IDF soldier: Artillery fire in Gaza is like Russian roulette

[Israeli]

During Operation Protective Edge the IDF has shot thousands of artillery shells into Gaza, the impact location of which are uncontrollable. As an ex-combat soldier in the artillery corps, I feel obligated to explain how artillery fire on a civilian population can be both dangerous and lethal.

By Idan Barir (translated by Hadas Leonov)

Amid the stream of terrible reports from Operation Protective Edge, two especially painful events captured my attention: The bombardment of an UNRWA school in Jabaliya that served as a shelter for families that had fled their homes due to the fighting, which resulted in the deaths of at least 20 people and injured dozens more; and the bombardment of a crowded market in Shejaiya that killed 17 people and injured roughly 160.

In response to fierce criticism directed at Israel following the school’s bombardment, Israeli spokespeople claimed, as usual, that the strike was directed at an area from which shooting was directed at IDF forces. Against reports that hundreds of the casualties in Gaza are innocent civilians, Israel repeatedly argues that it is doing all it can to avoid harming innocent civilians.

During my military service in the Israeli army I served in the artillery corps, and thus learned a thing or two about using shells. From the testimonies I have read and heard from the school and the marketplace bombardment, I am not sure if these were mortar or artillery shells that struck, but what’s clear from the photos and reports published by the IDF is that there was massive use of artillery fire. Artillery fire is statistical fire. It is the absolute opposite of precise sniper fire. The power of the sniper lies in the accuracy that his weapon provides him, while the power of the artillery shells being used in Gaza is based on both the extent and possibility of causing damage (impact).

Idan Barir served in the artillery corps during the Second Intifada. Today he is a Ph.D candidate in history, and an activist with Breaking the Silence.

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http://972mag.com/idf-soldier-artillery-fire-in-gaza-is-like-russian-roulette/95194/

[Jefferson23]

1. K&R

[Igel]

2. Of course.

You can do things to try to increase the accuracy--standard charges with precisely maintained specs, knowledge of crosswinds and elevation changes, you can use nifty equations to try to hit the first location dead-on the first time and then use spotters to narrow down the range. (Spotters are considered spies ... The real goal is to allow the position being targeted by enemy artillery to continue to operate, even if it means that surrounding areas, including civilian buildings and civilians themselves, get splatted.) Most fighters *want* their enemy's artillery or aim to be imprecise. It's a two-fer: You live to kill more and these days you get to claim how horrible the enemy is because of the imprecision.

To nail an artillery round on the first attempt to without 30 feet, which is what you need in heavily populated and built-up areas ... Not going to happen with great frequency. But more precision destruction of the enemy--which entails less collateral damage, of course--was the driving force behind the formulation of early kinematics, and continues to drive production of more precise calculations, guidance devices such as JDAM kits to retrofit older rockets, etc.

Then again, this is easily reduced to the absurd scenario that the only humane thing to do is let yourself be killed even though your killer uses even more imprecise munitions.

It also ignores the fact that artillery is more accurate now, on average (see--still statistics) than it was 40 years ago. Better spotters--UAVs (ask the rebels in Ukraine about how great it is to have Russian Orlans as spotters), people on the ground (cell phones are a boon or bane, depending on your side), better ranging through GPS and satellite imagery, computer-assisted targeting ...