The Field Artillery Branch of the United States Army is part of the "Maneuver, Fires and Effects" (MFE) classification, in accordance with current organizational doctrine.
Historical background The U.S. Army Field Artillery branch traces its origins to 17 November 1775 when the Continental Congress, unanimously elected Henry Knox "Colonel of the Regiment of Artillery". The regiment formally entered service on 1 January 1776. During the 19th century a total of seven Artillery regiments were formed which contained a mixture of "heavy" artillery companies and "light" artillery batteries. The light artillery batteries took the role of field artillery although they did not use that designation. The seven artillery regiments were designated as regiments of artillery and were not distinguished as being either "coast" or "field" artillery as was the practice in the 20th century.
In the reorganization of the Army by an act of Congress passed on 2 February 1901, the seven Artillery regiments were reorganized as the Artillery Corps. The Corps was also split into 195 battery-sized units (called companies at the time) of Field Artillery and Coast Artillery. In 1907, the Artillery Corps was reorganized into the Field Artillery and the Coast Artillery Corps. Although presently Field Artillery and Air Defense Artillery are separate branches, both inherit the traditions of the Artillery branch.
In 1907, the Field Artillery companies of the Artillery Corps were organized into six Field Artillery regiments. In 1916, as the United States was preparing for its eventual entry into World War I, these six regiments were supplemented by 15 more Field Artillery regiments. During World War I numerous other Field Artillery Regiments were organized in the National Guard and National Army, which were mobilized to supplement the Regular Army.
Lineage In 1924 the Army organized the Coast Artillery Corps into regiments. The first seven regiments retained the lineage of the seven Artillery regiments which existed in the 19th century. The Coast Artillery Corps was disbanded in 1950 and its units were consolidated with the Field Artillery in the Artillery branch. In 1968 the Artillery branch divided into Field Artillery and Air Defense Artillery branches with the newly formed 1st through 7th Air Defense Artillery regiments retaining the lineage of the seven 19th century artillery regiments.
Although the oldest Artillery regiments in the Army are in the Air Defense Artillery branch, this is not necessarily the case for individual units below the regimental level. For example, the 1st Battalion of the 5th Field Artillery traces its lineage to the Alexander Hamilton Battery, formed in 1776, which is the oldest Artillery unit in the active United States Army and is the only Regular Army unit which can trace its lineage to the American Revolution.
The oldest Field Artillery unit in the U.S. Army is the 1st Battalion, 101st Field Artillery, Massachusetts Army National Guard, which traces its origins to December 1636. Originally an Infantry unit, it was reorganized as an Artillery unit in 1916.
Mission statement The mission of the Field Artillery is to destroy, defeat, or disrupt the enemy with integrated fires to enable maneuver commanders to dominate in unified land operations.
History The Field Artillery is one of the Army's combat arms, traditionally one of the three major branches (with Infantry and Armor). It refers to those units that use artillery weapons systems to deliver surface-to-surface long range indirect fire. Indirect fire means that the projectile does not follow the line of sight to the target. Mortars are not field artillery weapons; they are organic to infantry units and are manned by infantry personnel (US Army MOS 11C or USMC 0341).
The term field artillery is distinguished from the Air Defense Artillery, and historically, from the U.S. Army Coast Artillery Corps (with the function of coastal defense artillery), a branch which existed from 1901 to 1950. In 1950, the two branches were unified and called simply Artillery, until Air Defense Artillery was made into a separate branch in 1968. The insignia of the Field Artillery branch is a pair of crossed field guns (19th-century-style cannon) in gold, and dates back to 1834.
The home of the Field Artillery and the Field Artillery School are at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.
Field artillery is called the "King of Battle". Conflicts in the 20th century saw artillery become exponentially more effective as indirect fire methods were introduced immediately prior to World War I. During World War I and World War II, field artillery was the single highest casualty-producing weapons system on any battlefield.
Soldiers from artillery units have often been used as infantry during both the Iraq War and the War in Afghanistan. While field artillery units have often performed admirably as infantry and accomplished infantry missions, such use has led to the atrophy of essential field artillery specific skills and tasks.Sean MacFarland, Michael Shields, and Jeffrey Snow, "White Paper: The King and I: The impending Crisis in Field Artillery's ability to provide Fire Support to Maneuver Commander (np:np): memo sent to the Chief of Staff of the Army, 2007. 1.
Branch colors Members of the Field Artillery are referred to as "redlegs" because during the Mexican–American War, both Ringgold's Battery and Duncan's Battery were issued uniforms distinguished by scarlet stripes down the legs of their uniform pants, a practice continued through the Civil War and on dress uniforms even after WWI.
Scarlet was established as the Artillery Branch color along with crossed cannon branch insignia in the Regulations of 1833. Branch colors are found on the shoulder straps of officers ranking colonel and below wearing the blue dress uniform and on the branch of service scarves authorized for wear with a variety of uniforms.Army Regulation 670–1Center of Military History Survey of US Army Uniforms, Weapons and Accoutrements
Chief of Field Artillery From 1903 to 1908, one Chief of Artillery oversaw both field artillery and coast artillery. The Chiefs of Artillery from this time were:
Brigadier General Wallace F. Randolph, 1903–1904 Brigadier General John Patten Story, 1904–1905 Brigadier General Samuel M. Mills, 1905–1906 Brigadier General Arthur Murray, 1906–1908 (became the first Chief of Coast Artillery)
After 1908, one general served as Chief of Coast Artillery which had a corps structure, while the Field Artillery had a regimental structure and had no chief or corps designation.
