Mobile Artillery

A mobile artillery vehicle, or self-propelled artillery, is an artillery piece that can travel under its own power, instead of being towed or emplaced. This allows the asset to be more rapidly deployed, and to more quickly egress in response to direct attack or counter-battery fire. Mobile artillery can attack targets much further away than other ground vehicles, but sacrifice self-protection with reduced armor.

In many cases, mobile artillery vehicles are heavy trucks carrying an array of missile launchers.

Battlefield 2142
Though not classified as artillery, the APCs available to each faction carry mortar systems in the gunner seat. These have a maximum range of roughly 260 meters on level ground, not moving.

Battlefield 3

 * M142 HIMARS
 * BM-23

The Armored Kill expansion pack adds mobile artillery to the selection of vehicles in multiplayer. Both are single-operator vehicles, although they feature two seats. The operator must switch between the driver and gunner positions, preventing use of weapons while moving.

Its main weapon system is a turret capable of swiveling 360° and firing six rockets in one salvo. The minimap can be expanded to show the impact areas, much like the behavior for the M224 Mortar after the matching patch. On level ground it has a minimum engagement distance of about 50 meters, and a maximum of about 600. The targeting reticule roughly corresponds to 50 meter increments, starting with 100m at the top. Adjustments must be made when attacking other elevations.

A quirk in the projectile behavior allows them to pass through objects shortly after launch, reducing the risk of the operator injuring himself if firing near cover.

Although not equipped with close-range weapons, the Proximity Defense specialization surrounds the vehicle with smoke that is very harmful to infantry. (A current bug causes the operator to also receive damage or even suicide when stationary.)

The TOW missile used by the vehicle fires at a higher trajectory and faster speed than the comparable ATGM Launcher for IFVs, but is otherwise the same.

The specializations available to mobile artillery vehicles focus mainly on alternate weapons and threat minimization:
 * IR Smoke - 400 points
 * Autoloader - 800 points
 * Proximity Scan - 1600 points
 * ATACMS Missile guided weapon for engaging other ground vehicles - 2500 points
 * Maintenance - 3500 points
 * Zoom Optics - 4500 points
 * Thermal Camo - 5500 points
 * TOW missile system for engaging targets by wire-guidance - 7000 points
 * Proximity Defense for repelling infantry at close range - 9000 points


 * Air-Burst Missile for focus on infantry - Rocket Specialist assignment
 * Anti-Air Missile for focus on air vehicles - Anti-air Support assignment

Mobile artillery also appear in the Campaign.