Posted on 05/05/2022 3:37:28 AM PDT by tlozo
The 90 M777 howitzers that the United States is providing to Ukraine will not only make it more difficult for the Russians to move out in the open but the guns could also support a future Ukrainian offensive to reclaim Russian-occupied parts of their country, experts told Task & Purpose.
About 70 of the 155 mm guns along with roughly 70,000 artillery rounds have been transferred to Ukraine so far, a senior defense official told reporters on Monday. More than 200 Ukrainian troops are expected to be trained on how to operate the howitzers by the end of Monday with another 50 Ukrainian service members scheduled to begin training later this week.
The first Ukrainian artillerymen were trained by Canadian troops and other Ukrainians were taught how to operate the howitzers by Florida National Guardsmen, the senior defense official said at a Pentagon news briefing. Those guardsmen had been on a training mission inside Ukraine before the Russian invasion and now they are continuing their mission in Germany.
Even in this age of modern – and often over-engineered – weapons systems, artillery has proven its worth time and again on the battlefield. During the 2017 fight to drive the Islamic State group from its former capital of Raqqa, Syria, a Marine artillery detachment fired so many 155 mm rounds in support of Syrian Democratic Forces that they burned out the barrels of two of their M777 howitzers.
“The one thing on artillery is: We’ve always called it ‘the king of battle,’ back to Napoleonic times, just because there’s really no defense against it once it’s firing,” said Marine Col. James W. Frey, a senior military fellow at the Center for a New American Security think tank in Washington, D.C.
Another inherent advantage of artillery is that it can be fired in all weather conditions and at any time of day or night, Frey told Task & Purpose.
The howitzers will help Ukrainian forces hinder the Russian’s ability to maneuver, he said. Because it’s muddy in spring, the Russians are likely to stick to the roads when they move. Using drones and other forms of reconnaissance, the Ukrainians can constantly monitor those roads and strike with artillery when needed.
“The artillery just gives you a lot more options 24/7 without having to expose people within that distance,” Frey said.
Since the Ukrainians know their own territory better than the Russians, they can also design their defenses to channel Russian advances into kill zones, where the Russian forces could be destroyed by artillery, Frey said.
“There’s only so many lines of communication to go in and out for those roads – especially if you’re working heavier equipment and logistics that the Russians are depending on,” Frey said. “You could certainly knock that out because there’s only so many avenues of approach that they could use.
The Defense Department is also providing Ukrainian forces with 14 counter-artillery radars. Combined with those radars, which the Ukrainians have been receiving since 2015, the howitzers will allow Ukrainian forces to target and attack Russian tube and rocket artillery, said retired Army Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, former commander of U.S. Army Europe.
“The radar intercepts incoming artillery and then your own guns can shoot back at where it came from quickly,” Hodges said. “This is an important part of the fight. And so, providing the Ukrainians additional artillery will enable them to destroy – or at least disrupt – the Russian artillery and rocket launchers that are causing the most damage against Ukrainians – but also against towns and cities.”
Artillery is generally used against targets in the open, such as air defense systems, logistics areas, and convoys of lightly armored vehicles, Hodges said. Other prime targets for artillery include command posts and headquarters.
“If you discover a division or combined arms army headquarters in a village or set up somewhere – that’s exactly what you would want to do, is hammer that with artillery,” Hodges said.
The Ukrainians claim they have already killed and wounded several Russian general officers by attacking enemy command posts, including Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, General of the Army Valery Gerasimov. However, U.S. officials have not confirmed these claims.
As well as providing the Ukrainians with a strong defensive capability, the howitzers would also allow Ukrainian forces to switch to offense, Hodges said. “If there is a counterattack of any sort by the Ukrainians or a conventional counter-offensive, they will need the artillery to support their attack as well,” he said.
There are two ways the Ukrainians could use their new howitzers to go on the attack: They could fire massive barrages to blow holes through the Russian lines, or they could destroy Russian artillery ahead of the attack, said retired Army Col. Tom Davis, who led the 4th Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery Regiment in the 3rd Armored Division during the 1991 Gulf War.
Every time the Russians fire one of their own artillery pieces, they will have to pack up and move to avoid the Ukrainian counter fire, Davis told Task & Purpose. The Russians also tend to concentrate their artillery “hub-to-hub” while the U.S. military keeps artillery units spread out as a form of protection.
