Field Artillery in the defensive war of Ukraine 2022-2023Part I. Combat potential, tasks and tactics

Abstract

On 24 February 2022, the Russian Federation carried out an unlawful armed aggression against Ukraine, starting the largest armed conflict in Europe since World War II. In the course of hostilities, both sides deployed missile troops and artillery, which became essential means of fire support for ground troops due to restrictions in the use of air force and army aviaton. The aim of the article is to present the potential, tasks and tactics of the field artillery used in the Ukrainian war in the years 2022-2023. The subject of research is missile troops and artillery of the combatants. Primarily their organisation, armament, tasks and tactical assumptions. The author formulated the following questions: What was the combat potential of the warring parties’ artillery at the beginning and during the conflict? What tasks are set for the artillery in the ongoing war? What tactics are used by the artillery of the warring parties in response to changing conditions during the war? The author, as a long-term theoretician and practitioner of field artillery, based the analyses made largely on his own observations and conclusions, which he formulated during many years of scientific research and participation in military exercises involving artillery, interviews with Ukrainian officers, as well as the latest studies and documents issued by opinion-forming research centres.This study is the first part of the work which presents the combat potential, tasks and tactics of the artillery of Ukraine and the Russian Federation. In the second part the use of the artillery in individual phases of the war and the changes that occurred as a result of the combat experience obtained will be presented.