Trump’s armada swats Iran drone as US Army beefs up scoot-and-shoot firepower

(Originally published Feb. 4 in “What in the World“) Tensions continue to rise around Iran ahead of talks in Istanbul Friday.

With Trump moving more and more U.S. military equipment into the neighborhood in preparation to attack at the slightest pretext, confrontations to give him one are becoming more likely. On Tuesday, a U.S. F-35 shot down an Iranian Shahed drone heading toward the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, and Iranian gunboats tried unsuccessfully to seize a U.S. tanker in the Gulf.

The war in Ukraine has revived the importance of artillery, while the growing role of drones is demonstrating the importance of making that artillery mobile. One-way attack drones, or loitering munitions, turn static artillery pieces into sitting ducks. Both Russia and Ukraine have been launching hundreds or even thousands of loitering munitions per day to hunt not tanks, armored vehicles, as well as artillery.

The U.S. Army has been watching. Enter the M109 Paladin, which was first introduced in the early 1960s. Essentially a tank that fires its 155m shells over long distances as opposed to firing directly at its target, the Paladin can fire and displace—shoot and then scoot.

Over the past two years, the Army has committed nearly $1.5 billion to expanding its fleet of Paladin self-propelled howitzers and ammunition carriers. The latest move: a $473 order last week for 40 new Paladins. That follows a nearly $600 million award for Paladins in mid-2024 and another $400-plus million contract earlier that year. Now, the Army is tendering for a next-generation of domestically produced self-propelled howitzers to replace them.