With drones and self-propelled howitzers, the reconnaissance and artillery battalion 4 (AAB4) of the Austrian Armed Forces a unit full of technology. The neighboring Allentsteig military training area offers many opportunities for maneuvers.
It is a no-go for the self-propelled howitzer to stand on the large meadow for a long time. After all, it would make an all too tempting target for the enemy. As soon as the striking steep-fire gun has fired the required shots, it disappears into the next row of bushes in a flash. There, like a predator, the “109” remains in a lying-in-wait position, only to dart back into the firing position on command.
The soldiers of the 2nd Panzerhaubitz battery show how this is done “light-footedly” despite 28 tons during the visit of Militär Aktuell in Allentsteig at the reconnaissance and artillery battalion 4. Admittedly without real firing. The legendary military training area in the Waldviertel shows itself from its most beautiful side. But there is no time to enjoy the gun. Ready for battle, the hatches are tight and the temperature inside rises above the comfortable temperature. What’s more, the gunner lifts the shells – one weighs 40 kilos – to the barrel by hand. With up to 80 shells per firing, that’s a good three tons, which corresponds to the weight of around two cars. Otherwise, almost nothing is done manually in the M-109 A5Ö self-propelled howitzer due to the heavy weight of this type of weapon: the target comes in digitally via a fire control unit, another gunner aims the barrel using a joystick. The howitzer shoots up to 30 kilometers and hits area targets up to 50 by 50 meters. However, this is no longer quite state of the art, the keyword being “collateral damage”. Battalion commander Lieutenant Colonel Wimmer: “Artillery systems from other armies can hit point targets up to 70 kilometers away with precision ammunition. The trick behind this is a so-called “terminal phase-controlled” ammunition. Once fired from the barrel, such shells are no longer strictly bound to the pre-calculated trajectory, but can still change their course – for example to affect moving targets. Current cases in the Ukraine war show that the navigation of an artillery shell via GPS is susceptible to interference (-> current news from the Ukraine war). Alternatively, lasers can also be used, but this requires either a drone that aims at the target or a person who is far ahead and takes on this task. In future, the armed forces are to receive precision ammunition and, as Lieutenant General Bruno Hofbauer confirmed in an interview with Miilitär Aktuell the replacement of the red-white-red howitzers is already being planned and rocket artillery is also to be procured. Speaking of Ukraine: since the outbreak of the war, the efforts in the Austrian Armed Forces to reduce the size of the artillery force are finally a thing of the past. “The war demonstrates the importance of artillery. This also raises the prestige of this type of weapon again,” says Wimmer, who has been in charge of the AAB4 since July 2024. Due to the location advantage of the Liechtenstein barracks, which is directly adjacent to the Allentsteig military training area, his unit was spared previous cuts.
The artillerymen are still in the dark when it comes to the successor to the “109”, which will slowly be retired at the end of the 2020s. The two options are wheel versus track. However, the first lessons learned from the war in Ukraine for operational command are fixed: “Get the fire going quickly so that the guns can move out of position again immediately,” explains Wimmer. Real-time reconnaissance from the air means that firing positions can be scouted quickly. At battalion and brigade level, more mobility for the artillery means assigning them larger areas. Ideally, firing positions should only be used once. This also brings new challenges in terms of logistics.
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The unit is currently testing how quickly reconnaissance can be carried out from the air. In addition to the two howitzer batteries, the unit also has two reconnaissance companies. Both are based in Horn, in the Radetzky barracks. The technical reconnaissance company with its drone platoon is the centerpiece of the digitalization of the battlefield. In addition to some aircraft model trackers, smaller drones for training purposes have also recently landed in the hands of the reconnaissance soldiers. “Soon we will also be getting combat technology drones, which will then also be used by numerous other units,” explains Wimmer (-> Military News podcast about the army’s drone plans). A drone with a range of up to 100 kilometers, which provides a large-scale situational picture directly for the brigade, could also soon become a reality. The task of the first “A” of the AAB4 is to gather information for the higher command, the 4th Armored Infantry Brigade (“Schwere Bridgade”). So far, digitalization has ended on the drone operator’s display. There is a lack of networking with other systems. Data must first be processed by the reconnaissance elements and then passed on “manually”. Real-time reconnaissance for the brigade is therefore not yet a reality.
And what does it look like “on the ground”? The 1st Reconnaissance Company in Horn is a hive of activity. During our visit, the soldiers of this cadre presence unit are preparing for their foreign deployment in Kosovo. A look inside the Husar reconnaissance vehicle shows just how powerful the combination of man and technology is. The reconnaissance operator uses a joystick to operate the weapon station and thermal imaging device and can still recognize details at a distance of over a kilometer. https://militaeraktuell.at/russland-70-prozent-verluste-fpv-drohnen/ This is also the credo of battalion commander Wimmer: “Humans will always play a role as sensors. After all, reconnaissance is fail-safe compared to electronic warfare and also works in bad weather, where radar, for example, reaches its limits.” Since the beginning of the year, the new reconnaissance platoon set up as part of the reaction militia has also been part of AAB4. Together with two fighter companies in Carinthia and Lower Austria, they represent the militia with a high degree of readiness and can deploy within 72 hours of mobilization. A reserve for action to protect Austria.
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