November 11, 2024: One of the more useful weapons NATO sent to Ukraine were about 200 M777 155mm towed howitzers supplied by the United States, Canada and Australia. NATO nations sent Ukraine over 600 155mm howitzers but only a third of these were M777s. Russians found the M777s particularly effective and went to extraordinary lengths to destroy them. So far Ukraine has had 44 M777s destroyed, one captured and 48 damaged and repairable. It can take months to get a M777 repaired and back in service. Most of the damaged or destroyed M777s were hunted down and attacked by Russian drones. The Ukrainians have done the same to Russian towed and self-propelled 152mm artillery. Despite these losses both sides find their howitzers extremely useful and effective doing jobs drones can’t handle. The howitzers are getting harder for the drones to find and attack. Ukrainian M777 crews have become more creative and diligent in concealing and camouflaging their M777s. It’s a matter of hide or lose your M777 and several of the crew.

The M777 is, at four tons, the lightest 155mm towed howitzer ever fielded. A crew of five fires regular rounds to 24 kilometers and RAP rocket assisted projectiles to 40 kilometers. M777 fire control is handled by a computerized system that allows faster response time and more accurate shooting. Early on users reported that the M777 was accurate and reliable.

The British designed four-ton M777 howitzer was never used by Britain. Currently 1,200 M777s are in use with the Americans owning 83 percent of them. Production of the M777 recently resumed because of heavy use and losses in Ukraine. More nations are considering adding M777s to their forces based on the success of this howitzer in Ukraine and earlier in Syria.

One of the more notable combat achievements of the M777 occurred in Syria during late 2017. A marine artillery battalion fired 35,000 shells in a few months, This was more than any American artillery battalion had fired since the 1960s Vietnam War. In 2017 individual marine 155mm howitzers fired more rounds per gun and fired the largest number of GPS guided rounds per gun ever. During the Syrian campaign there were never more than six marine 155mm howitzers in action at any one time.

The marines rotated artillery batteries in and out of Syria to allow for maintenance on the guns and rest for the crews. During the five months of the fighting, the Marines were mainly supporting Kurdish led rebels fighting to take the ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) capital of Raqqa. Thus each of the marine 155mm guns averaged 39 155mm rounds a day. But the marine 155mm howitzers fired over a hundred rounds on some days and only a few on others, usually on days they were changing position to keep up with the Syrian rebels.

A Marine Corps battery has six M777s, and these 155mm howitzers were sent to Syria in early 2017 to support the SDF Kurdish militia as it advanced towards the ISIL capital of Raqqa. The marines fired a lot of GPS guided shells and often did so at extreme ranges. In the course of the five months, the marines wore out the barrels on two of their howitzers. Normally the barrel can fire up to 2,500 shells before wearing out but barrel life depends on what type of shell your fire. If you fire the longer range shells, which the Marines did, M777 barrel life is reduced to about a thousand rounds. While the GPS guided shells reduced the need for firing a lot of shells, the Americans also noted that fewer howitzers were required to provide accurate artillery support when using GPS guided shells and, even in Afghanistan some isolated artillery units, often as few as two guns, fired a lot of GPS guided shells and provided timely and accurate fire often at extreme range.

At some points during the Raqqa campaign, the marines fired non-GPS shells at area targets, where GPS precision was not a factor, to pin down the enemy forces and prevent them from moving. In Syria, the marine 155mm howitzers were often moved via a sling under a helicopter. These operations usually consisted of just two guns, so more of the rebel detachments could be supported. Most of the fighting inside Raqqa did not require the tons of ammunition needed for each M777 because the guns were dispersed in units of two guns. The marine 155mm shells provided most of the firepower for the battle of Raqqa because airstrikes delivered less than half as many smart bombs and missiles compared to the marine artillery shells fired.

The data on the number of 155mm shells fired by this one marine artillery battalion revealed that the battalion fired more rounds than were fired during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, when many more 155mm howitzers fired 34,000 rounds or 261 rounds per gun. In the 1990-1991 campaign to drive Iraqi troops out of Kuwait, 730 army and marine 155mm howitzers fired 50,000 rounds, or 69 rounds per gun. In both those campaigns, no single 18 gun battalion fired more than a few thousand rounds.

The marine artillery effort in Syria also demonstrated the sturdiness and reliability of the M777. The extraordinarily large number of shells fired by some of these M777s created so many instances of barrels wearing out that the manufacturer ordered more of the new chrome-lined barrel liners. This more expensive barrel lasted about 50 percent longer. In 2017 the marines were only supposed to get about a hundred of the new chrome lined barrels but the Department of Defense reconsidered because the marine M777s most frequently end up in situations like the Raqqa campaign where a few guns fired over a thousand shells each.

In 2007 the U.S. Army and Marine Corps received their first 400 M777A1 howitzers. These guns cost $1.9 million each and the U.S. bought about a thousand of them for the army and marines. BAE, the manufacturer, also received a contract to refurbish dozens of M777s that returned from service in Afghanistan. This cost $91,000 per howitzer. Many of the M777s used in Syria also needed refurbishment because of heavy use during a short period. The M777 was developed in the 1980s and 90s and the first M777 entered service in 1998. The army uses M777s in airborne and Stryker brigades while for the marines all their field artillery is towed. A five ton truck is used to tow the guns.

Most of the fire missions in Syria were called in by American fire control teams attached to the rebel units. These forward observers used GPS and laser range finders. These were binocular-like devices with built-in GPS to provide the marine artillerymen with a precise location of the target. Inside Raqqa the targets were often small and close to friendly troops. While an unguided artillery shell will land within 75 meters of the aiming point, the GPS guided one lands within a ten meter circle around the aiming point. In Raqqa the troops were usually facing small targets, like one or more snipers in a building. Dealing with this required two GPS guided 155mm shells fired nearly simultaneously from up to 40 kilometers away to eliminate the problem. This not only sped up the conquest of Raqqa but kept casualties down among the attacking troops. This does wonders for morale and keeps your most experienced troops in action until the battle is won.