Paladin crews take aim at direct fire

Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Adam Ross | Soldiers from 4th Battalion, 27th Field Artillery, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, strategically align their M109A6 Paladins for direct fire training during the Network Integration Evaluation at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., Oct. 24. During the direct fire training, the Paladin cannon is lowered to engage targets at close range.  

WHITE SANDS MISSILE RANGE, NEW MEXICO, UNITED STATES

11.18.2011

Story by Sgt. Adam Ross 

16th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

WHITE SANDS MISSILE RANGE, N.M. – Paladins are usually found far from the action on a battlefield, firing their cannons up to several miles away, but they are always ready for a more close-action engagement.

As part of the Network Integration Evaluation, Paladin crews from 4th Battalion, 27th Field Artillery, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, lowered their cannons for direct fire training.

Though it looks like a tank, the M109A6 Paladin is classified as a self-propelled cannon system and is often operated by field artillery crews as far as 11 miles from its targets. But for today’s training, soldiers took aim at targets only 600 meters away.

“This takes it back to the Civil War, with the cannons they used,” said 1st Lt. Robert Meraz, a platoon leader in A Company, 4-27 FA. “You had the enemy coming down the hill at you, and the cannon operators would be utilizing direct fire.”

A Paladin crew normally takes firing instructions from its fire direction officer, who has received firing coordinates from forward observers on the battlefield, but with direct fire the crew chief opens the breech of the cannon and looks down the barrel to make visual contact with the target before giving the order to fire.

The result is a nearly instantaneous verification of the artillery round’s hit, and another sight adjustment for the aiming of the next round.

Paladin crews are trained to use direct fire as a defensive tactic when enemy targets have advanced too close for the howitzer’s traditional indirect firing.

For the four-soldier crew inside the Paladin, it adds another layer of excitement to what is always a rush of adrenaline.

“It’s a good morale booster when you’re inside the gun and get the direct fire mission,” said Pfc. James Fillmore, a Paladin driver in A Company. “You get the calculations or what the elevation needs to be, and everyone’s yelling in their headsets.”

The Paladin direct-fire range was part of the exercise, a bi-annual event put on by the 1st Armored Division’s 2nd BCT to test and evaluate a multitude of new technology being considered by the Army for fielding.

One of the new technologies being tested by 4-27 FA is a radio capable of transmitting voice and digital data at the same time, ensuring more expedient and accurate communication between forward observers and artillery crews.

“The biggest thing is we’re going to be able to have those forward observers push us fire missions a little bit faster,” said 2nd Lt. Chance Panter, a fire direction officer with A Company. “We’ll be able to get those rounds to where soldiers need them in a more timely fashion.”

The Network Integration Evaluation continues through Nov. 22 at White Sands Missile Range.

• Date Taken: 11.18.2011
• Date Posted: 11.18.2011 15:31
• Story ID: 80235
• Location: WHITE SANDS MISSILE RANGE, NEW MEXICO, US