Originally posted by WhingeNot
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Hellfire and the SDB are here way ahead of any 105mm shell. The 155mm comes back with the "smart" shells such as the M982 Excalibur, 155BONUS or the SMart155. These give an accuracy down to 1.6m. In theory there could be similar variants for 105mm afterall Leonardo offer a 76mm version of their VULCANO system. But the market is focussing on 155mm for land systems. I like the G7 system, a modern 105mm gun with a modular charge system but AFAIK no one has put it into service. But staying on the dream that there is a 105mm GPS guided shell in service with the DF, how often could they train with such a munition? The cost will be similar to that of a 155mm version at over 100k, and at that cost there is no way the bean counters are going to be onboard!
Now we have all see the video from the Ukraine with the title "accurate artillery" which shows a tank or other IFV getting hit by a shell. But look closer and you see the fields are litter with shell holes. That is because no-one wants to show the 100 shells fired that did not hit. And when you have such a system then you want the biggest radius of damage. This goes complete against the needs for minimum CD. The 155mm is a big shell and is dangerous out to 50m from point of impact. So when taken with the CEP of the unguided versions this shows how many shell will be needed to damage things smaller than an MBT. And war is about logistics, the fewer shell to be fired the better.
And then comes the real world of counter battery. The L118 with BB can reach out to 20,8km, which is not bad for a 105mm system. But the PzH2000 can fire back from 67km and other 155mm systems have similar ranges especially with the "smart" rounds. So as soon as the L118 fires it has a few minutes before it will be hit by counter battery fire. And today it might even get hit before it has set-up as the battlefield is covered with drones watching almost everything. It should come as no surprise that the latest 155mm system, the Boxer RCH can actually fire while moving. Artillery is king of the battlefield but counter battery is the god (at least where CAS/IDS is not available).
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