Yup. So far the M109 is handraulic. As is the process of getting the rounds into those racks. There's been a lot of improvement using the MACS propellant over the old white bag, green bag red bag charges but the biggest challenge is having having a mix of projectiles handy within very limited storage space inside the turret. The Americans and Koreans have a reasonable armoured ammo limber in the M992 and K10 and even though they have a conveyor to connect the two vehicles the Americans hardly ever use theirs and often remove them from the vehicle. We used to use the M548 which also meant hand moving rounds from the back of it into the turret.
There are a few videos out there talking about an autoloader on the M109A7 but in reality its a loading tray with an automated rammer. It's still necessary for a gun number to take a round off the rack and place it on the tray. The rammer does look like an improvement over the ones we had (and we had two of those - the earlier one cab mounted the newer one breech mounted.)
There was supposed to be an autoloader coming for the ERCA but the ERCA disappeared off the table. Brochures for the M109-52 do not talk about an autoloader.
There's no simple solution yet. Every automated solution is a combination of compromises with a functioning technical solution being the least of the problem. In my view its the loadout, the resupply process and the tactical employment are. Most of those can be solved by redundant systems to cycle into and out of reload phases. But no one wants to pay for a twelve-gun Archer battery that can guarantee six guns being in action at any given time. That's the Russian solution - a motor rifle brigade supporting four manoeuvre battalions with two 18-gun howitzer battalions and one 18-launcher MLRS battalion.
I was just rereading an interview of one of our FOOs on Op Intizaar Zmarey in Oct 07. He did a mission using a two-gun troop that consisted of five cycles of twenty rounds fire for effect (i.e. 20 rds per gun fired five times). Each of those cycles would have emptied an Archer and sent it out of action for a reload (The Archer carries 21 rounds in its magazine [the AGM carries 30] and when you consider some of those may need to be smoke you can start to see the issue.)
Even with pallet loads with HIAB type cranes on the trucks there's still always the need to break-bulk on pallets at some point. Even on an Archer to get it into that cargo truck that they call an ammo limber. People continue to matter.
"Beefy Person" caused a sudden flashback on a gunner I once knew back in the dark ages nicknamed "Tank" whose claim to fame was lifting four 155mm projectiles, two per hand, by carrying them by the lifting ring nose plug that they come with (fuzes came separately) - that's 186 lbs per hand.
