Hey Spare Parts Army! Thanks for watching, great big Hooah. What're your thoughts on the M109 Self Propelled Peace Cannon, do you have any experience with it?
It's a good thing the globalist Presidents from Bush 1, Clinton, Bush 2, Barry decided to invest in fighting Islamic Insurgents in the Middle East and ignored capabilities to fight Russia and China. As a former cannoneer it won't go well for the gun bunnies we are outgunned by Russian Koalitsiya-SV 43.5 miles and the Chicom PLZ-05 24.2 miles, compared to M109A7 13.6 miles. Just think M109A7 can almost go 20 miles with an expensive round. If we ever get into a conventional war with Russia, our Field Artillery is going to be destroyed before they can even set up. the M109 is garbage compared to our foes, and the US government should put a wee bit more investment to get a better gun system out.
My father was with the 25th ID, 3/13th Artillery, C battery in Vietnam 68-69' who manned the M109. His firebase was hit one night, almost every one inside the compound was wounded and they had 2 guns knocked out. The 2 remaining 109s had one firing almost straight up for perimeter effect and the other firing to support a firebase 15km away as it was to be about overrun. His NCO was firing the M2 off the M109 so much he melted the barrel. They had F4s called in and dropped napalm which is the only reason they did not get wiped out themselves. The body count was 200 dead on the wire in the morning. Dad passed in 2017.
We don't use bag charges anymore, the A7 is based off the Bradley chassis, we use armored ammo carriers now, if you've ever been on a 777 or the older m109a6 you wouldn't consider the m109a7 obsolete. The vehicle is actually pretty spacious, I'd rather be in it than under the net with a m77a2. We can't air assault a paladin so the 777 still has a place. The new rammer is spectacular, it's a hell of a weapon system. The old hydraulic rammer on the a6 was breaking down constantly. Direct fire is usually reserved for emergency situations. Generally at the point you have to drop tube and fire direct you're pretty screwed. If you've ever had to do an action azimuth mission an a 777 you'll be happy to use a paladin instead. As well with a paladin there's no jumping to grab the tube while everyone else pulls the gun down by your belt. No more holding up the tube or needing a Gerber to open the pintle with a prime mover nearly running you over because the ground guide or driver aren't paying attention. Usually the 13j/D's were rolling in m113's.
@@Taskandpurpose no problem, thanks for giving the artillery some love. Newer charges are a cylindrical cardboard like material, way easier to handle. Best thing I ever heard was an infantryman private ask his sergeant what the hell our M777 was, to which his sergeant replied "that's a big ass M4"
@@TheKaMeLRo they aren't heavy by any means, though on the M119 crew you have to hold them up for a long while. The real for the changeover in charge types is that you can put the new charges in forward or backwards where the bag charges have to go in a certain way, the new ones are easier to increment, and you don't need a burn pit for unused increments. Your powder runner has one of the easiest jobs on M777 crew. The projectiles are the heavy part, if memory serves M107HE is about 98 lbs.
I worked my way up the ladder and was a section chief on an M109 back from '69 thru '75. In Nam the 109 was used to protect fire bases, not just from distant targets, but from human waves. The round used to take out a human wave was the behive round. It was used in direct fire to tumble end over end once out of the barrel, then when the beehive exploded, it sent thousands upon thousands of little pleshettes (razor blade like pieces of metal) out on a wide angle at the enemy. You would not ever want to be on the receiving end as it had a nasty shotgun effect. Enemy soldiers were found ripped apart and even pinned to the trees. I direct fired our 109 when we needed to and believe me, we could be as effective as any tank albeit we had a lot thinner cast aluminum armor. Inside comfort? Take it from an insider, I spent many hours sleeping on the 109's fold down webbed "benches". The damndest thing about the 109's was the muzzle blast. You never, ever want to be behind the muzzle at an angle 25 or so degrees. One day we were calibrating six 109's, all parked side-by-side like a few feet apart from each other. Each individual 109 got it's own fire mission for observation and comparison to the other 109's. At one point during the calibration, I was sitting in the gunner's door reading when I head the word "Ready!" from the 109 next to me. By then it was to late for me to move, I don't remember hearing the word "Fire" as all I remember was getting blown out of that turret door, across the turret into the ammo rack on the other side. Yeah, that mistake cost me my hearing in my left ear and no we didn't wear earplugs as how the hell were you going to hear the commands?!
The bee hive rounds our 106mm recoiless rifles and our M-79s were litterly nails with fins, you can buy a envelope of them at any gunshow or on ebay. I lathed many a house with nails that were the same size, same point but with a flat head, so for nail manufactors to turn out the fin'ed flechettes was no big deal, the 106 held like 10,000 of them.
What is your thoughts on the focus of newer, lighter SPGs? Obviously not as well armored but easier to move and uses less fuel. Feel like the heavier systems aren't getting any love in Ukraine. All about the HIMARS and Archer!
@@dannymalone4247 You might be right. But then I was told this multiple times not only by those who trained me in Ft. Sill but other combat veterans. Once in awhile I'd catch sight of a round going out the tube in that fraction of a second opportunity. They all looked straight to me but I cannot attest what the round did once that fraction of a second passed. Got a slo-mo video of one? Not that it matters how the round got there. What mattered was the damage it caused.
My Father was in the Artillery Corps in Pakistan Army, i have went to live fire demo of M110 and M109A2 back in early 1990s, we were sitting a good distance away from the M109s, but the first round almost knocked us out of our chairs. Few things will impress you after you have witness a live fire exercise of heavy Artillery.
Imagine hundreds of heavy guns firing for hours, sometimes days, in WW1. Repeated concusions or shock waves whacking the brain isn't good. No wonder "shell shock" became a valid concern....except for the dik officers in the rear with clean shiny boots.
@@LuvBorderCollies yes, my thoughts exactly. I highly recommend watching "They Shell not grow Old" documentary, if you have not already sen it. its colorized and restored footage of WWI. Excellent work,
My dad served in the Army artillery in Germany and then Vietnam. He used both split trail and the M109 howitzers but I think he preferred the M109. He always called it his "Track". He said no self propelled unit was ever over run during the war. He talked about shooting "direct fire" but he said it came with a hazard. When the shell exploded the back of the shell could come back toward the gun. He had some pretty cool stories about "mad minuets", shooting at seagulls with a .50 cal., bullets flying past his head, and not being allowed to shoot back because there were "friendlies in the area". He always wondered if it was the "friendlies" who were shooting at them. It took more than 40 years but the war finally killed him. He died of prostate cancer caused by Agent Orange. He always said "That war should have been over long before I ever got there." I sure wish it had been, maybe I would still have my dad.
I'm sorry for your loss your father sounds like an interesting guy , I really dig his M109 stories. My grandfather was in the artillery in the Korean War basically made him deaf , he said they would put their hands on the phones so they could feel the call of the vibration of the fire mission
@@kilowhiskey7973 sounded plausible until the talk about direct fire…made zero sense, if you’re shooting that close to be harmed by your own round you’re literally firing directly against a solid metal block. it’s BS. hell, the .50 cal shooting claim was the crap on top of the sundae
As a former loader of an M109 as a Dutch conscript in 92/93, this clip sure brings back some sweet memories. It was my job to put the bag with gun powder behind the shell and close the lid. I’m surprised to see my baby is still in use today. Thanks for uploading this, Chris!
I was the crew chief for the first M-109s to get the longer barrel in '70s. This was USMC at 29 Palms. My gunnery sgt said if the Army doesn't have them we shouldn't . We used really long lanyards to fire from why behind the gun. The Battalion CO fired the first one, the battery CO fired the 2nd one and I fired the next 4.
Is like the M2 Browning of the self propelled artillery world. It is very nice to see you cover the world of artillery, I served in a field artillery unit in the Chilean army operating M72 155mm SOLTAM.
@@McSkumm yeah it was an m115 8 inch 203mm howitzer mated to a unique chassis making it the m110 self propelled howitzer it's still in use with a good ammount of countries
@@bagobones9891 I was going to make a smartass comment that the M107 was a version scaled down to use a .50 BMG round but there's an actual M107 howitzer, so...
Our near peers still visit the US to pick our brains on how we do stuff in the Artillery. They may have fancier weapon systems, but they will never be as reliable as a seasoned crew doing stuff mostly by hand. A guy sprains an ankle, and another guy quickly takes his place on the crew. Whereas if a component of the feeder malfunctions on an automatic loading system, the whole gun is out of the fight until it's fixed.
Personally, I believe artillery is an excellent combination of firepower and low cost. Back in 1983, I was deployed in West Germany at the 1/9th FA 8" (203mm) Self Propelled M110. Not long after my arrival, one of our gun batteries "Charley", got the brand new MLRS system. The MLRS was bad ass and so was the 8", especially during direct fire missions. Good times. Mark Nicholson (Retired) Former, US Army EFMB - Combat Medical Specialist 1/94 FA MLRS - Erlangen West Germany 690th, Medical Company supporting Misc. Weapons Ranges, Airborne Jump School and Ranger Training Brigade (ARTB) - Ft. Benning Georgia
There are some things that can go longer without needed ping a replacement, and artillery guns are one of those. The U.S. has in the past used several different guns for decades, as those specific models were still capable as time went on. Only when something that is truly 100% better is created are the old artillery guns replaced.
yeah well, there are already significantly better spg´s around for 20+ years like Pzh2000, but the US Army tries to modernise its 60 year old M109´s, wich are even after modernisation not even comparable
@@zhufortheimpaler4041 “not even comparable” yeah no, the Paladin might not be the best but it’s definitely up there… and the A7 is basically a new vehicle.
@@andrewmoore7022 well only if you are talking about older models like the m109a3. Those have shorter barrels and fire less hot charges, but also have significantly lower range due to that. Due to the lighter charge the chamber pressure is lower, the projectile is traveling the barrel slower and thus the gun is subjected to significantly less wear and tear. But again, those guns only have a range von 20-30km, not up to 80km
I was a E4 specialists 13-E cannon fire direction specialist in Paladin Batteries in the Idaho and Utah National Guard. The 13-E MOS has since been replaced by another as all artillery, missile and cannon, fire direction centers are using the same computer software now, but different from what I was trained on. The M109A6 and later models have a lot of sensors built into them. The computer on the gun knows its exact location and orientation, the temperature of the stored shells and powder, the temperature of the barrel, and the muzzle velocity of each shell/fuse combination at different charges it has fired in the past. The forward observers also know their exact location and with their fancy box with its computer, compasses and laser rangefinder, it can calculate exactly where the target is. The computers used at battalion and platoon fire direction centers take all this data as well as the rotation of the earth and wind speeds at multiple elevations, to calculate the required powder charge, elevation and azimuth of the barrel needed to hit the target for each individual gun in a platoon or battery so they each get unique fireing orders. It also calculates the time of flight so a fuse can be set to detonate above a target or delayed till slightly after impact. It also allows us to calculate time on target missions so each gun fires at a different time so all the shells hit at the same time. Or if a crew is really fast a single gun might fire two or three rounds at different elevations and powder charges so the all impact at the same time. As long as we and the 13-Fs have connections to GPS satellites and good meteorological data we were accurate with in 10 meters and fractions of a second even with a 12 red bag high angle shot. Oh, and yes as of 2001 the USA has 155mm nuclear rounds that the M109A6 can fire and be outside of the blast radius of. I got to look at the firing tables for those things, nasty piece of work, and as of 2001 we still had some forward deployed in South Korea for our batteries south of the DMZ. The might be out of service by now though, although not exactly a secret that they existed, the exact numbers and locations are secret.
