Counter-battery shooting

Counter-battery shooting is considered successful if the enemy’s weapons and their calculations are suppressed or destroyed. Suppression implies a further inability of enemy firepower to continue firing. Typically, this inability is temporary. It is caused by the necessity of calculating the enemy’s guns to wait out the fire raid in shelters. If the hit area is in close proximity to the enemy’s guns, then his inability to fire can last some more time, necessary to change the firing position. Even if the area of ​​impact is far from the enemy’s guns and does not pose an immediate danger to them, they can also stop firing so as not to allow them to more accurately determine their location. This case is also considered a successful target suppression.

If the hit area during counter-battery shooting covers the enemy firing position and after shelling the enemy’s guns and their calculations are irretrievably disabled, the target is considered destroyed. Destruction of an enemy target in the shortest possible time and with a minimum expenditure of ammunition is the highest indicator of artillery skill in counter-battery shooting.

In many ways, counter-battery shooting is similar to other artillery fighting techniques. However, it has significant features. The main one is the large remoteness of the target from the front line (up to several tens of kilometers), which makes it impossible to directly observe it by artillery scouts at the front line. Therefore, to determine the coordinates of the target, the following tools are used:

• Direct observation from an aircraft (LA)
• Results of aerial photography or observation from space
• Sound Intelligence Unit (PZR)
• Counter-battery radar
• Visual observation of the events surrounding the shooting and a stopwatch
• Casting scouts or using agents behind enemy lines

Each of these methods has its advantages and disadvantages. A brief description is given below.

Direct observation from aircraft

This method allows not only to detect the target, but also to adjust the fire . It is the best combination of capabilities, but practically applicable in the case of suitable weather conditions, complete dominance in the air and the absence of anti-aircraft fire. It arose during the First World War , but found full effectiveness only after equipping the aircraft with radio stations . In World War II, the most prominent aircraft for artillery reconnaissance and adjustment was the Fokke-Wulf Fw 189 high - altitude two - frame aircraft , nicknamed the Soviet fighters Rama. Now the role of reconnaissance aircraft is performed by helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles .

Territory photo data

An aerial photograph or an ultra-high resolution image from space, together with a topographic map of the area, allows you to very accurately determine the coordinates of the target. The main disadvantages are the impossibility of adjusting the fire, the strong dependence of the successful determination of the coordinates of the target on weather conditions and the large delay in data caused by the technology of production and decoding of images. As a result, an adversary’s battery detected in the image can change its position during this time. The method arose during the First World War ( aerial photography ), was actively used subsequently and in our time was supplemented by shooting capabilities from space.

Currently, a revolution is taking place in aerial photography. In particular, at present, aerial photography is understood (as the direct successor of this technology) to television photography made from a satellite or UAV and transmitted for target designation in real time. Shooting can be done in any spectrum for which the Earth’s atmosphere is transparent. Currently ( 2009 ) there is no established and universally recognized terminology that allows distinguishing between classic aerial photography combined with active transmission of information to gunners and real-time target designation. Therefore, in each individual case, a special analysis is required to obtain a clear idea of ​​the technology used.

Sound Intelligence

The method is based on binaurality of human hearing, which allows to determine the direction of sound due to the stereo effect . Two spread out in space posts PZR with known coordinates determine the direction to the sounding target (firing an enemy battery). Knowing the coordinates of the posts and the direction angles to the sounding target from each of them, you can calculate the coordinates of the target. Usually this work is carried out using a computer or a mechanical fire control device . In the event of their absence or malfunction, this problem is solved analytically on paper using trigonometric tables. To accelerate it, the artilleryman-calculator has specially compiled tables, forms and calculation methods.

By the same method, the PZR can also determine the location of the explosions of its shells and thereby help in performing fire adjustments. This method is characterized by good accuracy, but may not be applicable in a particular area (forest, hills or mountains) when due to reflection or diffraction effects the group-velocity vector of acoustic waves arriving at the receiver does not coincide with the direct direction of the “receiver-sounding target”. The method arose during the First World War.

Radar Methods

Detection of an adversary’s battery is based on recording part of the projectile’s trajectory . Modern systems solve this problem automatically. The simplest case of a trajectory is a parabola , characteristic of the flight of mortar mines. The trajectories of artillery shells and missiles do not match the parabola and therefore require more complex calculations, however, quite uniform, in the case of unguided shells.

In addition to calculating the trajectory, it is necessary to solve the detection problem. Detection range, ceteris paribus, depends on the characteristic scattering area ( EPR ) of the object. Typical values ​​of the diameter of the EPR, in meters:

• artillery mine : …………………… 0.01 m
• howitzer / cannon artillery shell: ....... 0.001 m
• light rocket (caliber 122 mm): ... 0.009 m
• heavy rocket (caliber 227 mm): .. 0.018 m

To detect such targets, as a rule, X-band centimeter radiation is used. Newer systems also use ranges C , S and Ku .

The method appeared in the mid-70s, when the development of electronics made it possible to create compact blocks of a radar and an electronic computer.

Stopwatch

In some cases, by a cloud of dust after a shot or flashes in the dark, you can determine the direction to the target. The distance to the target can also be determined by measuring the time between the light effect and the sound coming from the shot. The method is one of the least accurate, since the sound path may differ from the direct one, and the speed of sound can vary depending on many factors. However, sometimes such data may be enough. The method arose even before the First World War .

Direct Intelligence

In principle, it is possible to use an agent to determine the location of the enemy’s battery in the enemy’s rear lines (army scouts, partisans, and patriotic civilians in areas occupied by the enemy), as well as using the testimony of prisoners or defectors. If there is a radio station or other high-speed channel for transmitting information, fire adjustment is also possible. Cons are a very low probability of a favorable set of circumstances for using the method and the inevitable risk of losing an agent.

When choosing a firing position, along with other factors, you should take into account the features of the terrain, which can simplify or complicate the task of hiding the battery from the aforementioned means of technical intelligence. For example, rugged terrain can lead to numerous echoes and reflections of sound, greatly complicating the work of the PZR. In turn, close interaction with anti-aircraft gunners will seriously reduce the likelihood of detecting an enemy’s aircraft battery, and even more so their ability to correct fire.

During World War II, a method of sound masking the location of a battery was widely used. For this, explosive packets were used that simulated the sound of an artillery shot. In particular, this method was used in order to cause counter-battery fire at the location of the explosive packages, and thereby open the position of the enemy’s battery. There have also been attempts to create simulators of shell explosions (in order for enemy sound reconnaissance posts to produce incorrect corrections). If the first method became widely applicable, the second did not live up to the hopes placed on it, and in our time it is almost never applied.

Also, to distract the enemy’s attention from the location of the main artillery forces, it is recommended to use a variety of demonstrations, false positions, nomadic guns to disperse his counter-battery fire. But for its part, it is necessary to be able to recognize similar enemy measures.

In the event that counter-battery fire is detected in its positions, the measures taken to a certain extent depend on the situation. To avoid losses, you can cease fire or change the firing position (but this means that the enemy successfully crushed the battery); You can enter into an artillery duel with the enemy. The winner here will be the one who, without losing his composure, will more accurately determine the location of the enemy and will quickly hit his fire weapons. As a rule, this is achieved by high skill of battery artillerymen in all specialties and streamlined interaction with artillery reconnaissance.

• Artillery
• Fire support
• ASCA Interface

• Matveev A.I., Malakhovsky E.K. Shooting at battery damage. - Moscow: Military Publishing House of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR, 1971. - 168 p. - 8,500 copies.