MILAN – NATO artillery units linked up their guns across European training grounds, testing their abilities to strike targets and repel a deluge of drones and missiles in an exercise scenario reminiscent of combat in Ukraine.
The multi-national drill was part of the U.S.-led exercise Dynamic Front, organized from Jan. 26 to Feb. 13, across five countries and nine training areas.
The event, which involved 23 nations, focused on validating artillery interoperability — how quickly participants could plug different systems together and share the targeting data needed to coordinate long-range strikes across borders.
Allied crews were thrown into the fire by simulating the magnitude and complexity of threats faced by troops in Ukraine. They were expected to conduct 1,500 strikes and intercept between 600 and 1,200 aerial threats daily in a major European conflict scenario, according to U.S. Army officials.
In a press briefing, as quoted by Star and Stripes, Brig. Gen. Steven Carpenter, leader of the 56th Multi-Domain Command Europe, said the massed artillery fires are meant to create a deterrence effect, with strikes “so unrelenting” that no adversary would dare to attack.
Participating units successfully set up the command systems necessary to coordinate strikes in one-sixth of the time it took in prior editions of the exercise, according to Stars and Stripes.
One of the core systems facilitating connectivity is the encrypted software suite ASCA, or Artillery Systems Cooperation Activities, NATO’s digital language for placing “warheads on foreheads,” as the U.S. military maxim goes.
Aside from digitally connecting different national artillery and command-and-control systems, it also provides live targeting data to troops stationed in other countries.
U.S. officers previously told Defense News that artillerists continuously refine ASCA based on exercise feedback. Over a dozen NATO nations have incorporated the system into their command-and-control suites.
Elisabeth Gosselin-Malo is a Europe correspondent for Defense News. She covers a wide range of topics related to military procurement and international security, and specializes in reporting on the aviation sector. She is based in Milan, Italy.