Before being assigned to Strategic Missile Defense in the mid 90's, I was a 13C with HHB, 4th BN, 82nd FA, in Hanau, Germany (Hutier Kaserne). We still used Surveyors, and each Battery still had A2's with the spades. Kinda missed the days of hearing the words, "Fire Mission!"
Fun fact: the largest non rocket assisted round requires the crew to vacate the vehicle and use a long lanyard to fire. When fired the entire vehicle will become enveloped in a fireball for a second. Even standing "safely" away from vehicle, it's still extremely uncomfortable to fire this round. With many of the crew wincing in pain and cursing as the pressure wave passes through them.
That is ridiculous. It's like we're driving old battleships around the desert. They're are all sorts of cheap precision weapons systems to replace this now.
@@ghostmourn_alt its not a load that is normally fired, as it wears down the barrel stronger than normal loads. If the SPG is firing in training, the first round is always fired on the long line for safety. If the SPG fires from a pre build firebase like in afghanistan or irak, the gun is fired on the long line for increased safety. those very hot loads are normally shot in SPG vs MBT directfire situations, where it does not really matter if your gun blows up, because if you dont hit and destroy the target you are done for.
The reason for the long line is when your first initially certifying your gun or it was taken out of battery , meaning of barrel was pushed out of service for one reason or another either to service the gun or for inspection.... Even on a super 8 you still fire on the inside which is the highest charge you can use with either rocket or non-rocket assisted rounds. I can attest to saying that firing a super 8 is an out of body experience and everything causes for a brief second even your heartbeat.
This is probably my new favorite military related channel. Every other channel that I've come across talking about the same subjects come off as circle-jerky and chauvinistic. I appreciate the nuance of your content and how you take jabs at your own boys just as much as you do others. Keep up the good work.
I can personally attest the M109A6 handled 9 rounds per minute sustained for about 15 minutes overriding the alarms. Throwing bags of powder in that glowing barrel is a definite yolo moment.
Hi Mike, I am curious if there are any nicknames for the gun crew positions, or slang used for their positions or for the gun. I like to learn the lingo used by soldiers in the field, whether humorous or fun or "dark humor" slang etc. please let me know of any you heard. Thanks for your service. Sincerely. Also, which person on the crew pulls the lanyard (position name?)?
The basic M-109 has been in and out of depot at least six times. Congress restricts the Army to "X" number of new vehicles per year. So they go through rebuilds. BTW, the best upgrade I ever saw was taking left over M48 tanks from Vietnam and upgrading the lot to M48A5 standard. That was a "cheap" M60A1 substitute.
I’m a Vietnam veteran. I was section chief on an M1 09 in fue bI. They’re a great artillery piece with a lot of mobility unfortunately while being overrun we found a warrant great against grenade launchers. They went through the armor Like it was a tin can with devastating results. I could write a lot more but that’s my two cents really enjoyed the video. Robb
I was on an M109A6 Paladin for five years. Good piece. They weren't widely used in Baghdad for firing (some but not much) but they could provide decent protection at static sites and FOB/COP fortification. Good video slick
The constant evolution of our tracked artillery to the current version is a good example of not resting on your (M109) laurels. And being able to SHOOT DOWNA MISSLE with tracked artillery is truly revolutionary. I love the "Shoot and Scoot" ability of tracked artillery. Plus it can keep up with an armored attack to provide long-range protection.
As a former artillery gun bunny (105 towed a long time ago) I think there is a more iconic explanation for the self propelled 155's nickname, "Paladin." As you explain Paladin was a knight known for heroism and chivalry. But wait, there's more. Paladin was also the name of a character in a 60's tv western. The Paladin character played by Richard Boone was a chivalrous & heroic gun for hire. But he only took just causes. He wore all black and his holster and calling card was adorned with a depiction of a chess knightpiece. His business card directed those who were in true need, to contact him in San Francisco. The print on his business card and the name of the show; Have Gun, Will Travel.
You failed to mention one key ability of the Paladin. At it's highest rate of fire, it can shoot 6-7 rounds and time them to land on a target at the same time. This is achieved by having the highest arcing shot fired first and lowering the gun with successive shots. If a group of four guns does the same thing, 20-25 rounds can land on a target--not at max range of course--simultaneously. Then the guns can displace and move to another firing position and repeat this process again and again.
My 1978 gunnery instructor was the 1st paladin battalion commander and later CG of fort sill and USAFAS. Have a video of the a6 shooting out of safe during a fire power demo at sill in 1988. You didn't mention Rumsfeld canceling the crusader replacement system around 2001. Our system ranges 30km but north Korean systems range 50km or more. GPS munitions were also not mentioned which makes the weapon very lethal in the counter battery role. It's hard to convey the technical challenges of indirect fire, thanks for making this video.
@@readhistory2023 was that 78 or 79? Don't recall the tornado in 78. Years later I was in the arty unit in Wichita Falls. The armory was totally destroyed except for the arms vault. Luckily everyone in the armory at the time took shelter in the arms vault. I liked lubys in the mall And don't recall it being destroyed while I was there in 78.
I was a communication chief in M110 203mm (8in) self-propelled battery when I was in Germany with the US Army back in the mid 1980s. We were Corp Artillery and most of what we trained for was counter-Battery fire.
Been with M109A4, A5 & A6 units in Maintenance. Like anything they have pro's and cons. The FA board at one time played with putting a 20mm (might have ben a 25mm, it was a while a go). The 109 like anything takes a lot of crew maintenance, if the crew is good it lasts a long time, if they are not, they tend have NMC status on a continual basis.
Love the video! Always great to see the Artillery represented. BTW, I was a HIMARS/MLRS guy for 8+ years, and I'd love to see a video on those some day! I'd be happy to answer any questions and talk about it, if you're thinking about doing a video.
I am curious what MLRS operators call their weapons. Are there nicknames for them used today? Such as "organs" or similar nicknames? Please share lingo, as I am curious about how the crew calls it in real world. Thanks.
@@steadmanuhlich6734 We never nicknamed the systems. Mostly just "270" for the MLRS and "HIMARS" for the HIMARS in common verbiage. There was of course naming your vehicle once your crew became certified, but those changed constantly as crews rotated in and out.
The Koreans have an excellent self propelled artillery vehicle in the K9 Thunder, but it is heavy at 47 tons. Weight has always been regarded as a detriment to logistical and operational agility. For a shoot and skoot vehicle I would bet on the lighter more nimble platform.
Fun fact. I was around long barreled howitzers. On slight rolls off road the gun muzzle can tend to dig into the dirt if the driver isn't careful. Then the gun has to be cleaned, inspected, and then it can be used.
I love the Paladin, My Father was a Gunner/No1 on the Abbot, FH-70, L118 and AS-90. I only got too work on the latter two and loved every minute of it. UBIQUE, my cousins across the pond 🇬🇧🇺🇲
Hilarious how every new crop of Officers thinks that they are the first ever to do a thing.... In 1995, our brigade Commander in Germany made a huge deal of introducing Hip Shoots ..... My national guard unit did them routinely at Camp Guernsey, WY 10 years before .... the unit I was in DS/DS did Artillery Raids daily for a solid week before the ground war started, that were essentially a series of 3 preplanned 6 round hip shoots, 500 meters apart ...
As an IDF artillery using modified m109a5's our main gripes are that all of our vehicles are old and constantly breaking. We really envy the Americans and their new Paladins with their target lock aim. The main thing holding this back is the lack of an autoloader and general outdated doctrine and manual. All in all you can't complain too much about it, it's spacious, generally works almost well enough for a 1960's made battered vehicle.
@@patriotenfield3276 I don't hate on the Israelis but it's time we stop giving a first world country aid. And the USS liberty story is true. You can watch documentaries on here that talk about how they indeed knew it was an American ship yet they attacked her anyways. Kind of hard to miss the Gigantic American flag too.
Great video, actually taught me things I didn’t know about self propelled artillery. But in my opinion it needs more range to be safer from counterattacks
I'm not so sure. If you have air supremacy and you know where the bad guys are and they don't know where you are, range isn't much of a defense. Of course, it increases the square kilometer area that you can dominate, but remember these things don't operate in isolation.
The American 155mm howitzer has more range than any of our adversaries guns. The only countries with howitzers that have more range is South Africa (ally of the US) and South Korea (ally of the US). The Palladin is also designed for speed and agility. The most we would fire in a situation where we are engaging in counter battery fire is three shots. It would take a minute to fire them off and we would change positions as soon as the third shot was fired. This way, by the time the enemy generates a firing solution with their radar we are already gone.
Hi Jason. I am curious what MLRS operators call their weapons. Are there nicknames for them used today? Such as "organs" or similar nicknames? Please share lingo, as I am curious about how the crew calls it in real world. Thanks.
4:32 I love that that barrel has "Angry Raccoons" written on it. I can almost imagine launching pissed off raccoons at the enemy instead of HE rounds yet achieving the same result.
As a former gun bunny I don't think you can beat the M109 the ability to move shoot and change your location is invaluable the Firepower from the 155 beats nothing we actually got to fire a beehive around which was a close in self-defense round if you can imagine it was a 155 mm shotgun scary awesome
yeah a stated above: the PzH2000 has a burst fire capability of 3 rounds in 10 seconds prior to relocating. It is of similar weight, but better protected, has higher rate of fire with precise firing, is designed around GPS guidance and fire control, can relocate faster from firing position, is more mobile and fast etc.
When I crewed on one in 1993-84 M109a3 [1st/155mm HowBtry (sp), 4thBn, 11th Mar (Rein) at 29 Palms, Ca] {I went from powder monkey to asst crew chief in 8 weeks & led the advance placement team/s for when the btry had to move. And when we laid in, we could start to bring rounds down range within 60 seconds of pulling in.
Conjoined with JETS, Joint Effects Targeting System, the Paladin now has sniper like accuracy, particularly with GPS guided munitions. It's a tremendous force multiplier for artillery. Being exponentially lighter easily portable it will be given out at the platoon level forward observers. JETS might matter even more with mobile artillery like Paladins. It's a mathematical consideration that when a target information is an approximation, error either decreases or increases with movement at rate commensurate with distance moved. In other words, if you only knew generally a location you really don't know how much you really moved and need to readjust. As an added plus, JETS allows for immediate fire-for-effect where adjust fire often warns the enemy. JETS changes tactics and the perceived power of shoot-and-scoot. It substantially increases the Paladins military capital on the battlefield and very possibly lowering the amount munitions required per task. This would increase tempo of operations for the Paladin which in a sense multiplies the number in field.