Ultimately, the Ukrainians should receive a total of 183,000 artillery rounds for their M777 howitzers, according to the Defense Department. To put that number into perspective, Davis said that his battalion fired fewer than 1,000 rounds during the Gulf War’s four-day ground campaign.
“If they’re getting 180,000 some-odd rounds, that should give them a pretty good capability to diminish and significantly degrade a lot of the Russian artillery,” Davis told Task & Purpose. “And if they can find the [Russian] logistics spots – if they can find the places where they’ve got their supply trains, where they’ve got the fuel trucks, where they’ve got their own intel command and control organizations – if they can find those places and can take them out, then they’re going to get a real significant advantage because, apparently, the Russians are really struggling with command and control as it is.”
Yup just wait till the Russians get their hands on all the goodies that all these western countries are sent it over that is Inevitably what is going to happen
They did. Arguably, more ATGMs and MANPADs are captured and destroyed than used by the Ukrainians.
Wow!!
I checked this guy out on You Yube and he is just fantastic. He is also prolific.
After watching two of his videos I now have at least five others “Recommended” and look forward to seeing more
You are seriously obsessed with death, maybe you need to visit a doctor?
I thought a spotter adjusted artillery fire.
I bring factual points, you bring horse manure, as usual.
“I bring factual points...”
Name one that is NOT from a Russian propaganda source. You can’t because your sources are from your principal, Russia.
“...you bring horse manure, as usual.”
Like Katyn? You mean like the slaughter of Polish POWs in WWII that for years afterward the Russians blamed on the Germans, when in fact the massacre was carried out by Russians? What is horse manure about THAT, tovarishch?
Maybe you should go home to the hovel you had under the bridge.
Why are you even on this site?
What Katyn has to do with the Ukrainian military taking civilians hostage nowadays?
We’ll see. This assumes they actually know how to use ‘em.
“What Katyn has to do with the Ukrainian military taking civilians hostage nowadays?”
Nice try in your attempt to re-direct my comment to something else (didn’t they teach you basic debate in Russia?).
My comment re: Katyn applied to the prior comment re: Russia’s absence of concern for death and destruction; you tried to re-direct it to Ukrainian civilian hostages.
However, if you want to try to argue that, and imply that Ukrainian troops took civilian hostages and killed them or abused them, then all I need to do is point back to the Katyn Massacre in which Russia blamed others for the atrocities the Russians committed. Russia has a well-documented history of blaming others for the bad acts that Russians themselves commit.
Maybe you have an attention disorder but the redirecting is all yours. Katyn was 80+ years ago, Ukronazis are tormenting people in 2022.
“Maybe you have an attention disorder but the redirecting is all yours. Katyn was 80+ years ago, Ukronazis are tormenting people in 2022.”
Nooooooo. Go back and read the posts. Again, Sparky, you are wrong.
You have no credibility.
Otto von Bismarck had you pegged. He said, “I don’t trust the Russians because the Russians don’t trust themselves.”
Bismark said a lot of other different things about Russia people like you need to pay attention to.
As for the rest I just love how you are pushing nonsense and once confronted with facts resort to more nonsense and personal insults.
That shows what sort of credibility do you have.
You never say “wow” so you must be impressed. Be sure to go by his website for free emails https://zeihan.com/
Isn’t it cool that some of the best TV worth watching is on youtube. Like Peter Zeihan.
The M777 Very long barrel version.
“4) Turkey has blockaded the Bosporus - no Russian ships are going to enter the Black Sea - to do so they would have to fight Turkey and then NATO.”
Why? My guess is Germany/ Nato paid Turkey 1-2 billion dollars for this blockade with half going into Erdogan and associates’ pockets.
“As for the rest I just love how you are pushing nonsense and once confronted with facts resort to more nonsense and personal insults.”
What are your facts, tovarishch? You have NONE that are NOT from a known Russian propaganda source! NONE!
You are simply a Russian propagandist; it is your primary function and mission here on FR. Russia = Good; anything non-Russia = Bad. You are not objective; but, then, in your role as a propagandist you are not supposed to be. Just admit it. The fact you don’t suggests either you are embarrassed by it or your handlers will do to you what they did to the Polish POWs at Katyn.
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