Counter-battery Fire - Counter-measures

Counter-measures

Counter-measures to CB fire have emerged throughout history. These include:

• Digging in. In World War I, even heavy artillery was dug-in with several feet of overhead protection. Even today North Korean artillery is widely thought to be somewhat resistant to CB fire because of its deeply entrenched positions. More generally precision munitions have decreased the value of digging.
• Encasing guns in armour. Fully armoured self-propelled guns were introduced to provide protection against conventional HE (High Explosive) fire.
• "Shoot-and-scoot". Guns fired a single round and moved out immediately, particularly tactical nuclear guns. It seemed to surprise many when Iraqi Scuds used the technique in 1991. Some multi-rocket launchers use the same tactic and move after firing a salvo, self-propelled guns with self-survey and orientation are also well suited to shoot-and-scoot tactics.
• Spreading-out. Increasing the dispersion of guns in a position has been aided by computers for technical fire control. Introduction of guns with self-survey and orientation has led to the concept of "gun manoeuvre areas" where the troops, platoons or sections of a battery keep moving around, although it is questionable how sustainable this is.
• Concealment. While firing guns cannot escape sound-ranging and radar detection, concealment and deception can reduce the likelihood of discovery from other methods.

Of course there are many potential target "nodes" in the field artillery system, including those dedicated to finding hostile artillery. Attacking these may significantly blind the enemy's CB capability—counter-countermeasures.