The 155mm has a 100 meter footprint so spending ten times the money for the JETS's trying to get the rounds closer is nearly pointless. Nearly...They've had Copperheads since 78. We tested them and we were dropping rounds down the hatches of tanks from ten miles out however the Copperhead isn't good in heavy snow and if the enemy has IR systems they can see the laser which points back to the FO's position. In this case spending the money for the upgrade is worth it because without FO's 155mm are blind.
@@readhistory2023 We were told that the standard shell had a 50 meter kill radius (yes that's the same as a 100 meter footprint) but kill radius was defined to us as 50% casualties in that radius. Since we trained with the guns in a lazy W pattern with each much less than 50 meters from the next, the pattern on impact was quite impressive. BTW, I was in FTC, so I was much more familiar with the slide rules (mostly charge 5) than the actual guns themselves. Plus, I didn't have to hump the ammo.
45D and 63D, M109A2 easy to work and repair. M110 trained on but never stationed in a 110 unit and never serviced them, but sad to see them get retired. M992 was a pain in the ass with the blowers failing ( tied in with electrical charging system) and the front bustle racks had to be pulled back to climb down and get too, bigger pain when the racks were loaded. A lot has changed since 1993, and a lot more will change in the years to come.
@@user-kv3ut6pv4b except when it rains or snows or is windy or dusty or just plain outside! LOL But yes BOOM! Where where you stationed I was in Pinder Barracks, Zirndorf. Near Nuremberg. 1/22 FA 1stAD I ALSO said they should just can the 548 and use a 109 chassis as an ammo- carrier... and wow, they gots that!
@@marcatteberry1361 We had that weatherization kid haha. Stationed at Francois karnes . Hanua...bout 15 K's from Frankfurt. 2/20 FA 5th Corp. They left 1stAD. When back on active d back in 2006...Korea 1/15 FA , camp Hovey. Can't remember the ammo carrier...but; is was roomy. Not hype to this chassis?
Hey Cappy. My first unit out of AIT was 1/15FA, 2ID, in Camp Casey, Korea, in March 1997. The M548 was already well phased out by then. We had the M992 by then.
84-85, 87-92, 7 tours of the DMZ. Spent so much time in the ROK that I could actually Call for Fire in Korean. (1/15FA, 1/17IN)(8/8FA,2/503IN)(1/15FA,5/20IN)
The Army says "Tactical Retreat" but the Marines say "Advancing in the opposite direction", It's the little differences. ;) These things go next level when they use that Excalibur round. And there's nothing better than being at 29 palms, calling in Arty and then getting to watch the rounds going down range over your head.
@nriquedigita my step-dad told me about the 14" at Normandy, when they got off the beach he told me one went right through a port . All they found in the cracked but still standing bunker was red goo. Said it sounded like a freight train overhead
These sound great! Especially the ability to move before hit by counter fire from radar or artillery tracers. Just need longer range & auto loader to reduce manpower & keep soldiers using it as safe as possible. Wonder if artillery units have a companion mobile system to protect mobile artillery units like this protected from airplanes.
I love this video Cappy. I was a 13B for 2 years before I switched and did the rest of my 6 years as a Cav Scout. Cannon cocker is the worst job in the world but takes a hard breed of dudes to do it.
I spent some time as the signal officer in a Paladin battalion back in the ‘90s. They were truly awesome to watch. They had amazing capabilities. The live fire exercises were the best. They could be driving along, get a fire mission, stop, fire and then continue moving. You didn’t mention the Copperhead missiles, which are essentially a laser guided artillery round. Are those still in use?
The artillery batalion in Norway used the m109 until last year. Im sure it works great in the dessert an flatter terrains. The problem for our m109’s is that Norway is mostly mountains. When i was in the Panzer batallion we would always have to wait to advance because the m109’s got stuck trying to go up a hill. Luckily we got the k9 now
The 109a2/a3 was seriously underpowered, and it's transmission was overstressed when climbing hills combat loaded. The 110a2 8", while pretty slow, was practically flying artillery compared to the 109, IME.
Why was a ~10 meter lanyard used? I served in a 175mm/8" SPH battery; we used a 50ft lanyard when firing the maximum charge as the tube might ( and did one time) rupture. We occupied an LZ outside Ban Me Thuot with the smaller M 108 105mm howitzer which had an unbelievably fast rate of fire. Thanks for episode, the interior footage of firing was great.
This weapon works in all weather, this can’t be said the of high tech weapons or even aircraft . Bad weather such as clouds can keep the Air Force at bay. Their is a new round that is rocket assisted and is guided (but not by GPSand not effected by weather) that has a range of 60 miles and can be used against ships. How great is artillery!
Hey! Alright! Finally something that I was directly involved in...... as a 63D (which means I also got to drive the M88A1) As much as I hated being in Field Artillery but man, I did have some good times.
I served in the swiss army artillery. Watching our M109 KAWEST firing combat shell into the alps was always stunning. They should be retiring those in 2025 tho.
I was a commander of a Swiss M109 with the L39 barrel. Switzerland has upgraded the M109 with there own L47 barrel and some more improvements in protection, firing rate and fire control. We had a total crew of 8 men. Today there are only 5.
I mean, Browning M2 still works a century on. I think that any "replacement" will be basically an incremental improvement on the design, maybe lighter materials here and there, maybe better armor, but does it justify the cost?
Well, in the end there's only so much incremental improvement could do, i guess the decisive future of M109 would be implementing autoloader (basically, the korean K9). Just like how M1 garand prevail over bolt action rifle, it justifies the cost.
@@Kevin-fj5oe Yeah, that's what I mean. I don't think manual loading is that much inferior to an autoloader in tanks or arty as a bolt-action rifle, lol. But it's still an incremental improvement. I guess, unless there's a significant doctrinal change (with or without a technological leap), it doesn't have to be completely replaced.
Bruh, you clearly don't know about the KORD. That is what a .50 should be. The M2 is hopelessly outdated, far too expensive for what it does, and not light by any means. The Russian HMGs and GMGs are just better in every possible way. The .50 doesn't work well; it's just that we haven't fought anyone that forced us to improved, so we just let is stay shitty. The M2A2 is an improvement on all the things that should've been solved in the beginning, but it still requires a tri-pod, still requires 3 men to move at any speed, can only be used on vehicles and in foxed positions. It's just not good a good weapon system. Yeah, the .50 bullet is absolutely wonderful, but if it's not where it's needed, it isn't useful. Again, look at the Russian KORD. It does the same job, but a single man can carry it [with difficulty], and that's no different from the M240. Again, the 240 is my favorite weapon. Definitely S-tier, but you look at things like the PKM which outrange it while still being similar weight and it's just no contest.
@@cherminatorDR How do you think it's an improvement? How many rounds can a crew load and fire within a minute? Probably the same amount-if not slightly more-than a machine. But let's drag this out to hours and even days. I've seen how artillery operates and I've trained with them. They push themselves harder than anyone to maximize rate of fire, but it isn't enough. A machine will operate until it runs out of fuel [not a problem for the US logistics'] but a person becomes dangerous when they get tired. They get stupid. They crash vehicles and kill the wrong people. Look at Arty's fatalities in training and you'll notice it's significantly greater than anyone else bc they are too tired to safely operate the equipment after a couple days of intermittent naps. It's just bad. You could give those same gun crews an automatic gun system and then every man would be spending ⅓ the time crewing the weapon, letting them get rested. That's the real drawback of manual systems: you need more men to operate them. It isn't about speed, but sleep. Men need to sleep or they get stupid, and being stupid in war is the fastest way to get your boys killed.
Puttin in work cappy! Love your hard work, intro and dedication in all the videos. From this crayon eater an all of us degenerates that ever cooked their food on a rock or something
Nice summary, Chris. I commanded an A6 battery, and worked on A2s, 3s, and 4s before that, and this is pretty good info for 10 minutes. Pretty much as you said. I'd add the M992 ammo carrier has long been a significant upgrade over the old M548 (with canvas coverings that can catch fire and blow up your entire ammo carrier! Really! Ask NTC) you showed (my first unit was one of only 2 left in the Army with them, and that was 30 yrs ago). I believe the newest 992s are also Bradley-based. And as someone below noted, that A7 chassis is all-new. The turrets were first reconstructed for the A6 (including adding a layer of Kevlar inside) and now the chassis is new as well, so it's not REALLY a 1960s weapon anymore. The big difference with the 1299 you showed is the gun tube (think it's like 58 calibers long. Yes, there is ammo caliber and gun tubes are measured in length by calibers (different) as well). Range is the big thing now, esp for something that's heavy. When I was a commander, 30 km was crazy range for a 155 howitzer (I shot the old Charge 8 Super with RAP, yes); now, it's sorta pedestrian, and you have GMLRS shooting 60-70 with precision, so... I was NOT aware of the hyper-velocity round--thanks for that (I've been retired 6 yrs now). On that Syrian mission...I'm sure they did a great job, but honestly, we did that kind of thing all the time. And yes, you CAN exceed your max firing rate (and still can) because the Paladin has an active temp sensor on the gun tube. As long as it doesn't get too hot, you can fire your ass off (we did, routinely). Codenames Steel and Thunder. Those were the battery call-signs, obviously. Hilarious if they dubbed them "codenames."
Hi McTaguer, I am curious if there are any nicknames for the gun crew positions, or slang used for their positions or for the gun. I like to learn the lingo used by soldiers in the field, whether humorous or fun or "dark humor" slang etc. please let me know of any you heard. Thanks for your service. Sincerely.
@@steadmanuhlich6734 Not in my experience, but I'm hardly universal. You have the Chief, the Gunner, Asst. Gunner and pretty much everyone else goes by crew position number (technically "cannoneer"), and driver. I've read things like people calling #1 Man "swabber" or #4 "rammer." My battery/battalion didn't, but I suppose others have...
I loved the ideal of Direct fire. I did one in Korea up at the DMZ in 1967. About 5 miles away and what an awesome shot that was! But it was blamed on the ROK Army because a GI was not allowed to do that. It was an M110 8". The M109 in Vietnam was a bad dude, and if you were smart enough, you could reload and be ready to fire in 90 seconds. This was in 1968 up at the DMZ.
We practiced the hip shoot with weapon, incessantly. We could pull off the road and get a volley out in about a minute. This was using slide rules and charting grids. This was the piece that, more than any other weapon , kept the Russian bear in his cage; it can fire nuclear rounds. No it is not obsolete. MLRS and like systems shoot their wad and then have to take a time to to be reloaded. The A10 is the same way. The M109 provides a continuous and sustained presence on the battle field. But training is key, especially in counter-battery techniques and skills. Further, the plans to reduce the crew size should be reviewed. The loading system ( rammer) needes to be thoroughly tested for reliability. Pushing rounds into that thing by hand can get old.
The M109 reminds me of "Flying Artillery" of the Mexican-American War, where the original "shoot n scoot" was perfected with horse drawn carriages at the Battle of Palo Alto. Give a special "Hooah" to our Army that came before the spare-parts Army, when men were men and women were grateful for it.
