Summary: The Artillery in the Army of the Future
Heinrich Fischer
The German Army’s artillery will continue to carry out classical artillery tasks also in the future, i. e. play an essential role in reconnaissance as well as provide direct and general support. This operational spectrum applies, both to combined arms combat in mechanized operations and to combined arms operations in the context of peace missions.
These tasks are carried out within the "System Artillerie” which, under unity of command, is a central command control weapon employment system with a coordinated network of command and control, reconnaissance, and fire assets of all artillery elements of an operational unit - battalion size and above - within its wartime establishment. This integrated system together with an artillery, data, situation, operation, and computer network results in substantial synergy effects and ensures, both contributions to the commander’s assessment of the present situation and the operational effectiveness.
In the course of restructuring the forces the artillery will be reduced from approximately 18,600 to roughly 11,000 soldiers, while their response capability will be raised from currently 3,000 to 4,000 soldiers, which is a clear indicator of the artillery’s improved operational orientation. Once the reorganization is completed, the artillery will have 17 active units.
Those artillery units that used to exist in the form of artillery regiments on division level will be combined in the Artilleriebrigade 100 under the command of the army support troops. It will comprise three active artillery reconnaissance and three active missile artillery battalions. Additional structural elements will include two non-active artillery reconnaissance and two non-active missile artillery battalions as well as five non-active armored artillery battalions.
The future army will have five mechanized divisions, each of which will consist of two or three mechanized brigades, respectively in peacetime and will have - as also was the case until now - an organic armored artillery battalion. In total there will be eleven active armored artillery battalions basically structured the same way but differing with regard to the number of response and reinforcement elements and non-active units.
As a new structural element direct support teams, artillery observation radar groups, and artillery observation groups will be combined in a direct support battery integrated into each armored artillery battalion on brigade level. This should improve training the brigade’s direct support artillery elements and optimize cooperation with combat troops during an operation or an exercise.
The author presents a detailed overview of the artillery’s command and control, reconnaissance, and fire assets currently in use or in the process of being introduced. He also indicates in what areas up-dates and improvements are to be expected. He particularly points out that there are shortcomings with regard to adequate fire assets for the general and direct support of light and medium forces.
The Bundeswehr’s artillery forces were deployed as part of the German contingent of the Stabilization Force in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Kosovo Verification Mission/Kosovo Force, the Task Force Fox in Macedonia, and within the framework of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. Their tasks included area illumination, security and object security tasks, escorting convoys, and running checkpoints within their area of responsibility.
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