The Army's B-2 Bomber - Field Artillery Modernization

Abstract

In the case of field artillery we continue down the path of the past by justifying the need for expensive artillery systems based on the need to destroy massed tank and infantry formations. With the changing nature of warfare in the 21st Century we must have the courage to question whether the requirement for a new field artillery gun that provides high rates of generally inaccurate fire is valid. Here we fail. Rather than doing a fundamental assessment of our key 21st Century warfighting needs precision strike and rapid mobility we continue to justify old Cold War type ideas. We are following the Air Force model of continuing to justify buying a system, the B-2 bomber, long after the world changed and its requirement disappeared. The Army needs to consider that given the changed conditions in the world is it maybe not time to retire cannon artillery to the museum just as we did with the cavalry horse and the air defense gun system Sgt. York?

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 01, 1999
Accession Number
ADA363364

Entities

People

  • John P. Weinzettle

Organizations

  • United States Army War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Artillery
  • Contingency Operations (Military)
  • Fire Control Systems
  • Guided Missiles
  • Indirect Fire
  • Land Warfare
  • Military Operations
  • Multiple Launch Rocket System
  • Precision-Guided Munitions
  • Rockets
  • Short Range Ballistic Missiles
  • United States
  • Urban Areas
  • War
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare
  • Weapons Effects

Readers

  • Marksmanship and Weaponry.
  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.
  • Strategic Security Studies