I was outside the Bradley getting chow one night when the paladins were practicing direct fire.. my chest got a good smack.. I wasn’t that close either, about 40-50 yards behind it
My grandfather was a NCO with first Cav 21st Arty in Korea and 1st cavalry airmobile Vietnam with 1/77 HHB /div Arty and 1/82 Arty AVN echo battery as an arty observer. He used to ride in an OH13 & spot suitable LZs to bring in the arty via sling loads and then coordinate with them to put them on the zips . Ww2 , Korea , and 4 tours in Vietnam couldn’t kill him - but agent orange did . He would have loved to see 1st Cav arty doing work ! I still have his 1/82 E battery “woodpeckers” in country patch that is the Cav patch in red and black with a woodpecker on it and E battery 82nd Arty (the orphan battery )
I want to say the same. Some good facts, starting on topic, not turning it political or a gun love-fest. It's about some basic military news, and info. And funny. Much appreciated
North Korea is proud when one of it's missiles gets off the launchpad. The USA military took an artillery piece from WW2 and started shooting missiles out of the air, because cannon rounds are cheaper.
One thing about the crew size... the crew size was down to four well before the M109A6 was introduced. Despite it's size, it's still very cramped on the inside. Crews typically have the Chief, the gunner, the driver, and #1 man (loads, fires, and swabs the bore chamber between rounds). And the vehicle that accompanies the Paladin would be the M992, also known as the C.A.T. (Chow, Ammo, & Trash). You may have also noticed that even the vietnam era videos featured the automatic loader.... even I did know how old that design was! Holy hell lol
I have crewed M109a2/3's and M110a2's with as few as 4 guys (with the AP man gone on to the next position) and the Lt, Smoke, Gunny, or some other Safety Certified Officer/NCO would have to come down and stand there and be "Safety" guy because chief was acting as gunner .... never had more than 8, including AP man in a section going to the field.... on paper, you might have had 10 or 12, but there were always guys detailed to the Post Office, Post Gyms, Post Maintanance, ..... drivers for staff officers, etc .... When Desert Shield came up, we guys coming from everywhere .... hit Saudi with 13 people in my section .... the hardest part was figuring out where to put 13 people and their shit on two vehicles stuffed to the gills with thousands of rounds of small arms ammo(5.56, 7.62, and .50Cal), a couple LAW's, and an AT4, 4-6 dozen 8" projos , 50-60some powder charges .... 8-10 boxes of fuzes .... the M548 Ammo carrier was rated at 6Tons of cargo capacity ...hell there was 6 tons of various ammunition/ordnance on there .... not counting all the baggage and rations and bodies and cammo netting and poles, tools, bales of sandbags and stuff that made life in what was that term .... "austere locations" ...possible .... two GP small tents and yukon stoves, couple jerry cans of diesel , water, the shitchair, lumber and 4 sheets of plywood .... 13 cots....
@@danieparriott265 hi Danie. I am curious if there are any nicknames for the gun crew positions (you wrote "Smoke", who is that?), or slang used for their positions or for the gun. I like to learn the lingo used by soldiers in the field, whether humorous or fun or "dark humor" slang etc. please let me know of any you heard. Thanks for your service. Sincerely.
@@steadmanuhlich6734 ""Smoke" is the "Chief of Firing Battery, and is formally the Platoon Sergeant, and it was always an E-7 (Sergeant First Class) slot but often filled by a senior E-6 (Staff Sergeant in my time in the Army. There is also the "Gunny" "Gunnery Sergeant", another SFC slot... his primary responsibility is leading the Advance Party for deliberate Occupation Operations- he went ahead with a man ("AP man") from each gun section, one from commo, and one from the FDC (which, in this age of digital instand comms, may not be a thing) and reconned the new firing position, selected gun positions and got the aiming circle data pre-set to each and each man assisted in this after establishing wire commo, then prepared the gun position, laid out and cleared the route from the release point to the position. The gun crews were led by a "Gun Chief" (Staff Sgt/ E-6 Slot, but I was a Gun Chief for few days as a Corporal (E-4) after my Chief got relieved for drinking on duty... ) ... the "Gunner" actually trained the gun and was the man on the gun sight, left side of the breech , "AG" (optional, not necessary, but sped things up, and speed was VERY important, second only to Safety and accuracy, completely necessary if you had to go without electric hydraulic power) was on the right side, and could elevate the gun and had a direct fire telescope.... the various cannoneer positions were numbered, 1-6 or 8, depending on the piece involved .... on the 109 series, the No. 1 Cannoneer operated the loading tray and loader-rammer, and fired the piece with a lanyard .... on the M110 seies, it was the No. 2 Man that "pulled tail" .... The Senior guy on the Ammunition Carrier (M548 Cargo Carrier or M997FAASV in my time) Was the "Ammunition Team Chief, responsible for the inventory, security, stowage of ammunition and the 4513 (DA Form 4513, "Record of Missions Fired". Yes, even in War, even in a SHOOTING WAR, there's paperwork to be done!) Also in the Ammo vehicle, there the RTO (Radio Telephone Operator and another cannoneer ..... now you have to remember, almost always, the crew is not at 100% manning ... I never saw it, except in the Gulf War.... and even then, the AP Man was gone 99% of the time ..... but shortly before I got into the Army, the Department of Defense was directed by Reagan's Secretary of Defense to roughly double the number of American artillery tubes facing the Warsaw Pact .... and they did it not by fielding more units, but by increasing the number of guns in each battery. A 4 gun Battery of 2 2 gun platoons became and 8 gun Battery ... They were short of Artillerymen and it showed.... they took anyone with a pulse. Any promising guy with any sense at all could make e-5 in 3 years and be a Gun Chief..... on a piece that was authorized 13 men, but had 6 or 7 on paper, and only 5 or 6 in the real world, the other 2 detailed to work at the gym or the Post Sgt Major ...
@@steadmanuhlich6734 In my Experience, ... "Smoke" was the younger man .... but in charge, nominally. "Gunny" was under him in the chain of Command, but always seemed to be the "Elder Statesman" .... a guy that was ready for retirement, but just not yet .... on a personal level, It was always like "Smoke" was your strack assed Dad, and Gunny was your doting Grandfather .... He already made his bones years ago, and everyone knew it. He had all the answers, and feared nobody. I remember one Gunnery Sgr. that knew and shared so much that All and sundry, including officers referred to him always as "Gunny-Guru" ...
It's like a musket that been modified into a blaster at this point. No point in developing a whole new system when you always have air superiority and it's unlikely to be counter arty'ed.
Hey Spare Parts Army! Thanks for watching, great big Hooah.
What're your thoughts on the M109 Self Propelled Peace Cannon, do you have any experience with it?
URAAAAAAAA
@@MH-tg4ps same for 2S1 Gvozdika (carnation) 2S3 Akatsiya (Acacia flower), 2S4 Tyulpan (Tulip) , 2S5 Giatsint(Hyacinth) , 2S7 Pion (peony) , 2S8 Astra/liliya (Lily). all flowering flowers of doom.
@@MH-tg4ps you know whats next level american ? Calling it the freedom express
Anything new on the NGSW ?
It's a good thing the globalist Presidents from Bush 1, Clinton, Bush 2, Barry decided to invest in fighting Islamic Insurgents in the Middle East and ignored capabilities to fight Russia and China. As a former cannoneer it won't go well for the gun bunnies we are outgunned by Russian Koalitsiya-SV 43.5 miles and the Chicom PLZ-05 24.2 miles, compared to M109A7 13.6 miles. Just think M109A7 can almost go 20 miles with an expensive round. If we ever get into a conventional war with Russia, our Field Artillery is going to be destroyed before they can even set up. the M109 is garbage compared to our foes, and the US government should put a wee bit more investment to get a better gun system out.
My father was with the 25th ID, 3/13th Artillery, C battery in Vietnam 68-69' who manned the M109. His firebase was hit one night, almost every one inside the compound was wounded and they had 2 guns knocked out. The 2 remaining 109s had one firing almost straight up for perimeter effect and the other firing to support a firebase 15km away as it was to be about overrun. His NCO was firing the M2 off the M109 so much he melted the barrel. They had F4s called in and dropped napalm which is the only reason they did not get wiped out themselves. The body count was 200 dead on the wire in the morning. Dad passed in 2017.
May he RIP. Truly heroic shit!
I was a motor Sgt in that unit a lot of hard work and dedicated soldiers kept up the traditions of 3/13 f.a.
i was in 25th ID 1990-1994 i was on 119er 198 in Hawaii
My stepdad served from 39-45, my dad in Korea, like your pop, only GOD and us know how we need and miss these MEN.
Wow. Freaking heroes.
We don't use bag charges anymore, the A7 is based off the Bradley chassis, we use armored ammo carriers now, if you've ever been on a 777 or the older m109a6 you wouldn't consider the m109a7 obsolete. The vehicle is actually pretty spacious, I'd rather be in it than under the net with a m77a2. We can't air assault a paladin so the 777 still has a place. The new rammer is spectacular, it's a hell of a weapon system. The old hydraulic rammer on the a6 was breaking down constantly. Direct fire is usually reserved for emergency situations. Generally at the point you have to drop tube and fire direct you're pretty screwed. If you've ever had to do an action azimuth mission an a 777 you'll be happy to use a paladin instead. As well with a paladin there's no jumping to grab the tube while everyone else pulls the gun down by your belt. No more holding up the tube or needing a Gerber to open the pintle with a prime mover nearly running you over because the ground guide or driver aren't paying attention. Usually the 13j/D's were rolling in m113's.
Great to know ! I wasn’t aware the baged Charges were a thing of the past ! Glad to hear the new rammer is doing it’s job
@@Taskandpurpose no problem, thanks for giving the artillery some love. Newer charges are a cylindrical cardboard like material, way easier to handle. Best thing I ever heard was an infantryman private ask his sergeant what the hell our M777 was, to which his sergeant replied "that's a big ass M4"
How heavy is bag charge? It feels very light when I see how soldier only grab it by one hand.
@@TheKaMeLRo they aren't heavy by any means, though on the M119 crew you have to hold them up for a long while. The real for the changeover in charge types is that you can put the new charges in forward or backwards where the bag charges have to go in a certain way, the new ones are easier to increment, and you don't need a burn pit for unused increments. Your powder runner has one of the easiest jobs on M777 crew. The projectiles are the heavy part, if memory serves M107HE is about 98 lbs.
I find your lack of powder pit firework shows (and _spectacular_ accidents) offensive.
Full Send Yeet of the 155mm variety
Daily Dose of 152mm YEET.
