---

Artillery and Missile Crew Members: Career Profile

Target, fire, and maintain weapons used to destroy enemy positions, aircraft, and vessels. Field artillery crew members predominantly use guns, cannons, and howitzers in ground combat operations, while air defense artillery crew members predominantly use missiles and rockets. Naval artillery crew members predominantly use torpedoes and missiles launched from a ship or submarine. Duties include testing, inspecting, and storing ammunition, missiles, and torpedoes; conducting preventive and routine maintenance on weapons and related equipment; establishing and maintaining radio and wire communications; and operating weapons targeting, firing, and launch computer systems.

What Do Artillery and Missile Crew Members Do?

Related Job Titles

People in this occupation may also be known by titles such as:

• ATWCS Launch Control Group Replacement (LCGR) Operation and Maintenance Technician
• Advanced TOMAHAWK Weapon Control System (ATWCS) AN/SWG-4 Operator and Maintenance Technician
• Air and Missile Defense (AMD) Crewmember
• Aircraft Armament Mechanic
• Anti-tank Missileman
• Artillery Meteorological Man
• Cannon Crewmember
• Cannon Fire Direction Specialist

Job Outlook

The U.S. employs around 31,305 artillery and missile crew members working in the United States today. Demand is forecast to grow by +5.0% over the projection horizon.

Artillery and Missile Crew Members Pay

Statistic	Value
Annual median	$43,638
Hourly median	$20.98
10th percentile	$26,298
25th percentile	$34,968
75th percentile	$52,308
90th percentile	$60,978

Pay can vary substantially based on experience, location, and industry.

Where to Study

Aspiring artillery and missile crew members commonly pursue programs in:

Military Technologies and Applied Sciences

2 programs across 1 majors

• Military Systems & Maintenance

1 programs across 1 majors

• Security Policy & Strategy

About the Data

Data on this page comes from the following authoritative sources:

• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) for employment and wage data by state and industry.
• BLS Employment Projections for total employment and growth forecasts.
• O*NET (Occupational Information Network) for skills, knowledge, tasks, work activities, work context, technology, and education-zone data.

SOC code: 55-3014.00 (Artillery and Missile Crew Members).