A NCO from the Army of Serbia has kindly accepted an interview for my blog. N has served in different position and used several artillery guns.
Hello N., thank you for accepting the interview. Could you give us a bit of an introduction?
I am career member of the Serbian land forces, in service since 2005.
Started career as an artillery crewman, where I worked on 130mm M-46, 122mm D-30, 152mm Nora-A and for a brief period on 122mm 2s1, specialised on D-30 and M-46, spent most time with M-46, which I commanded for 4 years.
Spent some time in technical service of artillery brigade, as commander of transport detachment, currently, than got transfer to duty in the command of 130mm field gun battalion, of our brigade, on position of battery quartermaster
What would you consider are the strong and weak points of the artillery systems that you have used (M-46, 2S1, D-30, Nora-A?)
M-46 is excellent field gun performance wise, main issue with it is that it's not very user friendly, and easy to work with, but once it is mastered, with good crew, it does miracles.
D-30 does not have any real weakness; it is probably the best towed howitzer of its class and period.
NORA-A is Yugoslav improved version of 152mm D-20, with increased range and better ballistic performance. Overall weakness of it is lack of proper weight balance, due to longer and heavier barrel.
Artillery guns like D-30 or M-46 were produced in Soviet times. Are there any issues with maintenance/spares?
D-30 was also produced here, locally as D-30J, so there are a lot of spares, and maintenance facility for them is up and running for decades.
M-46 was not built here, but honestly, there isn't much to go wrong with it, and refurbishment of crucial systems of it, is done by our central overhaul facility, up to this days.
What is the typical distance to target and rate of fire when you train?
3.5km in direct fire, 18km in indirect fire mod. Longest shot I ever fired flied almost 28km, out of max 38km M-46 can achieve with assisted projectile.
In the 1990s a series of wars took place in former Yugoslavia. Do you know of any lessons applied in training?
Of course, all conflicts and lessons from them, are well studied here, especially about effective usage of artillery, when your side have no air superiority.
What about more recent conflicts like Donbass or Syria? What was you impressions on the use of artillery in them?
Out of what I saw, artillery in Donbass proved to be highly effective and lethal. Observing crew videos, you get impression that they are not ''random peasants'', but actually well trained crewmen. Syria in other hand, is a bit of a different story. I saw lot of unimaginable things there.
In recent times artillery has introduced UAVs for target selection/reconnaissance. Have you tried this concept in Serbia? Is there any plan if not?
It's currently in final test phase.
Countries like Ukraine and Russia have reactivated 2S7 Pion 203 mm guns. A few years ago this calibre seemed obsolete when compared to advanced 152/1555 mm ammunition. Now it seems that they do have a function. What is your opinion?
Looks like that good old artillery joke, what says ''nothing is too old as long as it fires and you have ammo for it'', shows to be true.
Did you practice firing in direct mode?
Yes, and it's aways explained as ''last resort'', because, if you are put in situation, to fire directly at enemy armor and troops, it means that few branches in front of you had an epic fail.
Have you trained with personnel from other countries? Did you use any of their equipment (artillery)? What were your impressions (training and equipment)?
Personnel, yes. My personal opinion is that Algerian Army is quite professional, according to how they performed and behave.
Angolan personnel was OK.
My lowest opinion is reserved for UAE, they acted like spoilt brats, and depended on gadgets, more than on personal skills.
Some countries in Eastern Europe operate wheeled self propelled guns (152mm SpGH DANA). Serbia on the other hand relies on tracked ones. What is you view on how they compare?
Quite contrary, we have both wheeled NORA M-15 and tracked 2s1 in service thou M-15's are new systems, and still not used as much as tracked 2s1's.
Personally, I prefer tracked chassis, due to better off road abilities.
At some point Serbia will look at replacing systems like M-46, D-30, 152mm Nora and 2S1. Do you think towed artillery is still valid? Which system do you think could be a good candidate?
Towed artillery is valid, and potent, if you face enemy without complete air superiority, if he does, your effectiveness is reduced.
Future, in eyes of our MoD are vehicle mounted artillery systems, like NORA M15, and SORA, on similar way, towed Plamen was turned into truck mounted Plamen-S, back in the 1994.
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