The Yeet hammer
OH KURWA
I worked my way up the ladder and was a section chief on an M109 back from '69 thru '75. In Nam the 109 was used to protect fire bases, not just from distant targets, but from human waves. The round used to take out a human wave was the behive round. It was used in direct fire to tumble end over end once out of the barrel, then when the beehive exploded, it sent thousands upon thousands of little pleshettes (razor blade like pieces of metal) out on a wide angle at the enemy. You would not ever want to be on the receiving end as it had a nasty shotgun effect. Enemy soldiers were found ripped apart and even pinned to the trees. I direct fired our 109 when we needed to and believe me, we could be as effective as any tank albeit we had a lot thinner cast aluminum armor. Inside comfort? Take it from an insider, I spent many hours sleeping on the 109's fold down webbed "benches". The damndest thing about the 109's was the muzzle blast. You never, ever want to be behind the muzzle at an angle 25 or so degrees. One day we were calibrating six 109's, all parked side-by-side like a few feet apart from each other. Each individual 109 got it's own fire mission for observation and comparison to the other 109's. At one point during the calibration, I was sitting in the gunner's door reading when I head the word "Ready!" from the 109 next to me. By then it was to late for me to move, I don't remember hearing the word "Fire" as all I remember was getting blown out of that turret door, across the turret into the ammo rack on the other side. Yeah, that mistake cost me my hearing in my left ear and no we didn't wear earplugs as how the hell were you going to hear the commands?!
The bee hive rounds our 106mm recoiless rifles and our M-79s were litterly nails with fins, you can buy a envelope of them at any gunshow or on ebay. I lathed many a house with nails that were the same size, same point but with a flat head, so for nail manufactors to turn out the fin'ed flechettes was no big deal, the 106 held like 10,000 of them.
What is your thoughts on the focus of newer, lighter SPGs? Obviously not as well armored but easier to move and uses less fuel.
Feel like the heavier systems aren't getting any love in Ukraine. All about the HIMARS and Archer!
The beehive round does not tumble. Someone fed you a line. Believe me, I have 21 years in this weapons systems, a lot in combat.
@@dannymalone4247 You might be right. But then I was told this multiple times not only by those who trained me in Ft. Sill but other combat veterans. Once in awhile I'd catch sight of a round going out the tube in that fraction of a second opportunity. They all looked straight to me but I cannot attest what the round did once that fraction of a second passed. Got a slo-mo video of one? Not that it matters how the round got there. What mattered was the damage it caused.
My Father was in the Artillery Corps in Pakistan Army, i have went to live fire demo of M110 and M109A2 back in early 1990s, we were sitting a good distance away from the M109s, but the first round almost knocked us out of our chairs. Few things will impress you after you have witness a live fire exercise of heavy Artillery.
Imagine hundreds of heavy guns firing for hours, sometimes days, in WW1. Repeated concusions or shock waves whacking the brain isn't good. No wonder "shell shock" became a valid concern....except for the dik officers in the rear with clean shiny boots.
@@LuvBorderCollies yes, my thoughts exactly. I highly recommend watching "They Shell not grow Old" documentary, if you have not already sen it. its colorized and restored footage of WWI. Excellent work,
On one shoot, after my guns rounds were expended, I hit my cot, right under the barrel of another gun still firing. Slept really well.
My dad served in the Army artillery in Germany and then Vietnam. He used both split trail and the M109 howitzers but I think he preferred the M109. He always called it his "Track". He said no self propelled unit was ever over run during the war. He talked about shooting "direct fire" but he said it came with a hazard. When the shell exploded the back of the shell could come back toward the gun. He had some pretty cool stories about "mad minuets", shooting at seagulls with a .50 cal., bullets flying past his head, and not being allowed to shoot back because there were "friendlies in the area". He always wondered if it was the "friendlies" who were shooting at them. It took more than 40 years but the war finally killed him. He died of prostate cancer caused by Agent Orange. He always said "That war should have been over long before I ever got there." I sure wish it had been, maybe I would still have my dad.
I'm sorry for your loss your father sounds like an interesting guy , I really dig his M109 stories. My grandfather was in the artillery in the Korean War basically made him deaf , he said they would put their hands on the phones so they could feel the call of the vibration of the fire mission
The war eventually killed your dad. What a great story man. Sorry for your loss
I might take “shit that never happened” for 500, please. Had me in the first half tho.
@@Taskandpurpose my grandfather suffered the same fate, he turned 89 on the 14th still drives pretty well at that. wish i was half as cool as he is
@@kilowhiskey7973 sounded plausible until the talk about direct fire…made zero sense, if you’re shooting that close to be harmed by your own round you’re literally firing directly against a solid metal block. it’s BS. hell, the .50 cal shooting claim was the crap on top of the sundae
As a former loader of an M109 as a Dutch conscript in 92/93, this clip sure brings back some sweet memories. It was my job to put the bag with gun powder behind the shell and close the lid. I’m surprised to see my baby is still in use today. Thanks for uploading this, Chris!
U guys are just pumping out videos now I love this new schedule
new video on every Tuesday and Thursday at 12pm Eastern time from now on!
@@Taskandpurpose neat
I was the crew chief for the first M-109s to get the longer barrel in '70s. This was USMC at 29 Palms. My gunnery sgt said if the Army doesn't have them we shouldn't . We used really long lanyards to fire from why behind the gun. The Battalion CO fired the first one, the battery CO fired the 2nd one and I fired the next 4.
Is like the M2 Browning of the self propelled artillery world.
It is very nice to see you cover the world of artillery, I served in a field artillery unit in the Chilean army operating M72 155mm SOLTAM.
Fun Facts :- The M108 is actually an M109 scaled down to use a 105mm Howitzer.
M107 was a really tiny one right , that was barely used I think
@@Taskandpurpose the m107 was bigger using a 175mm gun
@@bagobones9891 What about the M110? didnt that use like a 203mm gun, or something along those lines?
@@McSkumm yeah it was an m115 8 inch 203mm howitzer mated to a unique chassis making it the m110 self propelled howitzer it's still in use with a good ammount of countries
@@bagobones9891 I was going to make a smartass comment that the M107 was a version scaled down to use a .50 BMG round but there's an actual M107 howitzer, so...
2022 is the year of Task & Purpose, keep posting guys. Love it!
Our near peers still visit the US to pick our brains on how we do stuff in the Artillery. They may have fancier weapon systems, but they will never be as reliable as a seasoned crew doing stuff mostly by hand. A guy sprains an ankle, and another guy quickly takes his place on the crew. Whereas if a component of the feeder malfunctions on an automatic loading system, the whole gun is out of the fight until it's fixed.
Personally, I believe artillery is an excellent combination of firepower and low cost. Back in 1983, I was deployed in West Germany at the 1/9th FA 8" (203mm) Self Propelled M110. Not long after my arrival, one of our gun batteries "Charley", got the brand new MLRS system. The MLRS was bad ass and so was the 8", especially during direct fire missions. Good times.
Mark Nicholson (Retired)
Former, US Army
EFMB - Combat Medical Specialist
1/94 FA MLRS - Erlangen West Germany
690th, Medical Company supporting
Misc. Weapons Ranges, Airborne Jump School
and Ranger Training Brigade (ARTB) - Ft. Benning Georgia
There are some things that can go longer without needed ping a replacement, and artillery guns are one of those. The U.S. has in the past used several different guns for decades, as those specific models were still capable as time went on. Only when something that is truly 100% better is created are the old artillery guns replaced.
yeah well, there are already significantly better spg´s around for 20+ years like Pzh2000, but the US Army tries to modernise its 60 year old M109´s, wich are even after modernisation not even comparable
@U.S ARMY FORCES VIDEO yeah cool, but parachuting seals. Don't replace 10 rounds per minute average firing rate
@@zhufortheimpaler4041 “not even comparable” yeah no, the Paladin might not be the best but it’s definitely up there… and the A7 is basically a new vehicle.
@@zhufortheimpaler4041 least it was designed to handle more than 100 rounds a day without excessive wear and tear.
@@andrewmoore7022 well only if you are talking about older models like the m109a3. Those have shorter barrels and fire less hot charges, but also have significantly lower range due to that. Due to the lighter charge the chamber pressure is lower, the projectile is traveling the barrel slower and thus the gun is subjected to significantly less wear and tear. But again, those guns only have a range von 20-30km, not up to 80km
I was a E4 specialists 13-E cannon fire direction specialist in Paladin Batteries in the Idaho and Utah National Guard. The 13-E MOS has since been replaced by another as all artillery, missile and cannon, fire direction centers are using the same computer software now, but different from what I was trained on.
The M109A6 and later models have a lot of sensors built into them. The computer on the gun knows its exact location and orientation, the temperature of the stored shells and powder, the temperature of the barrel, and the muzzle velocity of each shell/fuse combination at different charges it has fired in the past. The forward observers also know their exact location and with their fancy box with its computer, compasses and laser rangefinder, it can calculate exactly where the target is. The computers used at battalion and platoon fire direction centers take all this data as well as the rotation of the earth and wind speeds at multiple elevations, to calculate the required powder charge, elevation and azimuth of the barrel needed to hit the target for each individual gun in a platoon or battery so they each get unique fireing orders. It also calculates the time of flight so a fuse can be set to detonate above a target or delayed till slightly after impact. It also allows us to calculate time on target missions so each gun fires at a different time so all the shells hit at the same time. Or if a crew is really fast a single gun might fire two or three rounds at different elevations and powder charges so the all impact at the same time. As long as we and the 13-Fs have connections to GPS satellites and good meteorological data we were accurate with in 10 meters and fractions of a second even with a 12 red bag high angle shot.
Oh, and yes as of 2001 the USA has 155mm nuclear rounds that the M109A6 can fire and be outside of the blast radius of. I got to look at the firing tables for those things, nasty piece of work, and as of 2001 we still had some forward deployed in South Korea for our batteries south of the DMZ. The might be out of service by now though, although not exactly a secret that they existed, the exact numbers and locations are secret.
Thanks for adding a longer comment full of interesting observations and facts.
Before being assigned to Strategic Missile Defense in the mid 90's, I was a 13C with HHB, 4th BN, 82nd FA, in Hanau, Germany (Hutier Kaserne). We still used Surveyors, and each Battery still had A2's with the spades. Kinda missed the days of hearing the words, "Fire Mission!"
"Mobile 155mm Yeet machine."
That's how I'm going to call artillery from now on, thanks Cappy.
dude you look like our Lord Savior Jesus Christ lol.
@@patriotenfield3276 Yeah I get that a lot, believe me.
Fun fact: the largest non rocket assisted round requires the crew to vacate the vehicle and use a long lanyard to fire. When fired the entire vehicle will become enveloped in a fireball for a second. Even standing "safely" away from vehicle, it's still extremely uncomfortable to fire this round. With many of the crew wincing in pain and cursing as the pressure wave passes through them.
That explains 8:35
That is ridiculous. It's like we're driving old battleships around the desert. They're are all sorts of cheap precision weapons systems to replace this now.
Seriously, thats why they are always outside!? This seems like an issue tbh - why build an armored cannon and then make everyone stand outside lol wtf
@@ghostmourn_alt its not a load that is normally fired, as it wears down the barrel stronger than normal loads.
If the SPG is firing in training, the first round is always fired on the long line for safety.
If the SPG fires from a pre build firebase like in afghanistan or irak, the gun is fired on the long line for increased safety.
those very hot loads are normally shot in SPG vs MBT directfire situations, where it does not really matter if your gun blows up, because if you dont hit and destroy the target you are done for.
