Biden’s War: Idaho gets ‘smart’ artillery rounds, reveals “upcoming mobilizations”

“Receiving the PGK NET was a great opportunity that will enhance the battalion and the 116th Cavalry Brigade Combat Team’s lethality on the battlefield. We purposely sought to field the PGK prior to the brigade’s upcoming mobilizations. If the PGK capability exists in the theater of operations we end up in, then our soldiers will be trained to employ it and bring a precision capability to the fight.”-Lieutenant Colonel Eric Orcutt, 1st Battalion 148th Field Artillery Regiment

Idaho Army National Guard photo by Crystal Farris.

The Idaho Army National Guard’s 1st Battalion of the 148th Field Artillery Regiment (FAR), headquartered in Pocatello, learned how to use ‘smart’ artillery projectiles known as the M1156 Precision Guidance Kit (PKG).

During the last two weeks of July 2021, the 1-148 FAR was in next door Wyoming, on Camp Guernsey, for annual ‘summer camp’ training. The ‘smart’ projectiles they were launching through their M1096A6 Paladin 155mm gun tubes uses aerodynamic fins on the fuze to steer the projectile on target. If the smart projectile happens to be not so smart and impacts outside 150 meters of the target area, it won’t explode.

Not only does PKG make artillery projectiles more accurate, it’s hoped that accuracy will save taxpayers some money by not needing as many ‘dumb’ projectiles.

Round=projectile+case

Projectile=bullet, shot, slug

Cartridge Case=case or shell containing propellant

The M1096A6 Paladin gun does not use a cartridge case on its projectiles, instead it uses combustible bags, or combustible solid casings, of propellant shoved in behind the projectile.

The 116th Cavalry Brigade Combat Team, of which the 148th FAR is a part of, is scheduled for deployment in 2022 (apparently the location is still hush-hush, and this is despite President Biden’s pull-out from Afghanistan and his order to cease combat ops in Iraq).