This disorganized Field Artillery occasioned a boardroom bloodletting in December 1917 after the entry of the US into the First World War in April 1917 proved that the Quartermaster General of the United States Army Henry Granville Sharpe was unfit for this purpose. In the aftermath of bloody Tuesday Brigadier general William J. Snow was appointed to the unofficial post of Chief of Field Artillery in February 1918. He continued in that post after it was codified into law in 1920. He served until retiring in 1927, and oversaw the artillery branch's postwar reorganization, including the beginning of testing and experimentation to determine how to transition from horse drawn equipment to mechanized, and modernize processes for directing and controlling indirect fire to improve speed and accuracy.
After 1920, the Chief of Coast Artillery was joined by the Chief of Field Artillery. From 1920 to 1942, the Field Artillery corps was led by a branch chief who held the rank of major general. This was in keeping with the Army's other major branches, including infantry, cavalry, and coast artillery. Each chief was responsible for planning and overseeing execution of training, equipping, and manning within his branch.
The branch chief positions were eliminated in 1942, and their functions consolidated under the commander of the Army Ground Forces as a way to end inter-branch rivalries and enable synchronized and coordinated activities as part of World War II's combined arms doctrine. The Chiefs of Field Artillery from this time were: Major General William J. Snow, 1920–1927 Major General Fred T. Austin, 1927–1930 Major General Harry G. Bishop, 1930–1934 Major General Upton Birnie Jr., 1934–1938 Major General Robert M. Danford, 1938–1942
Publications The professional journal of the Field Artillery is published at Fort Sill. Known as the Field Artillery Journal in 1911, it went through many name changes through Field Artillery in 1987. The journal merged with Air Defense Artillery in 2007 to become Fires.
Current weapon systems The U.S. Army employs five types of field artillery weapon systems: M119A3 105 mm light towed howitzer M777A2 155 mm medium towed howitzer M109A7 Paladin 155 mm self-propelled howitzer M142 High Mobility Rocket Artillery System (HIMARS), a wheeled launcher capable of firing 227 mm rockets or Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missiles M270A1 Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS), a self-propelled launcher capable of firing 227 mm rockets or Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missiles
Long Range Precision Fires Long Range Precision Fires (LRPF) was a priority of the U.S. Army Futures Command (AFC), disbanded in October 2025. The aim was to modernize a suite of capabilities of the artillery. LRPF appears to be a project of an AFC cross-functional team (CFT), a requirements definition process for new capabilities, such as targeting the new missiles, "streamlining the sensor-shooter link at every echelon"—Col (Promotable) John Rafferty, for a Strategic Long Range Cannon (SLRC) for a hypersonic projectile (program cancelled in May 2022), a target capability for the Field Artillery (its howitzers) and Air Defense Artillery (a 500 km missile),Sydney Freedberg, Jr. (March 23, 2018) Army Will Field 100 Km Cannon, 500 Km Missiles: LRPF CFT and a test case for the acquisition process of the U.S. ArmyJared Serbu (August 2, 2018) Army has picked a location for its new Futures Command, but now comes the hard part such as the Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW), a standoff weapon to be fielded by FY2023.Sydney J. Freedberg Jr. (20 Mar 2020) Hypersonics: Army, Navy Test Common Glide Body "The U.S. Navy and U.S. Army jointly executed the launch of a common hypersonic glide body (C-HGB), which flew at hypersonic speed to a designated impact point" DoD (20 March 2020) Department of Defense tests hypersonic glide body "The C-HGB – when fully fielded – will comprise the weapon's conventional warhead, guidance system, cabling, and thermal protection shield." Also: comments from LTG L. Neill Thurgood RCCTO The LRHW has been named Dark Eagle by the US Army.Theresa Hitchens (11 Aug 2021) 'Confident' Of 2023 Fielding Goal, Army Dubs Hypersonic Weapon 'Dark Eagle'
Future weapon systems
Long Range Precision Fires (LRPF) CFT
According to AFC, the mission of the Long Range Precision Fires (LRPF) CFT is to "deliver cutting-edge surface-to-surface (SSM) fires systems that will significantly increase range and effects over currently fielded US and adversary systems."Army Futures Command
AFC's five major programs for LRPF are:
The Extended Range Cannon Artillery (ERCA) program which develops a system capable of firing accurately at targets beyond 70 km as opposed to the M109A7's 30 km current range The Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) which is a precision-strike guided SSM fired from the M270A1 MLRS and M142 HIMARS doubling the present rate-of-fire with two missiles per launch pod The Strategic Long-Range Cannon (SLRC) program, which would have developed a system that could have fired a hypersonic projectile up to against air defense, artillery, missile systems, and command and control targets was terminated 23 May 2022.