[clamboat]

Looking at the picture of a Howitzer firing, makes me wonder exactly how they work. Can both the angle of fire and the power of the shot be controlled? How accurate is modern artillary?

Also, do the shells explode when they reach the target, or are they just heavy pieces of lead? If they explode, that is pretty amazing -- that you can accelerate something so fast and it doesn't go off at launch. Can anyone elighten me?

[Servant of the Nine]

Both angle of fire and power can be adjusted.
They can put the shell in a 55 gallon drum at 12 miles.
Oh, yes, they explode on impact, or just before, depending on the fusing.

So9

[clamboat]

To anwer my own question, everything I ever wanted to know about 155 mm munitions can be found here. Great site!

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/munitions/155.htm

[Psycho_Runner]

Field Artillery is indeed a exact science. One of the earliest computers used by the military was utilized by Artillery. Elevation of tube, Azimuth, and even the amount of powder is measured. Details of wear of tube is even accounted for in the firing of Artillery. The Ammo is varied, some are High Explosive (HE), some are illumination, some even expend bomblets. The other part of the ammo is fuze type. The fuze is the tip of the ammon and can be timed, variable timed, and delayed fuze. All this info is general and non classified.