Airborne guns are airborne

artillery Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during siege ...

pieces, designed for use by

paratrooper A paratrooper is a military parachutist—someone trained to parachute into a military operation, and usually functioning as part of an airborne force. Military parachutists (troops) and parachutes were first used on a large scale during Worl ...

s. They are generally specific or specialised types of

infantry support gun Infantry support guns or battalion guns are artillery weapons designed and used to increase the firepower of the infantry units they are intrinsic to, offering immediate tactical response to the needs of the unit's commanding officer. They typicall ...

s, being in the traditional sense capable of being broken down into smaller loads for transport by

aircraft An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engine ...

and

soldier A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a conscripted or volunteer enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, or an officer. Etymology The word ''soldier'' derives from the Middle English word , from Old French ...

s, thus also suitable as mountain guns. The historical concept of the "airborne guns" is to some degree outdated, their role being filled by mortars,

wire-guided missile A wire-guided missile is a missile that is guided by signals sent to it via thin wires connected between the missile and its guidance mechanism, which is located somewhere near the launch site. As the missile flies, the wires are reeled out behi ...

s, and/or light anti-tank weapons. As it has been many decades since two industrialized great powers engaged directly in warfare, the concept of the "airborne gun" allowing paratroopers to maintain an

airhead An airhead is a designated area in a hostile or threatened territory which, when seized and held, allows the air landing of further teams and materiel via an airbridge (logistics), airbridge, and provides the maneuver and preparation space necess ...

against an armored force is in that sense non-functional, but currently, all three of the U.S. Army's

howitzers A howitzer () is a long-ranged weapon, falling between a cannon (also known as an artillery gun in the United States), which fires shells at flat trajectories, and a mortar, which fires at high angles of ascent and descent. Howitzers, like oth ...

(for example), are air-mobile.

Airborne guns by country

China

*Chinese airborne forces have mounted 105mm

recoilless rifles A recoilless rifle, recoilless launcher or recoilless gun, sometimes abbreviated "RR" or "RCL" (for ReCoilLess) is a type of lightweight artillery system or man-portable launcher that is designed to eject some form of countermass such as propel ...

on jeeps but otherwise conform to the Warsaw Pact doctrine of light armored vehicles.

Germany (historical)

* 7.50cm leichtes, geeicheltes Infantriegeschütz

Italy

OTO Melara Mod 56 The OTO-Melara Mod 56 is an Italian-made 105 mm pack howitzer built and developed by OTO-Melara. It fires the standard US type M1 ammunition. History The OTO Melara 105 mm Mod 56 began life in the 1950s to meet the requirement for a modern ...

The Mod 56 was quite popular among mountain and airborne units, as it could be broken down into 12 components.

Soviet Union / Russia

*Soviet (and Russian) military doctrine calls for its airborne forces to be fully mechanized (via the BMD series) and hence its artillery to be self-propelled. Turretless AT gun carriers like the

ASU-57 The ASU-57 was a small, lightly constructed Soviet assault gun specifically designed for use by Soviet airborne divisions. From 1960 onwards, it was gradually phased out in favour of the ASU-85. Development history The task to develop a lightw ...

and

ASU-85 The ASU-85 (russian: Авиадесантная самоходная установка, АСУ-85, Aviadesantnaya Samokhodnaya Ustanovka, ASU-85 – airborne self-propelled mount) is a Soviet-designed airborne self-propelled gun of the Cold War ...

equipped Warsaw Pact airborne forces as well. The older

2S9 Nona S9 may refer to: Transportation * SIAI S.9, a 1918 Italian flying boat * Aircraft registration prefix of São Tomé and Príncipe * USS ''S-9'' (SS-114), a 1920 S-class submarine of the United States Navy * County Route S9 (California) * Ran ...

and the newer

2S25 Sprut-SD The 2S25 Sprut-SD (Russian: 2С25 «Спрут-СД»; 2S25 "Kraken-SD") is a self-propelled anti-tank gun developed and to be manufactured by the Volgograd Tractor Plant to meet the requirements of the VDV. In mid-2001, the Volgograd tractor ...

heavily resemble light tanks, and are armed with a 120 mm gun-howitzer-mortar and a 125 mm autoloaded tank gun, respectively. The BM-21V (no longer in service) was a lightened variant of the

BM-21 Grad The BM-21 "Grad" (russian: БМ-21 "Град", lit= hail) is a self-propelled 122 mm multiple rocket launcher designed in the Soviet Union. The system and the M-21OF rocket were first developed in the early 1960s, and saw their first com ...

MLRS. Additionally, the VDV employs a range of more traditional towed guns, namely the 2B16 Nona non-self-propelled variant, the D-30 122 mm howitzer, and the

ZU-23 The ZU-23-2, also known as ZU-23, is a Soviet towed 23×152mm anti-aircraft twin-barreled autocannon. ZU stands for ''Zenitnaya Ustanovka'' (Russian: Зенитная Установка) – anti-aircraft mount. The GRAU index is 2A13. Developm ...

23 mm twin AA autocannon.

Turkey

* MKE launched the 105 mm air transportable light towed howitzer (Boran) project to fulfill the operational requests of the Commando and Infantry units for Airborne Operations. The system can calculate its own position and identify targets without usual deployment procedures thanks to its modern command and fire control systems. It has a minimum range of 17 kilometers and 6400 NATO mils (360°) firing capability. The howitzer weights around 1800 kg and can be airlifted with a medium-lift utility helicopter and deployed in a short time for fire missions. Based on

L118 The L118 light gun is a 105 mm towed howitzer. It was originally designed and produced in England for the British Army in the 1970s. It has since been widely exported. The L119 and the United States Army's M119 are variants that use a different ...

UK

Ordnance QF 6 pounder The Ordnance Quick-Firing 6-pounder 7 cwt,British forces traditionally denoted smaller ordnance by the weight of its standard projectile, in this case approximately . The approximate weight of the gun barrel and breech, "7 cwt" (cwt = hundredwe ...

- antitank gun ( - ~1960 )

US

M119 The M119 howitzer is the American version of the British L119 light gun, a lightweight British 105 mm howitzer also used by the United States Army. The M119 is typically towed by the M1097 or M1152 High Mobility Multi-Purpose Wheeled Vehic ...

air mobile / air assault (slingload/parachute) is based on the UK

Light Gun, firing a 105mm shell that is useful against light vehicles and/or fixed emplacements but would be ineffective against a

main battle tank A main battle tank (MBT), also known as a battle tank or universal tank, is a tank that fills the role of armor-protected direct fire and maneuver in many modern armies. Cold War-era development of more powerful engines, better suspension sys ...

*the medium

M198 The M198 is a medium-sized, towed 155 mm artillery piece, developed for service with the United States Army and Marine Corps. It was commissioned to be a replacement for the World War II-era M114 155 mm howitzer. It was designed and prototyped a ...

can be dropped by parachute or transported by heavy-lift cargo helicopter, will be replaced by the even lighter titanium

M777 The M777 howitzer is a British towed 155 mm artillery piece in the howitzer class. It is used by the ground forces of Australia, Canada, Colombia, India, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine, and the United States. It was first used in combat during the US ...

, firing 155mm shells with significant anti-personnel capabilities. Can achieve anti-armor capability with specialised shells, e.g. SADARM

References

{{Reflist Artillery by type