Military Artillery Research Paper

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The military has had major changes since the very first organized battles. So as a branch of the military, artillery has also faced such improvements throughout the centuries. It seems that the inventions and developments we are practicing today will continue to affect the military, and artillery as an integrated part of military. In the past, artillery was used to represent the fire support function. In ancient times arrow and bows, polybolos, ballistas, and catapults were used as means of fire support. Armies were heavy and they were not able to maneuver quickly. It was economically problematic to sustain a war. The discovery of gunpowder resulted in new artillery weapons and artillery units got the ability of firing enemy positions from …show more content…

Because of their effectiveness in terms of distance, accuracy, control, camouflage, and sustainability, they will affect artillery to change its doctrine and weapons. On 13 May 1972, a month after the first unsuccessful attack on the Thanh Hóa Bridge ("Dragon's Jaw"), initial versions of HPW were successfully applied to destroy a bridge that could not be destroyed before and consumed 800 sorties of US forces (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precision-guided_munition). The accuracy that HPW brought to us forces in that fight caught attention of military authorities to make its use more extensive. Later, they were used by the British forces during the 1982 Falklands War (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precision-guided_munition). Instead of carrying heavy artillery weapons together with units, the British used HPWs from the deck of the ships, located far from island, to destroy the targets inside the island. During these two applications of HPW, both US and British forces had identified lesson from experience that fire support can be more accurate, economic, and easy to handle if they make changes in artillery doctrine and organization to allow exploitation of HPW. After having this idea, both countries set about exploitation of HPW widely. Another example of the application of HPW can be Russia’s recent employment of rockets from the Caspian Sea into Syria to destroy targets in areas controlled …show more content…

So artillery cannot be static all the time. Artillery will face serious changes because of development of HPW, increased accuracy of intelligence, and widespread concern of obedience to Rules of Engagement. HPW with its preciseness, more economical and more controllable features is likely to take place of traditional artillery means and cause serious cuts in number of artillery assets. Contemporary intelligence efforts through their accuracy and ability of providing timely information will decrease the need for reserves and will affect the artillery to cut down on forces used in battlefield. Rules of Engagement, reinforced with media means, will continue to affect the military to use more proper means of artillery. That change will give rise to such results that fire support will be more accurate, sustainable, centralized in control, and more attentive of ROE. Thus, any military personnel should understand and prepare themselves to 21st century’s artillery

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