2 June 2025
Dust clouds the air through the percussion of each blast from four M777A2 howitzers on the gun line, shrapnel falls just metres away.
A second target indication is called in at 600 metres; guns are primed, reloaded and the repeating blasts pound the air again and again.
More target indications follow, walking in to a danger-close distance of 450 metres.
The flash of the round hitting the target is clearly visible.
The 8th/12th Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery, conducted direct fire danger-close serials at Mount Bundey Training Area during Exercise Predators Walk.
Direct fire is when the enemy can be seen from the gun line.
'Most of the time we fire and you’ll hear the blast but never actually see what we do.'
In a training scenario that 102 Coral Battery has not practised in recent years, Bombardier Bradley Phillips said in his eight years it was his closest live-fire yet.
“We are usually firing 1.5 kilometres or 2 kilometres away [when direct firing], but today our closest target was 450 metres,” Bombardier Phillips said.
“Being able to see and really hear the impact, that’s what separates this from other shoots.
“Most of the time we fire and you’ll hear the blast but never actually see what we do.”
Bombardier Phillips said it was the best serial they had done to date.
“I’ve got a fairly new detachment, mostly junior members, but the team worked well and was able to bring the full effect,” he said.
Troop commander Lieutenant Alexander Fuller described his role as the best job in the world.
“I was between the number one and two guns; it’s really something to behold,” Lieutenant Fuller said.
“There’s something contagious about the gun line. Today it was no different, everyone got around it and shot really well – mission success.”
