# What is this thing? (Military equipment) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 15, 2023, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-military-equipment/982710 "2023-04-15T14:18:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2023, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-military-equipment/982710/1 "2023-04-15T14:18:52Z")
I found this picture while surfing online. If I saw the items by themselves, I would have assumed they were fuel storage units. But the vehicles has its gun attached to them. So what is their purpose? [![](https://thechive.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/k8ga1wxp7qpa1.jpg?attachment_cache_bust=4371556&quality=85&strip=info&w=600) ](https://thechive.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/k8ga1wxp7qpa1.jpg?attachment_cache_bust=4371556&quality=85&strip=info&w=600) My best guess is a silencer but that seems very unlikely. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2023, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-military-equipment/982710/2 "2023-04-15T14:20:44Z")
Googling “artillery silencer” gives me this. > **[This is what a silencer for howitzers looks like](https://www.wearethemighty.com/mighty-tactical/howitzers-silencer/)** > > Yes, artillery silencers are a thing. The vehicle using the giant suppressor are M109G 155mm self-propelled howitzers. With the same picture. The text of the article strongly implies the primary purpose is not military, concealing the source of the shot from the enemy, but to dissipate the sound for the benefit of civilian neighbors during training at home. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2023, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-military-equipment/982710/3 "2023-04-15T14:23:33Z")
ETA: ninja’ed while making the formatting pretty. Oh well. Those are exactly silencers. The German army uses them so the noise of their practice firing does not disturb the peace of their civilian neighbors. Unlike the USA they don’t have the luxury of large ranges many 10s of miles from dense population centers. See here for more pix: **[artillery silencer - Google Search](https://www.google.com/search?q=artillery+silencer&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=hp&oq=artillery+silencersclient=img)** ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2023, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-military-equipment/982710/4 "2023-04-15T14:23:58Z")
The AR National Guard needs some. We are close to Camp Robinson, and the neighborhood go nuts when they have an exercise. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2023, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-military-equipment/982710/5 "2023-04-15T14:30:08Z")
That thing would go well with a [giant grid ball.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-strange-grid-ball/646989) [Strange Grid Ball](http://www.dgath.com/misc/grid_ball.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2023, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-military-equipment/982710/6 "2023-04-15T14:53:29Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > The text of the article strongly implies the primary purpose is not military, concealing the source of the shot from the enemy, but to dissipate the sound for the benefit of civilian neighbors during training at home. They really couldn’t be military in purpose, because it defeats the whole point of having a mobile artillery platform if you need a huge immobile silencer with it. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2023, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-military-equipment/982710/7 "2023-04-15T14:57:06Z")
Only an organization top heavy with Y chromosomes could come up with a design like that. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2023, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-military-equipment/982710/8 "2023-04-15T15:23:10Z")
I totally see your point, but the reality is rather more mundane. Artillery barrels end in muzzle brakes which exhaust out the sides. And of course the barrels exhaust out the front too. So the three-lobed gizmo matches the three-lobed shape of the exhaust gasses it’s trapping. I don’t know what irreverent nicknames the troops have for those things, but I bet you’re barking up the right tree. 😁 ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2023, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-military-equipment/982710/9 "2023-04-15T20:49:08Z")
I made a joke about it being a silencer because I didn’t think of the possibility of it being used for training. Ignorance fought (with a whisper of artillery fire). Thanks everyone. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2023, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-military-equipment/982710/10 "2023-04-19T05:46:25Z")
Interesting. In my years in artillery, 13 years, I never heard of, let alone seen, a silencer for a 155. Or for any caliber for that matter. That was my initial guess, silencer. ---
**Author:** ![Bookkeeper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bookkeeper/32/281_2.png) [@Bookkeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bookkeeper)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2023, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-military-equipment/982710/11 "2023-04-21T00:32:08Z")
I’ve had a picture of this as my Zoom avatar since I moved there for COVID.