...spectrum of military operations.

The German Artillery is designing the force to decrease mobilization requirements for medium- to large-scaled contingencies by drawing on reaction forces throughout the artillery. This and the modular concept of force development are allowing the German artillery to tailor force packages to support military operations from stability and support operations (SASO) to very large-scaled conflicts. The artillery's organizational design increases force flexibility and the speed with which the German Army can react to military crises.

This article outlines the mission, organization and equipment plus the operational capabilities of the restructured German Artillery. It should be noted that the German Artillery does not have towed or "light" howitzers--only 155mm self-propelled howitzers: the PzH 2000 and M109A3G.

Artillery Mission. The German Artillery will continue to perform traditional missions in the future army structure, including conducting surveillance, target acquisition (TA) and reconnaissance (STAR) as well as providing fire support for the combined arms mechanized battle. It also will provide selected assets for SASO, as required.

To accomplish these missions, the German Artillery is using the integrated artillery system. This is an integrated, coordinated artillery system of command and control (C2), STAR and weapons assets interconnected by central operational forces' C2 system. The artillery command, control, communications, computer and intelligence ([C.sup.4]I) system is Adler. It ensures synergistic effects, contributes to the maneuver commander's battlefield assessment and enhances operational effectiveness.

To accomplish its missions, the German artillery must have wide-ranging capabilities. (See Figure 1.) It must be able to conduct TA and destroy targets in real-time out to 40 kilometers. The artillery must be able to reconnoiter target areas of interest (TAIs) out to a range of 70 kilometers, in particular command posts (CPs), long-range artillery assets, reserves and follow-on forces; then in near real-time, it must be able to engage and attrite the enemy to achieve friendly force superiority in quantity and quality. It also must be able to reconnoiter high-value targets (HVTs), such as C2 facilities, reserves and logistical installations, out to 150 kilometers and engage them, disrupting the enemy's operations.

Reorganization. In restructuring the German Army, the artillery will be downsized from approximately 18,600 to about 10,700 soldiers. However, the size of the current 3,000-man deployable reaction artillery will rise to 4,400 soldiers. This increase orients the German Field Artillery branch toward modem operational realities.

The restructuring began in the summer of 2002. Seven artillery battalions and one drone battery will be deactivated by the end of this year. The majority of the restructuring efforts will occur in late 2003.

After the restructuring is completed, the German Army will have 17 active artillery battalions. They differ from each only in the number of reaction, augmentation and reserve forces assigned. The reaction forces (Reaktionskrafte) respond rapidly to crises; they are operationally deployable and are active duty professional artillerymen. The augmentation forces (Vertarkungskrafte) are conscript-heavy.

The reserve forces round out the formations. Each reserve battalion usually only has...

NOTE: All illustrations and photos have been removed from this article.



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