Artillery Battery - Modern Battery Organization

Modern Battery Organization

In modern battery organization, the military unit typically has 6 to 8 howitzers or 6 to 9 rocket launchers and 100 to 200 personnel. In the U.S. Army, generally a towed howitzer battery has 6 guns, where a self-propelled battery (such as an M 109 battery) contains 8. They are subdivided into:

• Field batteries, equipped with 105 mm howitzers or equivalent;
• Medium batteries, equipped with 155 mm howitzers or equivalent;
• Heavy batteries, which are equipped with guns of 203 mm or more calibre, but are now very rare; and
• Various more specialised types, such as anti-aircraft, missile, or Multiple Launch Rocket System batteries.
• Headquarters batteries, which themselves have no artillery pieces, but are rather the command and control organization for a group of firing batteries (for example, a regimental or battalion headquarters battery).

The battery is typically commanded by a captain in U.S. forces and is equivalent to an infantry company. In United Kingdom and Commonwealth forces a battery commander, or "BC" is a Major (like his infantry company commander counterpart). However, in these armies the battery commander leads the 'tactical group' and is usually located with the headquarters of the infantry or amoured unit the battery is supporting. The battery position is commanded by the BC's second-in-command, the Battery Captain (BK). Increasingly these direct support battery commanders are responsible for the orchestration of all forms of fire support (mortars, attack helicopters, other aircraft and naval gunfire) as well as artillery. General support battery commanders are likely to be at brigade or higher headquarters.

A US battery is divided into the following units:

• The firing section, which includes the individual gun sections. Each gun section is typically led by a staff sergeant (US Army Enlisted pay grade E-6); the firing section as a whole is usually led by a lieutenant and a senior NCO.
• The fire direction center (FDC), which computes firing solutions based on map coordinates, receives fire requests and feedback from observers and infantry units, and communicates directions to the firing section. It also receives commands from higher headquarters (i.e. the battalion FDC sends commands to the FDCs of all three of its batteries for the purpose of synchronizing a barrage).

Other armies can be significantly different, however. For example: the basic field organization being the 'gun group' and the 'tactical group'. The former being reconnaissance and survey, guns, command posts, logistic and equipment support elements, the latter being the battery commander and observation teams that deploy with the supported arm. In these armies the guns may be split into several fire units, which may deploy dispersed over an extended area or be concentrated into a single position. It some cases batteries have operationally deployed as 6 totally separate guns, although sections (pairs) are more usual.

During the Cold War NATO batteries that were dedicated to a nuclear role generally operated as 'sections' comprising a single gun or launcher.

Groupings of mortars, when they are not operated by artillery, are usually referred to as platoons.