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Subject: Fire Mission Time to Impact
ipser    11/19/2008 4:46:38 PM
I'm designing a wargame (information below) and I'm struggling with several issues which I'm going to post seperately in the appropriate forums. My question here concerns the modeling of artillery fire missions. I would prefer to do away with the recording of indirect fire plots on paper that is typical of most wargames and use marker placement instead. What this would imply, though, is that artillery fire missions could be called in the time frame of a couple minutes. How long does it typically take from the time that a fire mission is requested before the first round(s) fall (for adjustement) assuming that the guns are not otherwise engaged? And how long does it typically take from the first rounds falling to an on target fire for effect? ("How to Make War" is a DIY project for now, you can get everything you need at the Armchair Brigade website.)
 
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neutralizer       11/20/2008 3:48:36 AM
The Time of Flight element is the eaisist factor.  It's determined by range and charge (and its reasonable but not necessarily corret to assume the the charge will be automatically selected as the one that is most consistent for the range).
 
Response time is much more variable, in fact it varies rather a lot between armies and there are several factors that influence it.  One modern one is the need to air clearances an the time this takes.  Another is whether the call for fire is an order or a request that has to be processed or an order that is mmediately acted on.  Communicayions also take time depending on how many btys are ainvolved, not to mention whether comms are voice or data.    
 
Then tehre's the matter of ho long it takes abty to reapond, one fator here is what era is being represented.  Modern computer produce firing data in a twinkle, first generation ones took perhaps 15% of time of flight.  Manual mthods could vary a lot between nations.
 
However, some 2003 comparitive data from a UK 105mm bty controlled by a USMC FDC, with M198s.  The UK bty was taking 45 secs to be ready to fire the US btys were taking several minutes.
 
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ipser       11/20/2008 12:04:59 PM
So if, in the game, artillery fire is delivered each 2.5 minutes then flight time is negligable and request time is nearly negligable but there may be significant delays depending on the army involved. It is possible for artillery fire to arrive within 2.5 minutes but in some cases there may be a longer delay while permissions are obtained?
 
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neutralizer       11/20/2008 10:20:49 PM
At 10 km range ToF is typically around 30 secs (low angle fire).  At 20 km around 50 secs.
 
Some armies take noticeably more than 2.5 mins to fire an opening rd, others a lot less.  The time between adjusting rds is usually a lot quicker than the opening rd.
 
 
 
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In-the-can       11/20/2008 10:34:23 PM

Factor in the type of target and the targetting systems. One shot one kill is becoming the Western goal and the experience. The US converted a lot of artillerymen into infantry in Iraq because of the need for less artillery.

 
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