Artillery systems are essential items in any nation's arsenal. Indirect fire support is still recognised as having a devastating effect on the modern battlefield. Considerable effort is being expanded to develop artillery technology to improve lethality, reach, rates of fire and accuracy. Given that most nations even in the developed world lack the resources to regularly buy whole new systems as new technologies are introduced, there is a burgeoning market for upgrades to modernise artillery systems.
Artillery is well placed to benefit from the insertion of new technologies.
This ideally should take place in an integrated manner to leverage maximum benefit from scarce resources. Indirect fire support involves a wide range of technologies. The ability of observation parties to quickly and accurately pin-point the location of a target is the key to the successful employment of indirect fire. GPS satellites systems and laser range finders have transformed this into a very precise science. When combined with high speed communications, artillery observers are able to provide target co-ordinations to fire units in a matter of seconds.