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Artillery Materiel and Missiles

General

The mission of field artillery is to destroy, neutralize, or suppress the enemy by cannon, rocket, and missile fire and to help integrate all fire support assets into combined arms operations.

The field artillery system provides close support to manoeuvre forces, counterfire, and interdiction as required. These fires neutralize, canalize, or destroy enemy attack formations or defenses; obscure the enemy's vision or otherwise inhibit his ability to acquire and attack friendly targets; and destroy targets deep in the enemy rear with long-range rocket or missile fires. Field artillery support can range from conventional fires in a company zone to massive nuclear and chemical fires across a corps front.

Field artillery delivery systems include cannons, rockets, and missiles. These systems can provide fires under all conditions of weather and in all types of terrain. They can shift and mass fires rapidly without having to displace. The extended ranges of rockets and missiles enable the commander to strike deep. The main components of a msl are: the warhead which contains a HE, chemical, or nuc charge and a fuse to initiate detonation. A combination of men and equipment necessary to make a msl wpn is called a missile weapons system.

Artillery Weapons system

The artillery weapons system consists of all elements that are necessary to obtain the desired fire effect on the target. These elms include artillery weapons (classified as cannons and msls); target acquisition; survey; ballistics meteorology; mobility (both air and surface); logistics; fire control and coordination; automatic data processing; communications; ammo; org; and employment. Fire support is the result of effective application of the arty weapons system. Arty weapons systems are further classified according to their method of transportation. Towed cannons and launchers are mounted on a carriage designed to be moved by prime mover. A towed carriage doesn’t contain power source. Self-propelled cannons and launchers are permanently installed on vehicles which provide automotive power for the vehicle and the wpn.

Cannons

Cannons are those weapons, larger than SA, that discharge projectiles out of tubes by means of an explosive which may be separated from the proj, a part of the proj, or a combination of both. The cannon is an admirable weapon for tactical employment on land. It can go into action quickly and deliver a high volume of effective fire. According to their firing characteristics cannons are divided into guns, howitzers, and mortars. Cannons are classified according to caliber as light (120 mm and less), medium (greater than 120 mm, but not to exceed 160 mm), heavy (greater than 160 mm, but not to exceed 210 mm), and very heavy (greater than 210 mm).

The field gun is an artillery piece with calibre’s ranging from 75 to 150 mm and intended to support the troops on the battlefield. In principle, the field guns are assigned to the divisional artillery regiments. In general, guns from 150 mm onwards and howitzers above that calibre were not assigned to the divisional artillery but distributed in independent units (usually battalions). Their assignment was decided by a higher echelon than the division (army or army group). It made possible to boost firepower on sectors where it was most needed or to achieve a high fire concentration on strategic points.

The mortars are high-angle, relatively-short-range, high rate of fire, area-fire weapons. They are ideal weapons for attacking targets on reverse slopes, narrow gullies, ditches, in military operations on urban terrain, and in other areas that are difficult to reach with low-angle fire. However, ammunition-carrying capacity limits periods of firing. Mortars are especially effective for smoke and illumination missions.

The howitzer is cannon with a medium length barrel between that of a mort and a gun in length with a relatively high angle of fire, moderately curved trajectory, and using a medium muzzle velocity. The main parts of gun or how are the barrel assembly with the breech mechanism and the carriage. The breech mechanism permits opening and closing of the rear of the barrel for loading and firing. The recoil mechanism is required to cushion the shock to avoid displacement of the carriage.

Missiles are wpns which utilize a reaction motor to provide a propelling force to the payload. Artillery missiles are classified according to type as rocket and guided missiles.    

Вallistic missile

A ballistic missile is a missile that has a ballistic trajectory over most of its flight path, regardless of whether or not it is a weapon-delivery vehicle. Ballistic missiles are categorized according to their range, the maximum distance measured along the surface of the earth's ellipsoid from the point of launch of a ballistic missile to the point of impact of the last element of its payload.

Ballistic missiles are divided into four range classes in the United States:

Intercontinental ballistic missile             ICBM	over 5500 kilometers;
Intermediate-range ballistic missile    IRBM	3000 to 5500 kilometers;
Medium-range ballistic missile           MRBM	1000 to 3000 kilometers;
Short-range ballistic missile                SRBM	up to 1000 kilometers;

Most current long-range missiles consist of two or more rockets or stages that are stacked on top of each other. The second stage is on top of the first, and so on. The first stage is the one that lifts the missile off the launch pad and is sometimes known also as a "booster" or "main stage". When the first stage runs out of propellant or has reached the desired altitude and velocity, its rocket engine is turned off and it is separated so that the subsequent stages do not have to propel unnecessary mass. Many different types of rocket engines have been designed or proposed among them: solid-propellant rocket engine, liquid-propellant rocket, hybrid rocket engine. There are three categories of chemical propellants for rocket engines: liquid propellant, solid propellant, and hybrid propellant.