PUBLICATION: National Post
DATE: 2005.09.06
EDITION: All but Toronto
SECTION: Canada
PAGE: A12
BYLINE: Chris Wattie
SOURCE: National Post
ILLUSTRATION:Black & White Photo: Sgt. Roxanne Clowe, Canadian ForcesCombat Camera / Soldiers of the Third Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, based out of Edmonton, patrol the streets of Kandahar in southern Afghanistan.; Black & White Photo: Patrick Baz, AFP, Getty Images / The M777 in action with U.S. Marines in Iraq.; Black & White
Photo: Brian MacDonald.
WORD COUNT: 521
Kandahar mission may get bigger bang: M777 Howitzer: 'They wanted more firepower, and they wanted it fast'
The Canadian army is buying bigger guns for its artillery regiments with an eye to sending a battery of the new howitzers with the battlegroup bound for southern Afghanistan early next year. Senior artillery officers, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the army decided earlier this year to buy as many as 15 M777 howitzers from the
United States.
"They wanted something with more firepower," said one officer. "And they wanted it fast ... [because] they're going to deploy them to Kandahar." The M777 is one of the largest and most high-tech guns in the world, capable
of firing a 155-millimetre shell at targets up to 30 kilometres away.
Developed by BAE Systems Land Systems and built by United Defense LP of Pascagoula, Miss., the M777 is currently in service with the U.S. Army, U.S. Marine Corps and the Italian and British armies.
Major Daryl Morrell, a spokesman for the Canadian Forces, would only say that the military is considering buying the massive gun. "We are looking at it for a possible purchase, but there's nothing final," he said.
He said the army has been interested in acquiring a large-calibre artillery piece since retiring its M109 self-propelled howitzers earlier this year, because the newest generation of precision shells are available mainly in
the 155-mm size.
"There's a requirement for precision-guided munitions and they only come in that calibre at the moment," said Maj. Morrell. He added that no decision has been made on whether artillery will be attached to a 1,500-member battlegroup scheduled to deploy to the southern Afghan city of Kandahar by next February. But Jane's Defence Weekly, the prestigious international defence and security publication, said in an online article this week that Canada is in negotiations to buy the guns. "Both diplomatic and industrial sources confirm that the Department of National Defence is in discussions with BAE and the U.S. regarding an urgent operational requirement [for the M777]," the article said.
Brian MacDonald, a former colonel in the Royal Canadian Artillery who is now an analyst with the Royal Canadian Military Institute, said the U.S.-built howitzers would give Canadian commanders on the ground a potent counterpunch if our troops come under attack.
"We know there's a good chance of trouble in Kandahar," he said. "The M777s are a very lethal, very accurate way of ending trouble." He said a battery of the guns, linked to new radar targeting systems, could bring down a deadly rain of fire on any Taliban or al-Qaeda fighters "or anyone silly enough to fire on your base."
"It's a precision weapon that can smack the guy who's trying to shoot at you almost instantaneously," Mr. MacDonald said. "Or if a patrol gets in trouble ... they can call down fire on anywhere they are being shot at. They can target a specific house or building and if a 155 [mm] round lands on that house, that's pretty much it for the house."
The M777 can hurl high-explosive shells up to 25 kilometres away and place them within three metres of their designated target. It can fire up to five rounds per minute. Canada has about 700 troops in Afghanistan, including an armoured reconnaissance squadron in Kabul and a military-civilian provincial reconstruction team in Kandahar.
A battery of four LG1 howitzers, lighter and smaller calibre artillery pieces, was sent to Kabul in 2003 with the first Canadian battle group deployed to the Afghan capital as part of the International Security Assistance Force.
Note that the word is that some of these will filter down to the Reserves...