Quote Originally Posted by Fuchs View Post
(I)
(III)
SPHs are sitting ducks compared to a towed howitzer? I've never heard a greater defiance of reality. The M777 can leave its firing position in no less than a minute or two, while SPHs do so in seconds after their last shot.
The M777 is less off-road capable and slower when towed than a SPH and utterly dependent on aerial transportation (and a air situation that allows for the use of rotor aviation!) for any fast movement.
The M777 is the sitting duck.

(IV)
You sure don't understand the potential or history of SPHs. Hint: They were first developed for and deployed by armoured divisions. They were meant for mobile warfare, not for anything associated with slowness. That were the towed guns.
Though I agree with you on a number of points, and am a great beliver in the utility and worth of SPH/G, towed artillery is still a useful capability especially when you consider this;
A 105mm L118 Light Gun is being used by British gunners to such devastating effect against the Taliban that they have dubbed it the 'Dragon'.

The gun fired its first round in anger from a rocky outcrop in Helmand province in January 2009 and has been busy ever since protecting coalition and Afghan forces.

It sits atop a 40-metre-tall, rocky outcrop which provides an excellent vantage point with an eagle's eye view across a massive swath of territory.

Realising the strategic importance of this lofty location, British gunners hatched a plan to take the fight direct to the enemy. They intended to put a gun weighing over 4,000lbs (1,814kg) at the summit of the rocky cliffs, providing a firing point to provide protection for Forward Operating Base Edinburgh.

Moving the massive gun to the peak was a logistical challenge. The cliff face was riddled with deep cracks that threatened to crumble under the weight of the gun so a plan was devised to move the gun to the foot of the cliffs by helicopter.
Granted the operating envornment in Afghanistan is permissive with regards to these kinds of shenanigans but if it is why not especially if we have the capability? I doubt that SPGs would have the same kind of utiliy in that kind of terrain. Sure, NLOS fire missions could be accomplished as per usual but the Gunner's position was as much psychological as it was military.