MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. -- Firing artillery may soon be made more effective with the Digital Fire Control System, which electronically instructs crew members on how to position their cannons, capable of hitting a target at a distance of 30 km away.

Forward observers, who locate targets, currently use a Ruggedized Personal Data Assistant. The device is a hand-sized computer that electronically sends the location of a target to a fire-direction controller.

Once the controller obtains the information he needs, he radios a crew chief.

This new system allows all necessary information is to be transferred electronically, eliminating the need for radios.

“It makes it a lot quicker to get rounds downrange since there’s a lot less you need to do,” said Cpl. Gregory L. Panella, a cannoneer with 3rd Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment. “It makes life a lot easier from what I’ve seen so far.”

Sights will no longer be needed on the weapons with the use of the DFCS. Artillery crew chiefs will know where to direct their Howitzers with the help of computers embedded on the guns, showing them where their cannons are pointed and where they need to be directed.

“It gets to the point where the computer gets smarter than the operator,” said Sgt. Craig Stone, a fire direction controlman who assists in the crew chief training with the 11th Marine Regiment's Artillery Training School.

Nineteen Marines attending the 11th Marines’ Artillery Training School’s Section Chief Course are the first class to train with the new DFCS.

Those taking the course are trained to know all aspects of operating the cannons and to be effective when leading their six-man cannon crews in the field.

Most of the course focuses on the DFCS, which is used in Marine Corps training to provide cannoneers a new method of sending rounds downrange.

“They’ll teach you everything you need to know to work one yourself,” said Panella, course student. “After this, they send you out with your guys and you run the show.”

Crew chiefs who have already passed the course will not have to take the Section Chief Course, but will need to learn to use the DFCS.

The new system is still in its preliminary phase and is not yet being used in current operations, but when introduced, will digitize the entire link between the infantry on the ground and their supporting elements.

“If we can get this to work like it’s supposed to, this is going to rock,” Stone said. “Conventional artillery is going to change.”