What is shelling?

[olemetry]

Without political comments, when I read of Israeli shelling, what is this? ATG or lobbing bomb/rockets? What weapons does Israel use for shelling? Also, what planes do the ATG work for Israel? Are they only F-16s?

[Flagrum]

Without political comments, when I read of Israeli shelling, what is this? ATG or lobbing bomb/rockets? What weapons does Israel use for shelling? Also, what planes do the ATG work for Israel? Are they only F-16s?

My understanding is that the term refers to artillery fire (as in artillery shell). Could probably include rocket artillery as well.

[159th_Viper]

Usually means heavy artillery fire to saturate a general area rather than hit a specific target.

[olemetry]

What arty do they use? What about the ATG question? What websites can I go to find out details like this rather just dumb news.

[schroedi]

They use M-109

[Emu]

News reports seemed to show some kind of 155mm howitzer system.

[maturin]

In the media, shelling refers to anything that goes boom, often repeatedly.

[NeilWillis]

The media often doesn't know is arse from it's elbow. To them a tank means anything with tracks too. To steal the collective noun for the banking community, they are simply a wunch of bankers when it comes to anything more technical than a can opener!

 

I should know, I spent half my career correcting elementary errors in military jargon when I worked for a newspaper.

[159th_Viper]

The media often doesn't know is arse from it's elbow.

 

This.

 

If you want to know what they're doing then you're gonna have to go there and take a look.

[EtherealN]

Yes, media reports are problematic in that sense. I recently saw a report where a GBU-12 strike (in a piece that had it on picture as it fell on the site, clearly enough for me to identify the specific type of GBU) was referred to as a "missile". And while it is in the pure linguistic sense a "missile" (a thrown rock is a "missile" in that sense), it is problematic.

 

So unfortunately it is very hard to know what is actually referred to when a reporter says "shelling", "missile strike", "bombing" etcetera. In the case of "shelling", I'd say they observed multiple instances of explosions in a small area. Whether this was tank fire, artillery, bombs, missiles... Who knows?

[EtherealN]

Usually means heavy artillery fire to saturate a general area rather than hit a specific target.

 

Do you know if the Israelis have access to Exclaibur-type munitions?

 

As far as I remember, at this point they're exclusive to the USA and Sweden (the co-developers of the weapon), but that doesn't mean others might not have developed similar systems. Basically though, for those who are not aware, if you have access to that class of munition, a "shelling" with an artillery gun can still be a precision strike with a CEP counted in individual yards at 50km distance. (Think artillery shell with some Hulk-style electronics tested to withstand 10000G's, GPS and guidance fins.)

[Emu]

Shelling usually hurts.

[159th_Viper]

Do you know if the Israelis have access to Exclalibur-type munitions?

 

Yes they do.

 

Amongst others, the IAI has *TopGun which gives their arty shells a CEP of less than 10m at any range. There's a range of other smart-arty as well from IAI, although they are closer to ground-to-ground missiles if you ask me. Then there's the Wizzard munitions from Elbit systems as well.......the list goes on and on.

 

*Top Gun.pdf

[dumgrunt]

even with unguided munitions, artillery is generally very accurate. the area "saturation" as it has been put, is actually something deliberately plotted by the gunners on the firing line. all arms call for fire procedure will include in the target description the size of the area. ie infantry dug in 400 by 400. the FO will then pass on to the gun line in that scenario to use delay detonation fragmentation rounds, and to set the battery to fire within that box. asuppose to infantry in open, you would use air burst, and armour would; if available, mean a different ammunition nature again.

 

the real value of GPS/INS guided 'bombs" (thats what the cloud punchers/ kabana boys call them) is when you are using RA munition (rocket assist) and you have a "danger close" type scenario. RA increases your planning range; as an example the 105 round from about 10,000m to 27,000m.that greater range and the RA obviously blows out the accuracy. the 155 shell which is becoming the NATO standard has an even greater range than that. it was under these circumstances, they were frequently using them in Afghanistan.

 

also works when you dont have any direct fire platforms in range, and you want to level one building, but not the building next to it, which is what the IDF would be using it for. the IDF has actually gone to great lengths to develop PGMs that minimize collateral damage, even though, contrary to the media and ban ki moon's bleating, is permissible under LOAC.

 

And I can tell you for a fact, the Germans most certainly use it, and so do we.