Artillery In The Ukraine War

The Ukraine-Russia war has been dominated by artillery battles. Tanks and infantry fighting vehicles are destroyed by artillery and anti-tank missiles before they get within range of their targets. And, unlike most recent conventional wars, neither side has been able to gain air superiority, in part due to anti-aircraft weapons and in part because Russia didn't manage to destroy enough of Ukraine's Air Force. This lack of air superiority has made ground to air bombing and attack helicopters less useful as ways to strike targets beyond the front lines on the ground.

90 percent of Ukraine’s fires in the war with Russia have come from artillery. . . .

at the outset of Russian aggression against Ukraine in 2014, the time from identifying a target to placing an artillery round on it was about 15 minutes. Thanks to spotter drones, counter-battery radars and new command-and-control software, the Ukraine army now has that down to about four or five minutes . . . .

the two major problems Ukraine is encountering with its artillery are superior Russian electronic warfare capabilities that help it locate Ukrainian units and loitering munitions that destroy them. Thus, the ability to set up artillery quickly, then move to another location, becomes all the more important.

The last Eurosatory trade show in Paris held in June 2022 saw several European arms makers introduce so-called “shoot and scoot” systems — small tactical wheeled vehicles outfitted with mortars that allowed as few as two team members to park, deploy the mortar, load it, fire, then pack up and drive away within a few minutes.

It is growing harder and harder on modern battlefields to hide from the enemy . . . making mobility, agility and disaggregated artillery systems more vital. . . . 

“We now see that when we don’t have air superiority, when we don’t have long-range high precision weapons, only artillery can change the situation on the battlefield. And it helps to save the lives of your people and your soldiers.” 

From here.