Land Forces
U.S. Army tests future artillery and air-defence force designs against a 2040 threat at Fort Sill
The Army’s Fires Experimentation Division simulated three advanced force designs against a 2040 threat to inform decisions on artillery, air defence and long-range precision fires.
The U.S. Army has run a tabletop experiment on how its future artillery and air-defence units could fight together against a 2040 threat, according to a release from the Army’s Futures and Autonomous Systems Command published on 20 October. The exercise was organised by the Fires Experimentation Division at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and is meant to feed decisions on force structure and equipment investment.
How the experiment worked
Called the Mid-Range Fires Tabletop Experiment, the event brought together experts from across the Army, the joint force and the defence community. Planners used two Army modelling tools: FIRESIM XXI, which represents field artillery, including indirect fire missions, target acquisition, counter-battery radar and weapon trajectories, and the Extended Air Defense Simulation, which represents air defence.
Participants compared a baseline built on current capabilities with three more advanced force designs that include projected future capabilities. The simulations vary battlefield conditions so analysts can see how each design performs. The Army said the results support a Total Army Analysis, the process that informs force-structure decisions. FIRESIM XXI was also used to assess future manoeuvre short-range air defence in a simulated operational environment.
What the Army wanted to learn
The command listed four focus areas: combinations of offensive and defensive fires that maximise lethality and survivability for the joint force; recommendations for future capability workbooks and long-range precision fires requirements; how artificial intelligence and machine learning could speed the flow of information from sensor to weapon; and how to sustain effects and operational tempo.
“The reason we do these experimentation events is to evaluate future concepts and identify ways to bridge capability gaps,” said Col. Carrie A. Brunner, director of the Fires Experimentation Division. She said the aim is to let commanders synchronise cross-domain fires and deploy layered air defence against peer threats in large-scale combat operations.
Why it matters
On the equipment side, Geopolitiki recently reported on Lockheed Martin says ER GMLRS passed operational tests and is moving to production and fielding with a range of up to 150 km. The Fort Sill experiment is analytical rather than a fielding decision: it produces data and recommendations, and the release does not say which of the force designs performed best or announce any purchase.