Howitzer
An artillery piece that fires shells in a high-arcing trajectory, capable of striking targets behind hills and fortifications that flat-trajectory weapons cannot reach.
A howitzer is a type of artillery that combines the high-angle fire capability of a mortar with the range and velocity of a gun, making it the most versatile form of indirect fire support. Modern howitzers like the M777 towed howitzer and M109A7 self-propelled howitzer fire 155mm shells to ranges exceeding 30 kilometers with standard ammunition and over 40 kilometers with rocket-assisted projectiles.
The howitzer has been the backbone of land warfare since the 19th century, providing the sustained volume of fire that suppresses enemy positions, destroys fortifications, disrupts movements, and delivers smoke and illumination. In modern armies, each brigade combat team includes a field artillery battalion equipped with howitzers, and divisional artillery adds additional batteries for massed fire support.
Modern howitzers are far more lethal than their predecessors thanks to precision-guided munitions. The M982 Excalibur GPS-guided artillery shell gives a howitzer the ability to hit a specific target with a CEP of less than 2 meters at maximum range, turning an area weapon into a precision strike system. This capability has been extensively demonstrated in combat in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Ukraine.
Related Terms
Mortar Round
A short-range, high-trajectory projectile fired from a lightweight tube, providing infantry units with organic indirect fire support that can be carried and deployed by a small crew.
CEP(Circular Error Probable)
Circular Error Probable is a measure of a weapon's accuracy, defined as the radius of a circle centered on the target within which 50% of strikes are expected to land.
PGM(Precision-Guided Munition)
Precision-Guided Munition is any weapon that uses a guidance system to steer itself to a specific target, achieving dramatically greater accuracy than unguided weapons.
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