The reason for the long line is when your first initially certifying your gun or it was taken out of battery , meaning of barrel was pushed out of service for one reason or another either to service the gun or for inspection.... Even on a super 8 you still fire on the inside which is the highest charge you can use with either rocket or non-rocket assisted rounds. I can attest to saying that firing a super 8 is an out of body experience and everything causes for a brief second even your heartbeat.
You're pumping out alot of videos lately, yet they are all of quality, bravo and keep it up!
Must have to make rent....
This is probably my new favorite military related channel. Every other channel that I've come across talking about the same subjects come off as circle-jerky and chauvinistic. I appreciate the nuance of your content and how you take jabs at your own boys just as much as you do others. Keep up the good work.
I can personally attest the M109A6 handled 9 rounds per minute sustained for about 15 minutes overriding the alarms. Throwing bags of powder in that glowing barrel is a definite yolo moment.
Hi Mike, I am curious if there are any nicknames for the gun crew positions, or slang used for their positions or for the gun. I like to learn the lingo used by soldiers in the field, whether humorous or fun or "dark humor" slang etc. please let me know of any you heard. Thanks for your service. Sincerely. Also, which person on the crew pulls the lanyard (position name?)?
The platform is from the 60s the Paladin is from the late 1990s. We still had Grease guns on our M109A5s in the early 2000s in the 258FA NYARNG.
The basic M-109 has been in and out of depot at least six times. Congress restricts the Army to "X" number of new vehicles per year. So they go through rebuilds. BTW, the best upgrade I ever saw was taking left over M48 tanks from Vietnam and upgrading the lot to M48A5 standard. That was a "cheap" M60A1 substitute.
heyyyyy i was in the 258
@@Wabbaaajack was up Redleg. HHB 1997-2001 Jamaica Armory
@@jasondiaz8431 nice im from A battery, I think Jamaica’s getting remodeled i heard
I’m a Vietnam veteran. I was section chief on an M1 09 in fue bI. They’re a great artillery piece with a lot of mobility unfortunately while being overrun we found a warrant great against grenade launchers. They went through the armor Like it was a tin can with devastating results. I could write a lot more but that’s my two cents really enjoyed the video. Robb
Phu bai, lz tomahawk, dictation error.
I was on an M109A6 Paladin for five years. Good piece. They weren't widely used in Baghdad for firing (some but not much) but they could provide decent protection at static sites and FOB/COP fortification. Good video slick
@@TheInfidel_SlavaUA yeah that's why we parked them
These days they've mostly moved to the 777 for that job. Most mechanized units aren't really used anymore unfortunately. Some are but not many
The constant evolution of our tracked artillery to the current version is a good example of not resting on your (M109) laurels.
And being able to SHOOT DOWNA MISSLE with tracked artillery is truly revolutionary. I love the "Shoot and Scoot" ability of tracked artillery. Plus it can keep up with an armored attack to provide long-range protection.
The best thing about this canon is that you can't see your enemy and your enemy can't see you. But it still gets the job done.
Howitzer indirect, cannon direct. So please don't call it cannon. Just use the neutral "Gun". We artillery guys are bit sensitive 😉
As a former artillery gun bunny (105 towed a long time ago) I think there is a more iconic explanation for the self propelled 155's nickname, "Paladin." As you explain Paladin was a knight known for heroism and chivalry. But wait, there's more. Paladin was also the name of a character in a 60's tv western. The Paladin character played by Richard Boone was a chivalrous & heroic gun for hire. But he only took just causes. He wore all black and his holster and calling card was adorned with a depiction of a chess knightpiece. His business card directed those who were in true need, to contact him in San Francisco. The print on his business card and the name of the show; Have Gun, Will Travel.
Plus, didn't he have a derringer hidden in his belt buckle?
@@jimnotter6046 Now that you mention it, I think he did.
You failed to mention one key ability of the Paladin. At it's highest rate of fire, it can shoot 6-7 rounds and time them to land on a target at the same time. This is achieved by having the highest arcing shot fired first and lowering the gun with successive shots. If a group of four guns does the same thing, 20-25 rounds can land on a target--not at max range of course--simultaneously. Then the guns can displace and move to another firing position and repeat this process again and again.
I always liked your vids but of late they seem to be getting even better.
Well done on excellent content Chris. Have a sub.
We're working hard to improve the quality of the content, thanks for the sub!
Great video, would be cool to see a similar video about the Panzerhaubitze 2000 with some comparisons!
Kind of an unfair comparison for the 109
And also with the AS90
My 1978 gunnery instructor was the 1st paladin battalion commander and later CG of fort sill and USAFAS. Have a video of the a6 shooting out of safe during a fire power demo at sill in 1988. You didn't mention Rumsfeld canceling the crusader replacement system around 2001. Our system ranges 30km but north Korean systems range 50km or more. GPS munitions were also not mentioned which makes the weapon very lethal in the counter battery role. It's hard to convey the technical challenges of indirect fire, thanks for making this video.
@@readhistory2023 was that 78 or 79? Don't recall the tornado in 78. Years later I was in the arty unit in Wichita Falls. The armory was totally destroyed except for the arms vault. Luckily everyone in the armory at the time took shelter in the arms vault. I liked lubys in the mall And don't recall it being destroyed while I was there in 78.
I was a communication chief in M110 203mm (8in) self-propelled battery when I was in Germany with the US Army back in the mid 1980s. We were Corp Artillery and most of what we trained for was counter-Battery fire.
It says a lot about a crew working this weapon system when one of them named it " Angry raccoons"
Been with M109A4, A5 & A6 units in Maintenance. Like anything they have pro's and cons. The FA board at one time played with putting a 20mm (might have ben a 25mm, it was a while a go). The 109 like anything takes a lot of crew maintenance, if the crew is good it lasts a long time, if they are not, they tend have NMC status on a continual basis.
Love the video! Always great to see the Artillery represented. BTW, I was a HIMARS/MLRS guy for 8+ years, and I'd love to see a video on those some day! I'd be happy to answer any questions and talk about it, if you're thinking about doing a video.
Love 15D’s!
I am curious what MLRS operators call their weapons. Are there nicknames for them used today? Such as "organs" or similar nicknames? Please share lingo, as I am curious about how the crew calls it in real world. Thanks.
@@steadmanuhlich6734 We never nicknamed the systems. Mostly just "270" for the MLRS and "HIMARS" for the HIMARS in common verbiage.
There was of course naming your vehicle once your crew became certified, but those changed constantly as crews rotated in and out.
I was on the M109 back in the day and watching this I never thought I'd see a piece with my old unit painted on it. 1 CAV 1-82FA forever baby!
The Koreans have an excellent self propelled artillery vehicle in the K9 Thunder, but it is heavy at 47 tons. Weight has always been regarded as a detriment to logistical and operational agility. For a shoot and skoot vehicle I would bet on the lighter more nimble platform.
The Swedish Archer for instance
i don't think the SK is planning to not aim the gun away from NK
iI would be interesting to see how the kp thunder, the AS-90 and the m109 compare given their similarities.
In 1969 at Ben Het i had a M109 battery colocated with us they helped us take on 2 NVA divisons. 2nd 9th Arty, 4th ID what a great weapon.
When the barrel is longer than the hull itself, you know it packs a punch
Fun fact. I was around long barreled howitzers. On slight rolls off road the gun muzzle can tend to dig into the dirt if the driver isn't careful. Then the gun has to be cleaned, inspected, and then it can be used.
I love the Paladin, My Father was a Gunner/No1 on the Abbot, FH-70, L118 and AS-90. I only got too work on the latter two and loved every minute of it. UBIQUE, my cousins across the pond 🇬🇧🇺🇲
"Austere locations." Code for sitting out in the middle of nowhere waiting for something to shoot.
exactly haha love the vocab word choice , he had to prove he was an officier I get it haha
Hilarious how every new crop of Officers thinks that they are the first ever to do a thing.... In 1995, our brigade Commander in Germany made a huge deal of introducing Hip Shoots ..... My national guard unit did them routinely at Camp Guernsey, WY 10 years before .... the unit I was in DS/DS did Artillery Raids daily for a solid week before the ground war started, that were essentially a series of 3 preplanned 6 round hip shoots, 500 meters apart ...
@@danieparriott265 Please explain what a "hip shoot" is. I am sincerely curious about the term. Thanks.
I love the way he doesn't even pretend to rerecord and edit out the telepromt reading errors. I salute your hutzpa, sir.
As an IDF artillery using modified m109a5's our main gripes are that all of our vehicles are old and constantly breaking. We really envy the Americans and their new Paladins with their target lock aim. The main thing holding this back is the lack of an autoloader and general outdated doctrine and manual. All in all you can't complain too much about it, it's spacious, generally works almost well enough for a 1960's made battered vehicle.
@Dani Al Really? politics here too? as if Israeli economy is non existent?
@Dani Al and any proof of that? or like typical arab , you make talks out of thin air?
@@patriotenfield3276 I don't hate on the Israelis but it's time we stop giving a first world country aid. And the USS liberty story is true. You can watch documentaries on here that talk about how they indeed knew it was an American ship yet they attacked her anyways. Kind of hard to miss the Gigantic American flag too.
Great video, actually taught me things I didn’t know about self propelled artillery. But in my opinion it needs more range to be safer from counterattacks
I'm not so sure. If you have air supremacy and you know where the bad guys are and they don't know where you are, range isn't much of a defense. Of course, it increases the square kilometer area that you can dominate, but remember these things don't operate in isolation.
The American 155mm howitzer has more range than any of our adversaries guns. The only countries with howitzers that have more range is South Africa (ally of the US) and South Korea (ally of the US). The Palladin is also designed for speed and agility. The most we would fire in a situation where we are engaging in counter battery fire is three shots. It would take a minute to fire them off and we would change positions as soon as the third shot was fired. This way, by the time the enemy generates a firing solution with their radar we are already gone.
I was a MLRS/HIMARS guy, but we deployed alongside some Paladins... They're pretty impressive machines.
Hi Jason. I am curious what MLRS operators call their weapons. Are there nicknames for them used today? Such as "organs" or similar nicknames? Please share lingo, as I am curious about how the crew calls it in real world. Thanks.
4:32 I love that that barrel has "Angry Raccoons" written on it. I can almost imagine launching pissed off raccoons at the enemy instead of HE rounds yet achieving the same result.
As a former gun bunny I don't think you can beat the M109 the ability to move shoot and change your location is invaluable the Firepower from the 155 beats nothing we actually got to fire a beehive around which was a close in self-defense round if you can imagine it was a 155 mm shotgun scary awesome
its great to know how soldiers who used it feel about the M109 ! from what I understand its well trusted among artillery types
yeah a stated above: the PzH2000 has a burst fire capability of 3 rounds in 10 seconds prior to relocating.
It is of similar weight, but better protected, has higher rate of fire with precise firing, is designed around GPS guidance and fire control, can relocate faster from firing position, is more mobile and fast etc.
