NATO'S Artillery Drills of the Year:Dynamic Front 22

NATO Exercise Dynamic Front 22 has run from 6-24 July 2022 at the Grafenwoehr Training Area,Germany.Participting in the premier artillery drills were some 3,000 troops from 19 Allied and Partner nations:Bulgaria,Czech Republic,Estonia,Finland,France,Germany,Georgia,Greece,Italy,Kosovo,Poland,Romania,Slovakia,Slovenia,Spain,Turkey,the UK and the US.DF 22 aimed to improve NATO Allies' and Partners' ability to execute multi-echelon fires,as well as tests interoperability of both tactical and theatre-level fires in a live environment.It was led by the US Army's 56th Artillery Command and directed by U.S. Army Europe and Africa.* DF 22 was based on Artillery Systems Cooperation Activities (ASCA) software.The software creates one consistent line of communication digitally,linking artillery Command and Control systems in real time,nullifying language and speeding up signals.The exercise allows for controlled access throughout NATO'S operations systems,thus unifying and strengthening the joint force.Working together,the Allies and Partners display their capabilities in multi-echelon fires,deploying together,connecting on the same network and communicating with the same software as they develop solutions for strategic and tactical fires interoperability.ASCA takes fires data from one Ally and translates between the different Allied fires systems.In DF 22,Allies processed fires missions from a NATO Corps down to the tactical level.Connected fires contribute to the ability to deter any threat to NATO.ASCA enables delivering massed fires onto a given location.* German Bundeswehr Soldiers of Artillerie Bataillon 131 used Panzer 2000 self-propelled howitzers.To fire them,they dismounted from the tracked vehicles and pulled a lanyard to discharge the ammunition.Finnish troops participated mainly in an observer capacity,gathering information as to how they might contribute to further iterations of Dynamic Front.