The idea that 105mm artillery is obsolete because of drones is a truly batshit crazy armchair-general opinion.

Yes range matters but people need to stop obsessing over range as the only salient variable here, it is amateur as hell.

The L119 105mm howitzer is the best light infantry support weapon on earth and it isn’t really even that close unless you factor in bleeding edge soft-recoil artillery systems.

M119 is lighter and has a more rapid rate of fire than its predecessor, the M102. The maximum rate of fire is six rounds per minute for the first two minutes. The sustained rate of fire is three rounds per minute for 30 minutes. It has a standard firing range of 14,000m and a maximum range of 19,500m can be achieved with rocket-assisted shells. A standard crew of seven is needed to prepare the howitzer for firing.

https://www.army-technology.com/projects/m119a1-a2-howitzer/

^ Doing the math that is a sustainable rate of ~ 90 shells in half an hour with no robotics or complex machinery. It is more useful to think of the L119 as an indirect fire “machine gun” than a traditional artillery piece, obsessing about range stats here misses the point entirely. Also other howitzers can compete with that rate of fire too, sure, but they are far heavier.

The K105A1 also sounds like exactly the kind of solution Ukraine needs. Clever, inexpensive and made from readily available “obsolete” parts.

https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/modern/south-korea/k105a1-evo-105/

  • Salamanderwizard
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    1 day ago

    Drones are only as scary because there is no real counter to em. Give it a while, and we’ll have satellites that make A.D.D (anti drone dome)

    Tanks were scary and unstoppable. Planes were scary and unstoppable.

    It’s just the new weapon, there will be counters to it eventually, and then it’ll slowly slide its way into the oversized toy bin of humanities cruel talent for war.