The US Army has an artillery problem, but it's working on high-tech solutions

"Artillery is the god of war", declared Joseph Stalin, whose big guns blew Hitler's armies to smithereens.

The Russian army has a lot of howitzers and multiple rocket launchers. The god of war has grown in the US.

In World War II, American cannons were feared by the Germans and the Japanese and they would have helped defeat the Soviets. Airpower has become the favorite child in America.

It is easy to understand why. In the jungles, deserts and mountains where US forces have mostly fought since World War II, aircraft had the speed and flexibility to deliver firepower as needed. Airpower was a high-tech solution to avoid bloody ground combat that would erode American public support.

The decline was accelerated by the end of the Cold War. By 1999, the number of Regular Army, Reserve and National Guard units had fallen to 141. In the Iraq War, well-trained crews were used as infantry.

Staff Sgt. Danielle Bacon/US Marine Corps

The US Army has realized that it needs big guns.

The US spent the 2000s focused on COIN against poorly armed militant rather than a conflict against well-armed major powers.

The reassigning of highly trained gunners to infantry in Iraq was an indication that the unit had lost its swagger.

America's enemies thought otherwise.

"While the U.S. Army's field artillery branch was dealing with the implications of COIN from 2003 to the present, the militaries of a number of potential competitor nations made significant advances," noted a 2019 study by the RAND Corporation.

"For example, as of 2017, the Russian Army has made considerable advances in its artillery. Key Russian artillery capabilities include long-range multiple rocket launchers, such as the BM-30 Smerch, which can fire a wide variety of warheads up to 90 km [56 miles]. The SS-26 Iskander short-range ballistic missile also fires various warheads (including nuclear weapons) against targets at ranges of over 400 kilometers [249 miles]."

The US Army's M109A7 Paladin self-propelled 155-mm howitzer has a range of just 22 kilometers with regular high-explosive shells and 30 kilometers using rocket-assisted projectiles.

This might not have been a problem in the past. The US Air Force could be relied on by the Army for long-range firepower. Russian and Chinese fighters and anti-aircraft missiles have made the skies more dangerous for American aircraft.

US Army Spc. Gregory Gieske

Russia and China were 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 Without air support, the US Army would be devastated.

The US Army is developing multiple long-range, ground-based weapons, with plans to field some as soon as 2023. The Army has a capability to deliver long-range precision fires. The new weapons have been added.

• Extended Range Cannon Artillery (ERCA), essentially an upgraded Paladin with a longer barrel, rocket-assisted projectiles, and an autoloader. The goal is to hit targets up to 70 kilometers (43 miles) away, or more than twice the range of the Paladin. (ECRA achieved this goal with an Excalibur guided shell during a December 2020 test).
• Precision Strike Missile (PrSM), a guided rocket capable of being launched from M270A1 Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) and the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), out to a range of 500 kilometers (311 miles).
• Long Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW), the Army's contribution to an emerging US family of hypersonic missiles that travel faster than Mach 5. The LRHW has an estimated range of 1,725 miles.
• Strategic Long Range Cannon (SLRC), intended to hurl shells out to 1,000 miles. But for now, the supergun project appears to be on hold.

The US Army needs weapons that can hit targets more than 2,000 miles away.

The Roman ballista threw rocks out to 500 yards, and the US Army's M65 280mm cannon could shoot atomic shells up to 20 miles.

By 1918, it was the responsibility of the air forces to destroy distant targets.

Edward Lopez/Picatinny Arsenal

Interservice rivalry is one answer. It is natural that the Army would want to join the Navy and Air Force in having a long-range fire capability, with all the prestige and budget that this entails.

Airpower is not always an option and is not as cost-effective as artillery.

Having a long-range fires capability in-house is essential for the Army to become a multi domain operations ready force.

Even though warfare is supposed to be joint, what Army commander wouldn't want to have long-range weapons under his control to destroy a distant enemy command post, rather than having to ask the Air Force and Navy to do it?