US artillery is, generally speaking, out-ranged by Russian artillery.
90 M-777 and 183,000 rounds, if they were all there right now, are too few, too late to make any real difference. Ukraine war is more like WWII than Iraq.
Russia had about 4000 tubes at the start; Ukraine had about 1500 tubes. Whatever the West sends has to be in the thousands of tubes and ammo to match. One report had the UA expending 100,000 shells a week.
By Russian interdiction of rail roads, locomotives, electrical power stations, and bridges, there is no assurity that new arrivals and ammo will reach the front.
Quick Comparisons:
Ukraine 1500 tubes at start
US 90 tubes
90 - Towed M-777: Effective firing range: 14.9 mi; ERFB: 18.6 mi base bleed; M795: 17.8- 23 mi; Excalibur: 24 mi
0 - M109 155 mm turreted self-propelled howitzer: Effective firing range: conventional: 13 mi, RAP:19 mi (4 rnds min) {new version has greater range - not or just becoming operational}
German 7 tubes
7 - Self-propelled Panzerhaubitze 2000: Effective firing range: DM121 Boattail: 19–22 mi; M1711 Base bleed: 25–29 mi; RAP: 42 mi
VS
Russian 4000 tubes at start
Towed 152 mm howitzer 2A65 Msta-B: Maximum firing range: 18.0 mi
Towed 2A36 Giatsint-B, Effective firing range (OFS): 19mi; (OFARS) 25mi
Self-propelled 2S7 Pion or Malka, 203mm heavy artillery: Effective firing range 23.3 mi to 34.5 mi
Self-propelled 2S35 Koalitsiya-SV, 152.4mm or 155mm, Effective firing range 24.8 mi - 49.7 mi (16 rnds min)
Self-propelled 2S1 Gvozdika, 122 mm 2A18 howitzer, Effective firing range 9.5 mi Extended: 13.6 mi (5 rnds min)
True, but how many more howitzers and shells will be sent?
The $33 billion request includes $20.4 billion requested for military and security assistance, including $5 billion in additional drawdown authorities, $6 billion for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative and $4 billion for the State Department’s Foreign Military Financing Program, a senior administration official told reporters
The President added that the new package would provide more artillery, armored vehicles, anti-armor systems and anti-aircraft capabilities to the Ukrainian military
https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/28/politics/biden-ukraine-congress/index.html
Do any of the 5 kinds of 4000 Russian tubes have radar guided munitions? If so can you say which ones? Also how many of which kind have probably been destroyed? Thanks for the detailed information.
“US artillery is, generally speaking, out-ranged by Russian artillery.”
US Paladin self-propelled 155mm howitzers with the last generation rounds reached out with pin-point accuracy to ~40km but more commonly ~30km.
The Extended Range Cannon Artillery Program (ECRA) in concert with the Paladin Integrated Management system is in active deployment and can reliably reach out and touch someone with pin-point accuracy at 70km. Testing has pushed that envelope out to 85km in ideal conditions.
The old Excalibur anti-tank rounds could kill any tank model at 25km to 30km. The new Merlin rounds fire ballistically and use a solid rocket in their descent stage to penetrate armor over 1m thick or steel reinforced concrete over 8m thick. These are the rounds that can reach out and kill tanks and armor at 70km.