Robin Horsfall. Oct 25

The ‘Gods of war’ are artillery. Artillery is responsible for the majority of death on a battlefield. Most modern artillery is fired from positions that are out of sight of their targets.

At the guns, command post operators are given instructions by radio by an artillery fire controller. The controller knows his own map reference and estimates the approximate map reference of the target. He then sends this line of sight to a command post operator who marks this on his map as the first line of his triangle.

The second line is between the operator and gun controller. The third line creates the direction and distance from the guns to the target. This triangle provides the mathematical information that gives the gun teams their angles and charges to hit the target. Once the first shot lands the fire controller can adjust the fire onto target.

Modern drones have changed this triangle. The fire controller can now place his eyes directly over the target. So, with a GPS he can give an almost perfect map reference. When the gunners put these details into intelligent ammunition, they are almost 100% sure of hitting the target with the first round. This combination is giving a huge advantage to Ukraine’s ‘Gods of war’. It gives them technical superiority over Russia’s only battlefield advantage, – massed artillery.

One shot, one hit. Russia still need three sides to their triangle and their ammo isn’t very intelligent. If they miss their first shot the reply is very likely to come back in seconds with great accuracy.

The Gods of war are on the side of Ukraine!

Slava Ukraini!

Who Dares Shares

Robin Horsfall

Comment from Hein S. de Vries Robles:

“As a part of a gun team the most important part is a well trained crew.

With the right information the old style firing was highly accurate on the first shot. Second shot was always spot on.

And time to relocate and move out fast…

Both accuracy and high mobility require extensive training.

Luckily for the Ukrainians, the Russians are not very well trained. They believe in the strength of numbers above accuracy. Their mobility is also questionable….

Slava Ukraini!

Who exercises creates luck!”

Robin replies :

“Yes, agreed I was a mortar man. I kept it as simple as I could for the rest of the world. Mind you the time needed for corrections is dramatically reduced since my day without computer assistance.”

Comment from Dworakowski Waldemar:

“I can only tell that including in the picture modern BMS changes a lot. And first modern howitzers with BMS working directly with UAV in the Ukraine were Krab’s with Topaz coworking with FlyeEye drones. Those also were so simple to operate that were first used days after coming to Ukraine. So while I agree that training is critical anyway can be compensated (to some degree) by technology that is simple to use / intuitively designed. That is what matters as well…”

Wendell Rahorst:

“I did this before computers. When a forward observer was accurate and well trained on range finding and other location information, fire for effect quite often came after the first round. When good enough and there were multiple targets fire for effect came immediately. For massed troops rolling barrages were quite effective. I know it seems so antiquated but it was effective.”

Bill Kamps:

“To me, one of the amazing things about the Ukraine military, is how quickly they have adapted to new weapon systems that they had never used before the war.

Remember back to the beginning of the war. Most people, including the US military, didnt think Ukraine could put up much of a fight. In fact Biden advised Zelensky to leave, thinking the Ukraine military was completely over matched.

I am consistently amazed by how little we know about an adversaries actual capabilities. We apparently didnt know Russia was inept at logistics, poorly trained, and couldnt coordinate artillery, air and infantry.

I remember back in 1991, the US was “surprised” by the Soviet Union’s collapse. And yet, when I was in the Soviet Union in the 1980s, I saw a country that was completely broke, and already headed towards collapse. Im not sure what our analysts are doing, but they seem to just kick the status quo down the road for the next report.”