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Mission, Organisation, Equipment and Capabilities
The German Artillery will continue to perform its traditional missions in the Future German Army Structure. These include the key missions of surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance as well as the provision of fire support and operative fires, not only in the combined arms battle within the scope of mechanised operations, but also in Operations Other Than War (OOTW). The individual tasks are merely prioritised differently in these two types of missions.
To accomplish these artillery missions we utilise what we refer to as the "Integrated Artillery System". This is an integrated and co-ordinated network of command and control systems, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance (STAR) assets, as well as weapons platforms with all artillery forces of an operational unit, a task force or major HQs in its operational structure under a homogeneous command and interconnected by a central C2 and weapons control system. This central system is the ADLER Artillery C4I system, which ensures considerable synergy effects, contributes to the maneuver commander's assessment, and enhances operational effectiveness.
In order to fulfil its missions, the German Artillery must be capable of:
- Conducting real-time target acquisition and destruction up to 40km;
- Reconnoitering Target Areas of Interest (TAIs) out to a range of 70km, in particular command posts (CPs), long-range artillery assets, reserves and follow-on forces, and then in near-real time engaging and attriting the enemy locally and temporarily in such a way, that qualitative and quantitative superiority is achieved;
- Reconnoitering out to a range of 150km high-value targets such as C2 facilities, reserves and logistics installations, and engaging them effectively to disrupt the enemy's operations.
New Structure
In the framework of the overall restructuring process of the German Army, the artillery will be downsized from approximately 18,600 to about 10,700 personnel. However, reaction forces personnel will increase from 3,000 to 4,400 soldiers - a clear sign of the reorientation of the German Artillery towards the new operational requirements. The restructuring of artillery units began last summer, and the deactivation of seven battalions and one UAV battery was virtually complete by the end of 2002. The majority of the restructuring efforts follows this year. After the restructuring is completed, the German Artillery will comprise 17 active battalions, which...