Re: SG2/DS2 artillery

Ryan M Gill wrote:

> > 6 guns firing 1 round each before they scoot is not a good arty
support
> > fire with *today's* ammunition, no. 6 guns firing 3 rounds each
(ie, a
> > 10-15 second burst) is currently becoming UK Army doctrine - after
the
> > third shell lands, the target is considered likely to have taken
cover
> > anyway :-/
> 
> Which is why things like Panzer Haubitz 2000 is geared to fire 10
rounds 
> in 60 seconds. Their trajectory is progressively altered during the 
> firemission to splash them all at the same time. ie Higher slow 
> trajectory down to fast low trajectory. 60 second mission, then
scoot. 

Yes, the PzH2000 is pretty impressive. The Crusader would be even more
so, if the US Congress ever gets its collective thumb out and approves
funding for the final development and production.

The main problem with the Time-On-Target fire pattern is that the
maximum range gets severely restricted for large numbers of
projectiles. Not a big problem with a 3-round burst (12 seconds), but
IIRC you lose about 10 km maximum range with a 10-round TOT salvo
compared to a the maximum range of a single round - that's 20-25% off
the range of the PzH2000.

And, of course... there's the CB aspect too. The inital rounds of a
large TOT salvo need to go in a very high trajectory, which makes them
comparatively easy for CBRs to spot - so firing from a single location
for one full minute might not always be a very good idea :-/

OTOH, it should be more difficult for the upcoming ADS defences to
counter a TOT salvo than it would be to stop individual shells.

Later,

Oerjan Ohlson
oerjan.ohlson@telia.com

"Life is like a sewer.
  What you get out of it, depends on what you put into it."
- Hen3ry