@@Taskandpurpose Well actually only thing we liked about it , was the flat floor and the heating system. Rest meh, the PzH2000 way better
Well, if you have to try even if you can't because you can be sure as shit your enemies will try...
The Korean K9 stops, sets up, fires and moves far quicker than the M109
When I crewed on one in 1993-84 M109a3 [1st/155mm HowBtry (sp), 4thBn, 11th Mar (Rein) at 29 Palms, Ca] {I went from powder monkey to asst crew chief in 8 weeks & led the advance placement team/s for when the btry had to move. And when we laid in, we could start to bring rounds down range within 60 seconds of pulling in.
Conjoined with JETS, Joint Effects Targeting System, the Paladin now has sniper like accuracy, particularly with GPS guided munitions. It's a tremendous force multiplier for artillery. Being exponentially lighter easily portable it will be given out at the platoon level forward observers.
JETS might matter even more with mobile artillery like Paladins. It's a mathematical consideration that when a target information is an approximation, error either decreases or increases with movement at rate commensurate with distance moved. In other words, if you only knew generally a location you really don't know how much you really moved and need to readjust. As an added plus, JETS allows for immediate fire-for-effect where adjust fire often warns the enemy.
JETS changes tactics and the perceived power of shoot-and-scoot. It substantially increases the Paladins military capital on the battlefield and very possibly lowering the amount munitions required per task. This would increase tempo of operations for the Paladin which in a sense multiplies the number in field.
The 155mm has a 100 meter footprint so spending ten times the money for the JETS's trying to get the rounds closer is nearly pointless. Nearly...They've had Copperheads since 78. We tested them and we were dropping rounds down the hatches of tanks from ten miles out however the Copperhead isn't good in heavy snow and if the enemy has IR systems they can see the laser which points back to the FO's position. In this case spending the money for the upgrade is worth it because without FO's 155mm are blind.
@@readhistory2023 We were told that the standard shell had a 50 meter kill radius (yes that's the same as a 100 meter footprint) but kill radius was defined to us as 50% casualties in that radius. Since we trained with the guns in a lazy W pattern with each much less than 50 meters from the next, the pattern on impact was quite impressive. BTW, I was in FTC, so I was much more familiar with the slide rules (mostly charge 5) than the actual guns themselves. Plus, I didn't have to hump the ammo.
45D and 63D, M109A2 easy to work and repair. M110 trained on but never stationed in a 110 unit and never serviced them, but sad to see them get retired. M992 was a pain in the ass with the blowers failing ( tied in with electrical charging system) and the front bustle racks had to be pulled back to climb down and get too, bigger pain when the racks were loaded. A lot has changed since 1993, and a lot more will change in the years to come.
Genuinely the only Milli channel I watch. Keep'em coming!
I was a M109 A2 gun dog in W. Germany from 85-87. I was impressed then, and always thought something like the Paladin would come along soon....
Was there after you in 89-92. Was on the 110SP 8 inch....those were some heavy Joe's
@@user-kv3ut6pv4b except when it rains or snows or is windy or dusty or just plain outside! LOL
But yes BOOM! Where where you stationed I was in Pinder Barracks, Zirndorf. Near Nuremberg.
1/22 FA 1stAD
I ALSO said they should just can the 548 and use a 109 chassis as an ammo-
carrier... and wow, they gots that!
@@marcatteberry1361 We had that weatherization kid haha. Stationed at Francois karnes . Hanua...bout 15 K's from Frankfurt. 2/20 FA 5th Corp. They left 1stAD.
When back on active d back in 2006...Korea 1/15 FA , camp Hovey. Can't remember the ammo carrier...but; is was roomy. Not hype to this chassis?
"Theres two types of people in the world, Artillerymen and Targets"
Hey Cappy. My first unit out of AIT was 1/15FA, 2ID, in Camp Casey, Korea, in March 1997. The M548 was already well phased out by then. We had the M992 by then.
Was there same time “First to Fire”.
84-85, 87-92, 7 tours of the DMZ. Spent so much time in the ROK that I could actually Call for Fire in Korean. (1/15FA, 1/17IN)(8/8FA,2/503IN)(1/15FA,5/20IN)
@@johnrivers9393 What Battery were you in?
HHB.
@@johnrivers9393 Right on. I was in SVC Battery.
@Task & Purpose Damn, Cappy with the triple upload. Kudos to Task and Purpose team.
I drove one of these in Germany in 1968. With that aluminum armor, I always felt about as safe as I would driving a cardboard box.
The Army says "Tactical Retreat" but the Marines say "Advancing in the opposite direction", It's the little differences. ;)
These things go next level when they use that Excalibur round. And there's nothing better than being at 29 palms, calling in Arty and then getting to watch the rounds going down range over your head.
Except the Sound of a 14" or 16" Freight Train barreling over your head. and maybe that A-10 Fart
@@bloodyspartan300 Sadly, never had the opportunity...but no one's perfect. ;)
@nriquedigita my step-dad told me about the 14" at Normandy, when they got off the beach he told me one went right through a port . All they found in the cracked but still standing bunker was red goo. Said it sounded like a freight train overhead
These sound great! Especially the ability to move before hit by counter fire from radar or artillery tracers. Just need longer range & auto loader to reduce manpower & keep soldiers using it as safe as possible. Wonder if artillery units have a companion mobile system to protect mobile artillery units like this protected from airplanes.
Protection from drones is de jour ... if they're not shooting laser guided missiles, they're dropping anti-armor gravity bombs.
"Yeetmachine" Chappie, been watching for a while, you always deliver. (even in a Camry:)
thanks mate
I love this video Cappy. I was a 13B for 2 years before I switched and did the rest of my 6 years as a Cav Scout. Cannon cocker is the worst job in the world but takes a hard breed of dudes to do it.
it looks like a really rough job ! my granpda was artillery nearly made him deaf haha . thanks for watching man!
I spent some time as the signal officer in a Paladin battalion back in the ‘90s. They were truly awesome to watch. They had amazing capabilities. The live fire exercises were the best. They could be driving along, get a fire mission, stop, fire and then continue moving. You didn’t mention the Copperhead missiles, which are essentially a laser guided artillery round. Are those still in use?
I was a tanker , love artillery , thanks Cappy
The artillery batalion in Norway used the m109 until last year. Im sure it works great in the dessert an flatter terrains. The problem for our m109’s is that Norway is mostly mountains. When i was in the Panzer batallion we would always have to wait to advance because the m109’s got stuck trying to go up a hill. Luckily we got the k9 now
South Korean K9 Thunder?
The K9 is much more advanced
@@X.Y.Z.07 yes sir!
The 109a2/a3 was seriously underpowered, and it's transmission was overstressed when climbing hills combat loaded. The 110a2 8", while pretty slow, was practically flying artillery compared to the 109, IME.
Why was a ~10 meter lanyard used? I served in a 175mm/8" SPH battery; we used a 50ft lanyard when firing the maximum charge as the tube might ( and did one time) rupture. We occupied an LZ outside Ban Me Thuot with the smaller M 108 105mm howitzer which had an unbelievably fast rate of fire. Thanks for episode, the interior footage of firing was great.
This weapon works in all weather, this can’t be said the of high tech weapons or even aircraft . Bad weather such as clouds can keep the Air Force at bay. Their is a new round that is rocket assisted and is guided (but not by GPSand not effected by weather) that has a range of 60 miles and can be used against ships. How great is artillery!
Hey! Alright! Finally something that I was directly involved in...... as a 63D (which means I also got to drive the M88A1)
As much as I hated being in Field Artillery but man, I did have some good times.
I served in the swiss army artillery. Watching our M109 KAWEST firing combat shell into the alps was always stunning.
They should be retiring those in 2025 tho.
Worked and drove these back in my early army career. Great vehicles. A blast to drive
Watching this while in my M109A6 😂
I was a commander of a Swiss M109 with the L39 barrel. Switzerland has upgraded the M109 with there own L47 barrel and some more improvements in protection, firing rate and fire control. We had a total crew of 8 men. Today there are only 5.
Great Video, would love to see a video about the Russian's BMPT Terminator tank please.
I mean, Browning M2 still works a century on. I think that any "replacement" will be basically an incremental improvement on the design, maybe lighter materials here and there, maybe better armor, but does it justify the cost?
Well, in the end there's only so much incremental improvement could do, i guess the decisive future of M109 would be implementing autoloader (basically, the korean K9). Just like how M1 garand prevail over bolt action rifle, it justifies the cost.
@@Kevin-fj5oe Yeah, that's what I mean. I don't think manual loading is that much inferior to an autoloader in tanks or arty as a bolt-action rifle, lol. But it's still an incremental improvement. I guess, unless there's a significant doctrinal change (with or without a technological leap), it doesn't have to be completely replaced.
Bruh, you clearly don't know about the KORD. That is what a .50 should be. The M2 is hopelessly outdated, far too expensive for what it does, and not light by any means. The Russian HMGs and GMGs are just better in every possible way.
The .50 doesn't work well; it's just that we haven't fought anyone that forced us to improved, so we just let is stay shitty. The M2A2 is an improvement on all the things that should've been solved in the beginning, but it still requires a tri-pod, still requires 3 men to move at any speed, can only be used on vehicles and in foxed positions. It's just not good a good weapon system. Yeah, the .50 bullet is absolutely wonderful, but if it's not where it's needed, it isn't useful. Again, look at the Russian KORD. It does the same job, but a single man can carry it [with difficulty], and that's no different from the M240. Again, the 240 is my favorite weapon. Definitely S-tier, but you look at things like the PKM which outrange it while still being similar weight and it's just no contest.
@@cherminatorDR How do you think it's an improvement? How many rounds can a crew load and fire within a minute? Probably the same amount-if not slightly more-than a machine. But let's drag this out to hours and even days. I've seen how artillery operates and I've trained with them. They push themselves harder than anyone to maximize rate of fire, but it isn't enough. A machine will operate until it runs out of fuel [not a problem for the US logistics'] but a person becomes dangerous when they get tired. They get stupid. They crash vehicles and kill the wrong people. Look at Arty's fatalities in training and you'll notice it's significantly greater than anyone else bc they are too tired to safely operate the equipment after a couple days of intermittent naps. It's just bad. You could give those same gun crews an automatic gun system and then every man would be spending ⅓ the time crewing the weapon, letting them get rested. That's the real drawback of manual systems: you need more men to operate them. It isn't about speed, but sleep. Men need to sleep or they get stupid, and being stupid in war is the fastest way to get your boys killed.
Singapore made a .50 MG cost a about 30% and is lighter and lot better
I have spent a lot of time over the past 16 years inside the M-109 with the IDF Artillery Corp...
I think it would be interesting if you talked about the various artillery support, such as forward observation.
