Direct and Indirect Fires in the Twenty-First Century

The recent termination of the Crusader program coupled with Secretary Rumsfeld's May 2002 testimony before Congress on the future reliance on air-delivered precision munitions has called into question the future of the Field Artillery as a branch and the delivery of ground based long range fires as a function. The purpose for this paper is to demonstrate that not only is there a place for indirect fires in the future force, but there is a predominant place. A technologically sophisticated Crusader-like system coupled with advanced munitions and target detection capabilities, is not only relevant, but represents a potential transformation in how the Army could fight. The opportunity to engage an enemy from stand-off distances, without having to mass systems in order to mass effects, and deliver killing blows through the use of either global positioning or laser designated brilliant munitions will allow the Army to transform the way it fights, organizes, and maneuvers. The United States Army has reached the point where it should consider artillery another ground maneuver system, equal, if not superior to the armor and infantry as maneuver arms, and given missions, battle space and responsibilities commensurate with that newfound status. The United States Army must consider the fundamental reorganization of its current maneuver and fires branches and combine them into a new branch identified simply as "combat arms."