Defense Technology International - June 2008 - (Page 40)

TECHNOLOGY ARTILLERY ROCKET SCIENCE Advanced munitions offer increased accuracy and range Lockheed Martin Himars launcher ﬁres an Atacms round in a recent test. JORIS JANSSEN LOK•THE HAGUE rmies are building up artillery rocket arsenals with weapons that combine increased range and greater accuracy with improved mobility and fast launch capabilities. Major players such as the U.S., Israel, Turkey and Russia are adding technologies for rapid ﬁring, variable launch trajectories, advanced navigation, multiple warheads and precision targeting. The result for commanders, says U.S. Army Col. Gary S. Kinne, capabilities manager for rocket and missile systems at Training and Doctrine Command in Ft. Sill, Okla., is access to “an immediately available, lethal, long-range asset to attack time-sensitive and high-value targets in open and constrained environments.” Moreover, since many of the new artillery rockets will be sold in export versions, forces worldwide will gain access to the beneﬁts of these advances. In the U.S., Lockheed Martin re40 A cently received another $194-million production contract from the Army Aviation and Missile Command for its Army Tactical Missile System (Atacms). Completion is expected by the second quarter of 2010. The contract includes Quick Reaction Unitary and Block IA missiles. Atacms is a long-range round designed to destroy high-priority targets out to 300 km. (186 mi.). Able to deliver a high-explosive, fragmentation or multifunctional warhead, it operates in all conditions and remains beyond the range of most conventional artillery weapons, Lockheed Martin says. During Operation Desert Storm in 1991, it became the ﬁrst tactical surfaceto-surface missile to be used in combat by the Army. The weapon tallied numerous hits in Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003, when 456 were launched. The Atacms unitary missile is fired from Lockheed Martin’s Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) family of launchers, including the M270A1 and new high-mobility artillery rocket system (Himars). This last carries a single Atacms missile or six MLRS rockets, and is airtransportable in a C-130. Each Atacms missile is approximately 13 ft. long and 2 ft. in diameter. One missile can reportedly defeat company-size targets beyond the range of conventional tube or rocket artillery. On Mar. 20, Lockheed Martin launched an Atacms Unitary round from a Himars launcher equipped with a universal ﬁre-control system (UFCS) at White Sands Missile Range, N.M. The missile ﬂew a planned trajectory and hit a target 75 km. away. This was the second follow-on production test of the unitary conﬁguration, which allows the missile to be used in a vertical-attack trajectory. Lockheed Martin says this is an essential capability for urban areas where low collateral damage is desired. It was also the ﬁrst Atacms munition to be ﬁred from a Himars launcher equipped with a UFCS. The UFCS is an evolutionary block upgrade and technology refresh of the MLRS fire-control system. UFCS recently completed a development and qualiﬁcation program, and is being delivered under the Himars full-rate production program. Jim Gribschaw, director of precision ﬁres at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, says Atacms is the “weapon of choice against time-sensitive and pre-planned targets in the war on terror. Its precision allows commanders to engage a target with little or no collateral damage.” The Mar. 20 flight test provided a wealth of data to support the quality of the improved unitary conﬁguration, Lockheed Martin says. It also demonstrated the missile-to-launcher interface LOCKHEED MARTIN DEFENSE TECHNOLOGY INTERNATIONAL JUNE 2008 AviationWeek.com/dti http://AviationWeek.com/dti

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Defense Technology International - June 2008

Defense Technology International - June 2008 Contents Around the World Science Watch Tech Watch Basic Black Self-Defense Fire-Resistant Perfezione Hyperspeed Trial Big Sky Cashing In Digital Links Hang Ten Sea Change Programs Update Two Steps Back Direct Hit Staying Power Potent Stinger Do No Harm Guard Duty The Net Cutting Edge First Person In Review Insight

Defense Technology International - June 2008

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