Paladin crew screaming “SMITE!” every time they fire at a target
Puttin in work cappy! Love your hard work, intro and dedication in all the videos. From this crayon eater an all of us degenerates that ever cooked their food on a rock or something
Nice summary, Chris. I commanded an A6 battery, and worked on A2s, 3s, and 4s before that, and this is pretty good info for 10 minutes. Pretty much as you said. I'd add the M992 ammo carrier has long been a significant upgrade over the old M548 (with canvas coverings that can catch fire and blow up your entire ammo carrier! Really! Ask NTC) you showed (my first unit was one of only 2 left in the Army with them, and that was 30 yrs ago). I believe the newest 992s are also Bradley-based. And as someone below noted, that A7 chassis is all-new. The turrets were first reconstructed for the A6 (including adding a layer of Kevlar inside) and now the chassis is new as well, so it's not REALLY a 1960s weapon anymore. The big difference with the 1299 you showed is the gun tube (think it's like 58 calibers long. Yes, there is ammo caliber and gun tubes are measured in length by calibers (different) as well). Range is the big thing now, esp for something that's heavy. When I was a commander, 30 km was crazy range for a 155 howitzer (I shot the old Charge 8 Super with RAP, yes); now, it's sorta pedestrian, and you have GMLRS shooting 60-70 with precision, so... I was NOT aware of the hyper-velocity round--thanks for that (I've been retired 6 yrs now).
On that Syrian mission...I'm sure they did a great job, but honestly, we did that kind of thing all the time. And yes, you CAN exceed your max firing rate (and still can) because the Paladin has an active temp sensor on the gun tube. As long as it doesn't get too hot, you can fire your ass off (we did, routinely).
Codenames Steel and Thunder. Those were the battery call-signs, obviously. Hilarious if they dubbed them "codenames."
Hi McTaguer, I am curious if there are any nicknames for the gun crew positions, or slang used for their positions or for the gun. I like to learn the lingo used by soldiers in the field, whether humorous or fun or "dark humor" slang etc. please let me know of any you heard. Thanks for your service. Sincerely.
@@steadmanuhlich6734 Not in my experience, but I'm hardly universal. You have the Chief, the Gunner, Asst. Gunner and pretty much everyone else goes by crew position number (technically "cannoneer"), and driver. I've read things like people calling #1 Man "swabber" or #4 "rammer." My battery/battalion didn't, but I suppose others have...
@@mctaguer Thank you for your answer.
Cappy, have you been hitting the RED BULL to hard lately? Video after video, not the normal 1 week wait. Keep up the good work.
"Obsolete" is brass parlance for "I don't know what this does and I want new toys."
I can't believe my eyes. ANOTHER Task and purpose video?
This upload schedule is on fire, I'm struggling to keep up
thanks for watching ! it'll be every Tuesday and Thursday from now on
I loved the ideal of Direct fire. I did one in Korea up at the DMZ in 1967. About 5 miles away and what an awesome shot that was! But it was blamed on the ROK Army because a GI was not allowed to do that. It was an M110 8". The M109 in Vietnam was a bad dude, and if you were smart enough, you could reload and be ready to fire in 90 seconds. This was in 1968 up at the DMZ.
I think it’s hilarious when people think Missiles will make Traditional Gun Artillery obsolete in most roles.
Oh, hey, Cappy!! The music!! I'm... I'm feeling feelings for you I've never felt before!!
We practiced the hip shoot with weapon, incessantly. We could pull off the road and get a volley out in about a minute. This was using slide rules and charting grids. This was the piece that, more than any other weapon , kept the Russian bear in his cage; it can fire nuclear rounds. No it is not obsolete. MLRS and like systems shoot their wad and then have to take a time to to be reloaded. The A10 is the same way. The M109 provides a continuous and sustained presence on the battle field. But training is key, especially in counter-battery techniques and skills. Further, the plans to reduce the crew size should be reviewed. The loading system ( rammer) needes to be thoroughly tested for reliability. Pushing rounds into that thing by hand can get old.
Sounds like the initial concept was so good, it is hard to improve on the concept itself, kinda like the Warthog.
Cappy makes my day. I am always learning
The M109 reminds me of "Flying Artillery" of the Mexican-American War, where the original "shoot n scoot" was perfected with horse drawn carriages at the Battle of Palo Alto. Give a special "Hooah" to our Army that came before the spare-parts Army, when men were men and women were grateful for it.
I was outside the Bradley getting chow one night when the paladins were practicing direct fire.. my chest got a good smack.. I wasn’t that close either, about 40-50 yards behind it
My grandfather was a NCO with first Cav 21st Arty in Korea and 1st cavalry airmobile Vietnam with 1/77 HHB /div Arty and 1/82 Arty AVN echo battery as an arty observer. He used to ride in an OH13 & spot suitable LZs to bring in the arty via sling loads and then coordinate with them to put them on the zips . Ww2 , Korea , and 4 tours in Vietnam couldn’t kill him - but agent orange did . He would have loved to see 1st Cav arty doing work ! I still have his 1/82 E battery “woodpeckers” in country patch that is the Cav patch in red and black with a woodpecker on it and E battery 82nd Arty (the orphan battery )
I love the daily grind
Thank you for your articulate, succint, descriptive military videos. As a former Army "grunt", myself, thank you, Hooah!
You guys are doing a great job. Always a little bit of humour with real information.
thanks I appreciate the kind words !
I want to say the same. Some good facts, starting on topic, not turning it political or a gun love-fest. It's about some basic military news, and info. And funny. Much appreciated
Have Gun Will Travel was a tv show in the early sixties starring Richard Boone. His name was Paladin.
My dad was in the royal army artillery and was in one of these
Once again, a very comprenhensive presentation. Great job Chris !!!
North Korea is proud when one of it's missiles gets off the launchpad.
The USA military took an artillery piece from WW2 and started shooting missiles out of the air, because cannon rounds are cheaper.
One thing about the crew size... the crew size was down to four well before the M109A6 was introduced. Despite it's size, it's still very cramped on the inside. Crews typically have the Chief, the gunner, the driver, and #1 man (loads, fires, and swabs the bore chamber between rounds). And the vehicle that accompanies the Paladin would be the M992, also known as the C.A.T. (Chow, Ammo, & Trash). You may have also noticed that even the vietnam era videos featured the automatic loader.... even I did know how old that design was! Holy hell lol
I have crewed M109a2/3's and M110a2's with as few as 4 guys (with the AP man gone on to the next position) and the Lt, Smoke, Gunny, or some other Safety Certified Officer/NCO would have to come down and stand there and be "Safety" guy because chief was acting as gunner .... never had more than 8, including AP man in a section going to the field.... on paper, you might have had 10 or 12, but there were always guys detailed to the Post Office, Post Gyms, Post Maintanance, ..... drivers for staff officers, etc .... When Desert Shield came up, we guys coming from everywhere .... hit Saudi with 13 people in my section .... the hardest part was figuring out where to put 13 people and their shit on two vehicles stuffed to the gills with thousands of rounds of small arms ammo(5.56, 7.62, and .50Cal), a couple LAW's, and an AT4, 4-6 dozen 8" projos , 50-60some powder charges .... 8-10 boxes of fuzes .... the M548 Ammo carrier was rated at 6Tons of cargo capacity ...hell there was 6 tons of various ammunition/ordnance on there .... not counting all the baggage and rations and bodies and cammo netting and poles, tools, bales of sandbags and stuff that made life in what was that term .... "austere locations" ...possible .... two GP small tents and yukon stoves, couple jerry cans of diesel , water, the shitchair, lumber and 4 sheets of plywood .... 13 cots....
@@danieparriott265 hi Danie. I am curious if there are any nicknames for the gun crew positions (you wrote "Smoke", who is that?), or slang used for their positions or for the gun. I like to learn the lingo used by soldiers in the field, whether humorous or fun or "dark humor" slang etc. please let me know of any you heard. Thanks for your service. Sincerely.
@@steadmanuhlich6734 ""Smoke" is the "Chief of Firing Battery, and is formally the Platoon Sergeant, and it was always an E-7 (Sergeant First Class) slot but often filled by a senior E-6 (Staff Sergeant in my time in the Army. There is also the "Gunny" "Gunnery Sergeant", another SFC slot... his primary responsibility is leading the Advance Party for deliberate Occupation Operations- he went ahead with a man ("AP man") from each gun section, one from commo, and one from the FDC (which, in this age of digital instand comms, may not be a thing) and reconned the new firing position, selected gun positions and got the aiming circle data pre-set to each and each man assisted in this after establishing wire commo, then prepared the gun position, laid out and cleared the route from the release point to the position. The gun crews were led by a "Gun Chief" (Staff Sgt/ E-6 Slot, but I was a Gun Chief for few days as a Corporal (E-4) after my Chief got relieved for drinking on duty... ) ... the "Gunner" actually trained the gun and was the man on the gun sight, left side of the breech , "AG" (optional, not necessary, but sped things up, and speed was VERY important, second only to Safety and accuracy, completely necessary if you had to go without electric hydraulic power) was on the right side, and could elevate the gun and had a direct fire telescope.... the various cannoneer positions were numbered, 1-6 or 8, depending on the piece involved .... on the 109 series, the No. 1 Cannoneer operated the loading tray and loader-rammer, and fired the piece with a lanyard .... on the M110 seies, it was the No. 2 Man that "pulled tail" .... The Senior guy on the Ammunition Carrier (M548 Cargo Carrier or M997FAASV in my time) Was the "Ammunition Team Chief, responsible for the inventory, security, stowage of ammunition and the 4513 (DA Form 4513, "Record of Missions Fired". Yes, even in War, even in a SHOOTING WAR, there's paperwork to be done!) Also in the Ammo vehicle, there the RTO (Radio Telephone Operator and another cannoneer ..... now you have to remember, almost always, the crew is not at 100% manning ... I never saw it, except in the Gulf War.... and even then, the AP Man was gone 99% of the time ..... but shortly before I got into the Army, the Department of Defense was directed by Reagan's Secretary of Defense to roughly double the number of American artillery tubes facing the Warsaw Pact .... and they did it not by fielding more units, but by increasing the number of guns in each battery. A 4 gun Battery of 2 2 gun platoons became and 8 gun Battery ... They were short of Artillerymen and it showed.... they took anyone with a pulse. Any promising guy with any sense at all could make e-5 in 3 years and be a Gun Chief..... on a piece that was authorized 13 men, but had 6 or 7 on paper, and only 5 or 6 in the real world, the other 2 detailed to work at the gym or the Post Sgt Major ...
@@danieparriott265 Thank you for taking the time to write a detailed and helpful response to my questions. :)
@@steadmanuhlich6734 In my Experience, ... "Smoke" was the younger man .... but in charge, nominally. "Gunny" was under him in the chain of Command, but always seemed to be the "Elder Statesman" .... a guy that was ready for retirement, but just not yet .... on a personal level, It was always like "Smoke" was your strack assed Dad, and Gunny was your doting Grandfather .... He already made his bones years ago, and everyone knew it. He had all the answers, and feared nobody. I remember one Gunnery Sgr. that knew and shared so much that All and sundry, including officers referred to him always as "Gunny-Guru" ...
It's like a musket that been modified into a blaster at this point.
No point in developing a whole new system when you always have air superiority and it's unlikely to be counter arty'ed.
Talibans don't have AA
@@artemefimov8215
They probably do now
That kind of complacency has gotten Americans killed from Vietnam to Iraq .