In military science, a battery is a
group of artillery guns or rockets, so grouped in order to facilitate
battlefield communication and the organization of barrages. Naval
batteries are a group of four or more cannons on a turret that fire in
synchronization. In modern military organization, the military unit
typically has 6 to 8 howitzers and 100 to 200 personnel. They are
subdivided into:
- Field batteries, equipped with 105
mm calibre howitzers or equivalent;
- Medium batteries, equipped with 155
mm calibre howitzers or equivalent;
- Heavy batteries, which are equipped
with guns of 203 mm or more calibre, but are now very rare; and
- Various more specialised types,
such as anti-aircraft, missile, or Multiple Launch Rocket System
batteries.
- Headquarters batteries, which
themselves have no artillery pieces, but are rather the command and
control organization for a group of firing batteries (for example, a
regimental or battalion headquarters battery).
The battery is typically commanded by
a captain in U.S. forces and is analogous to the infantry company. In UK
and Commonwealth forces a battery commander (like his infantry company
commander counterpart) is a major. The battery is divided into the
following units:
- the firing section, which includes
the individual gun sections. Each gun section is typically led by a
sergeant; the firing section as a whole is usually led by a
lieutenant and a senior NCO.
- the forward observers, usually
situated with an infantry unit, or possibly observing from aircraft,
to determine the locations of targets and provide feedback on the
accuracy of fire.
- the fire direction center, which
computes firing solutions based on map coordinates, receives fire
requests and feedback from observers and infantry units, and
communicates directions to the firing section.
Historically, many countries also
maintained coastal defence batteries, typically equipped with very heavy
guns in fixed, fortified emplacements along approaches to seaports, and
intended to provide defense against warships. These are now obsolete. A
few countries maintain coastal defence artillery units, but these units
are organised and equipped quite differently to traditional artillery,
often with rockets and torpedoes.
Groupings of mortars are referred to
as platoons rather than batteries; although they resemble artillery,
mortars are typically considered infantry weapons.