Photo By Spc. Christopher Shannon | Three field artillery rounds hits their target at the range at Camp Shelby near...... read more read more
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CAMP SHELBY, Miss.-- Thunderous pops from artillery rounds ripple through the soothing silence of light rainfall on August 10, 2017 at Camp Shelby near Hattiesburg, Mississippi.
The 2d Battalion, 114th Field Artillery Regiment is conducting live fire training with new technology to keep the king of battle sitting proudly at his throne.
The unit came to Camp Shelby to fire round with the new Precision Guidance Kit, said 1st Lt. Vernon West, 1st platoon leader.
“We had classroom time, hands on training, practical exercises, and technical exercises”, said West. “This is a fuse we wanted to get familiar with before we fired it.”
Today's training presented the unit with a unique opportunity to make history.
“Really excited to be a part of this awesome training here at Camp Shelby, second National Guard unit to ever field the PGK net training”, said 2nd Lt .Richard Sellers, fire support officer.
Being the first to fire this type of round at Camp Shelby and the second in the National Guard has been a big morale booster for the entire regiment, said Sellers
The new technology has given the king of battle a more efficient way to deliver his loads.
“We are taking the 795 round which a normal high explosive round, sticking a PKG on it, making it more accurate”, said West.
Before this fuse the margin of error could be as far as 250 meters away from desired target, and now the margin of error is as small as 15 meters, said Sgt. Robert Fulton, forward observer with the 2-114th.
“Accuracy is important because with our weapon systems we can have very large collateral damage”, said 1st Lt. Bradon Berry, fire direction officer for 1st platoon.
With this new fuse, we can have the precision we need to fire field artillery in an urban setting and not cause a great deal of collateral damage, said Berry
“This training is allowing us to learn how to correctly arm, set, and use this fuse”, said West. “That way when it comes time for us to use the fuse we are efficient.”
Training exercises like this is very helpful because our more seasoned soldiers learn something new, while our newer soldiers not only learn something new but also learn the old ways to become as knowledgeable as the seasoned soldiers, said Fulton.
The advance in technology has increased the efficiency and readiness for the type of urban fighting field artillery faces. After this live fire training exercise, there is no one who can take the king’s place in our future battles.
| Date Taken: | 08.10.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 08.18.2017 08:56 |
| Story ID: | 244797 |
| Location: | CAMP SHELBY, MS, US |
| Web Views: | 35 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, The King of Battle tests new technology, by SPC Christopher Shannon, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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