The Artillery Systems That Could Be Futures Command’s First Big Success (From RealClearDefense)

Long-range precision fires is and must be the Army’s number one modernization priority. The goal is to both out-range and out-mass hostile fires. Greater range alone will not be enough to ensure survivability. U.S. Army artillery must be able to overmatch our enemies at every echelon, to do so, mobility is also required. Army artillery units need to be able to “shoot and scoot.” The Armored Brigade Combat Teams have this ability with the Paladin and its potential descendants. But infantry and Stryker brigade combat teams (BCTs), the early entry force, presently must rely on towed artillery that takes too long to set up, fire and relocate. The immediate solution is to make towed artillery more mobile. Enter Hawkeye and Brutus. The former is a 105-mm howitzer mounted on a High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV or Humvee) chassis. The latter is a 155-mm howitzer married to a medium tactical vehicle platform. I have written on these two potentially revolutionary systems here.