As the United States and its allies in Europe watch NATO’s eastern flank with increasing concern over Russian aggression, the U.S. Army’s artillery capabilities have rightfully received more scrutiny and public attention. Artillery might very well be the decisive factor in how a war with Russia would play out. Over the summer in The Washington Post, one of us described how the supremacy of U.S. Army warfighting capabilities have been eroded by the steady advance of Russian warfighting capabilities in recent years. The Russians have made formidable improvements to their ground-based artillery systems in terms of range and lethal effects. Many of these Russian artillery upgrades are in flagrant violation of their international treaty obligations under the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. Meanwhile, the United States is unilaterally implementing highly restrictive policies that essentially eliminate the U.S. military’s ability to destroy enemy armor formations. These self-imposed restrictions, together with a general neglect of improvement to artillery range and destructive power, leaves the U.S. military vulnerable in a ground fight with a capable peer or near-peer adversary, including Russia or China.
Originally published at War on the Rocks. Read the rest here.
Image credit: U.S. Army