12 badass photos of artillery lighting up the night

Here are 12 badass photos of artillery lighting up the night

1. An M109A6 Paladin self-propelled howitzer fires a 155mm round through the night skies of Fort Riley, Kansas.

2. U.S. Marines in Japan fire their own 155mm howitzer round from an M777A2.

3. A North Carolina National Guard artillery team fires their Paladin at night in Fort Bragg.

4. Artillerymen from the 101st Airborne Division fire their M777 at night in support of Iraqi Security Forces battling ISIS.

5. More 101st artillerymen send a 155mm round downrange to slaughter ISIS jerkwads under attack by Iraqi security forces.

6. Army paratroopers fire high-angle during a training exercise at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

7. American Marines practice moving and firing their towed howitzers during an exercise in Japan.

8. A mortar crew fires during a training mission. Mortars are historically an artillery weapon but are employed by infantrymen in the modern Army and Marine Corps.

9. For the record, the definition of artillery usually centers on "high-caliber guns," and American mortars typically range from 60 to 120mm. Also, they look awesome.

10. Air defense artillerymen send a Stinger into the sky and it slams into a drone target.

11. Avengers are vehicle-mounted missile launchers that fire Stingers, short-range air defense weapons that annihilate low-flying targets.

12. A U.S. Army howitzer crew fires at night in Joint Base Lewis-McChord while supporting an artillery observer competition.