this post was submitted on 26 Dec 2024
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It’s actually a decent idea, if you’re only facing arty. Any defilade beats standing up in an open field, and even the most Gucci shells (@ over $100,000/ea) still have a ~10 meter CEP and require good GPS signal - something that Russia routinely jams.
Hitting the exact same spot with artillery is rare, but chilling out in a shell crater just makes you primo FPV/dropper bait. No good way out except surrender.
Infantry in the open calls for airburst. There's not going to be a shell hole. Laying down in a barrage is only good as an immediate reaction, if you have overhead cover, or if you absolutely cannot leave your position.The second reaction is to call the rallies and hope the rounds drift the other way.
This is Ukraine v Russia in nearly the third year of full scale war, not a testing ground or Able Archer ‘83. In an idea scenario airburst and/or cluster is absolutely the remedy for enemy infantry in the open, but DPICM is not universally available - nor even conventional HE for that matter, shell hunger is well documented and prolific for the Ukrainians.
Having the super spec gear is neat, but the breadth of the composition matters a lot more than the abilities of your coolest kit if it isn’t widely available.
If you have a post world war 2 fuze then you have an airburst setting.
The overwhelming majority of footage I’ve seen from this war has been HE exploding at ground level, DPICM or self propelled guns are the only cases that I’ve seen evidence of programming/timing being done by gun crews.
They aren’t hanging around, getting feedback and adjusting fires - setup, shoot, and go. The PzHs are rare and valuable, most of what you’ll see is M777 and Caesar/Bohdana, or towed Soviet leftovers in rear areas.
It's not that kind of thing. You set the fuse with a wrench when you get the fire mission call. As low tech as could be in the field. The FO sends the call in and either requests a fuse or describes the target and lets the battery decide the fuse. Infantry in the open is always airburst and there are videos of that being used, most recently against the North Korean troops who actually did try to just lay down to avoid it.
Entrenched infantry uses ground burst or air burst depending on what effect you want. You can destroy mines and fortifications or try to catch infantry in the open top areas with airburst. Vehicles are likewise ground detonation because you're trying to track or marry a 155 shell to the top of a vehicle.
This all without discussing proximity fuses that go off at waist height. Their purpose is to use over pressure and an impact sheaf to kill everyone in a 30-300 meter by 20-100 meter rectangle.
And again this is set with a wrench right before you load the round, so no adjusting fire or anything is necessary.
And here I am arguing under a misapprehension about airburst for arty being the same ‘flying shotgun’ kinetic submunition shrapnel the British developed before WW1, or the later flechettes, instead of the 2-10 meter HE burst height used nowadays…
Thanks for the info, I have some more reading to do clearly about contemporary gunnery methods and sheafs v beaten zones