT SILL, Oklahoma -- The new M777 155mm howitzer coming into service with the Artillery in November will extend the range and lethality of fire missions supporting ground operations.
Captain Jeffrey Pederson (left), takes part in war games at the U.S. Army Field Artillery School at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.
The Triple 7, as gunners call it, is a lightweight 155mm towed howitzer that is air-portable and air-droppable. The design is the result of a joint British-American project, with the guns being manufactured in the United States.
Firing conventional munitions, the gun has a range of 30 km. With precision munitions, such as the Excalibur round, the range can reach 40 km, with the first rounds being effective. The increased accuracy of the Excalibur round is due to the built-in global positioning system guidance system.
"With the equipment we've been using until now, it would sometimes take up to eight minutes after receiving a fire-mission request to have effective rounds hitting the target. With a digitized Triple 7, effective fire can be achieved in under two minutes," said Major Paul Payne, Chief Instructor in gunnery at the Field Artillery School in Gagetown.
Conventional munitions will still require ranging and bracketing to get rounds on target, giving an aggressor with mobility time to move away from the impact area as adjustments are made. With the Excalibur round, commanders and forward observation officers can deliver lethal blows with the first and subsequent rounds.
Staff Sergeant Joseph Andrews, an instructor at the U.S. Army Field Artillery School at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, has assisted with training the first Canadians who will use the Triple 7. The 19-year veteran, who has had many tours in combat zones, does not hesitate to describe the Canadian gunners as " a well motivated and well disciplined group of soldiers ... very professional."
Staff Sgt Andrews has a depth of experience as an artilleryman and sums up the Triple 7 this way: "This weapon is high speed, and can always stay in the fight no matter what happens. It's awesome."
After extensive trials and shoots, the first new guns built for the Canadian Army were delivered on November 26, in preparation for deployment to Afghanistan. The gun represents a major leap in technology and its first use in an area of conflict will be with Canadian gun crews.
A joint Canadian-American New Equipment Training Team (NETT), established at Fort Sill, was CFB/ASU Shilo for the arrival of the M777 to conduct further training and live shoots.
Following the shoot, the Canadian component of the NETT will be established in the Field Artillery School at the Combat Training Centre, Canadian Forces Base Gagetown.
Article and photos by Master Corporal Dennis Power
I don`t see how it can shoot that far with such a small cariage,is this a variation on a hi-lo system?
The largest gun I saw in VN was the 105,they were slung under those those big heavy lifter choppers and carried up to the FB`s.
Used to love seeing them fireing,suprised you could actually seeing the shell going out.
Anyone ever come under fire from a 'short"?
Army Spc. Ontario Smith, a cannon crewmember for Battery F, 7th Field Artillery Regiment, pulls the lanyard on an M198 155 mm howitzer and sends a round downrange during a show-of-force exercise Jan. 29 at Forward Operating Base Salerno, Afghanistan. Photo by Staff Sgt. Bradley Rhen, USA
I was a 13B gunline dog.
A 13E FDC type would be able to know that as they worked the charts and darts.
But I do know that range and accuracy are effected by powder temp, air temp, wind speed and direction, Barrel temp, length, and wear, plus muzzle velocity.
I think FDC liked it best when our powder was around 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
(Don't quote me on that one, I'm wishing for my old FDC section to pick the brains of.)
We used mils as our base measurement as degree marks were just too big.
Not sure what one mil at the howitzer translates out to at the target, but we had a round land ten meters from the intended target due to an oops on our end.
We were firing a charge five on that one, elevation roughly 500 mils.
There's 6400 mils in a circle.
(3200 mils is '180' degrees or directly behind you.)
Basically, the firing of the howitzer is a 'minor' trigonometry problem.
No, I don't pretend to understand it.
I was one of the guys who merely wanted to pull the firing handle and listen to the loud bang.
;-)
I'm assuming they'd use a low altitude pass deal like they did with the M551 Sheridan light tanks.
Howitzer would be palleted and hauled out the back by a ground catch line that is grabbed by a hook on the pallet as the C-130 flies low along the landing strip.
I would think the Pantel mount (sight mount) would be picky about being jarred by a parachute drop.
The howitzer I was a crewman on was the M119A1, and it didn't like the pantel mount being bumped.
It would respond by breaking in some weird way, and then your rounds would be way off.
Paradropping the M119 would have the pantel mounts messed up.
Unless they've found a way to toughen up the pantel mounts for air drop, which is likely in the past couple years I've been out.
Hehe pulling the fireing handle/trigger is always the fun part :)
I never heard of the measurement unit called mils. I will remember that for my novel.
Here's the funny part: I can't remember ever hearing an exact definition of what the heck a mil was.
I remember there being 6400 of the buggers in a circle.
I remember the tree we clipped at Drum had been 340 mils tall at roughly 250 meters.
(Now it is about 330 mils tall.)
But I never heard what a mil was.
One millimeter at some distance I guessed, but I figured I was wrong on that.
Archy might know, as he has military errata stuck in his head.
(Stuff that has me quite impressed as well.)
I think that I could shoulder fire that thing.
WOW!!!
Looks like a it takes 17.7777777777778 "mils" to make a degree. Fine-tuning indeed.
Now I will stand in a corner as I am not much good at math.
I'm not good at math either.
I "just aim the thing and shoot!"
;-)
Artillery can respond in under a minute, and it's not owned by the USAF. It's 24/7 in any kind of weather.
"Dumb" artillery rounds cost $1 per pound ("Smart" ammo costs a lot more), but does not approach the $20K for a JDAM kit. The Air Force has its place, but it's best to order your fire missions 48 hours in advance.
About the same, and this isn't heavy artillery, this is medium artillery. Heavy artillery is 8". We don't have it any more.
No more than 1600 mils (45 degrees for you grunts!). Don't tell me you flunked high angle! :-)
A lot of Guard FA units were converted to MP. My old one in the Illinois Army National Guard, 2/122 FA met that fate.
The M-101A1 was an artilleryman's weapon!
That piece of crap called the M-119 was a British nightmare. The Royal Artillery had an "artillery articifer" in each battery to repair and tweak them. The US General who pushed it down our throat should have been cashiered!
Last minute Candidate for the 2005 Darwin Award here!
God! I loved the smell of cordite in the morning!
We learned to carry penny nails on us as the roll pin on the traversing gear was remarkably fragile, and the same width as a penny nail.
We always knew when the traversing gear handle broke as we'd hear it spin free, and a whimper would come from the Corporal.
The A1 revision was a remarkable improvement over the original version, but still had a touchy pantel mount.
I dunno much about the A2 revision as that came in as I was leaving.
Yeah, it was a nightmare.
We loved it though.
Much like one loves a temperamental car.
Hoping they make a replacement for it soon, and learn from the 119'ers deficiencies.
The mil-relation rule was that one mil of angle at one thousand meters was subtended by straight line of approximately on meter. Very helpful when adjusting fire.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.