High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (M142 HIMARS)
In describing the second leg of the ground fires triad, Conway told the U.S. Senate, “The High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (M142 HIMARS) provides high-value rocket and missile fire in support of ground forces. Each system carries six rockets or one missile. Like our new lightweight howitzer, HIMARS has proven itself over the past year in Afghanistan, delivering long-range precision fires.”
Two High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) with 5th Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment, staged at the ready in case a fire mission is called. From the time a fire mission is called it takes about five to seven minutes for the first rocket to be fired. USMC photo by Lance Cpl. Daniel A. Flynn.
Moreover, when paired with the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System rockets, HIMARS provides a highly responsive, precision fire capability.
“The Marine Corps fields their HIMARS systems by ‘battery,’ as opposed to fielding by ‘battalion,’ like the Army does,” explained Becky Withrow, HIMARS program manager at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. “And at this point in time, they have fielded six batteries – at the 5th of the 11th [R, S, and T batteries] and at the 2nd of the 14th [D, F, and K batteries].”
Asked about vehicle/launcher designs, Withrow said that the HIMARS platforms fielded to both the Army and the Marine Corps are the same configurations.
“The Marine Corps joined the program and bought it ‘as is,’” she said. “Eventually we will retrofit the fire control system and right now we are doing the upgrades to the advanced crew protection cab. Some have already been retrofitted because they were deployed and, in order to deploy, they had to have the advanced crew protection cab.”
As described, the battery was able to reach its firing point within minutes, set its rocket pod, receive coordinates, and deliver a global positioning system-aided rocket into a predetermined grid. The release added that the battery’s mission was to support Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force – Afghanistan as a fire support asset with special emphasis on hitting “higher value” targets.
“Now, the Marine Corps has on order seven launchers that are coming in February and March of 2011 and those will come ‘off the line’ equipped with the ICP [Improved Crew Protection] cab,” she added.
At this time it is not clear whether the additional launchers reflect replacements for existing systems or perhaps a desire to field an additional HIMARS battery.
“From our industry perspective, HIMARS just continues to grow, protecting the warfighters while they are firing precision munitions to support troops in contact,” she said.
In parallel with Withrow’s industry perspective, a Marine Corps perspective emerged in February 2009, when the First Platoon of Battery D, 2nd Battalion, 14th Marines, test-fired its first HIMARS rocket at Camp Barber, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.
According to Marine Corps’ releases, “The El Paso, Texas-based Marine Corps Reserve battery conducted a full-scale fire mission scenario, proving it’s fully capable of firing and hitting its target within minutes and with deadly accuracy.”
“I thought it went extremely well, and it was good to see the Marines receive the fruits of their labor,” said Maj. Frankie P. Delgado, the battery commander. “They did great and were on target.”
As described, the battery was able to reach its firing point within minutes, set its rocket pod, receive coordinates, and deliver a global positioning system-aided rocket into a predetermined grid. The release added that the battery’s mission was to support Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force – Afghanistan as a fire support asset with special emphasis on hitting “higher value” targets.
“We’re a great asset when you say you want to engage a particular target and not put innocent people in danger,” Delgado said. “We’re ready to take the fight to the enemy.”
And future improvements in the rocket system hold the promise of taking the fight to more enemies, at greater distances, and with more precision than ever before.
Many of these potential improvements are being explored under a concept being dubbed the “Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) ‘Plus’” test bed now being explored as an Independent Research and Development project by Lockheed Martin.
According to Scott Arnold, vice president of precision fires at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, “Guided MLRS Plus” is designed to “look down the road” toward potential future capability gaps and explore technologies that might be useful in addressing those gaps.
Specific technology areas being explored include extended range, “scalable effects warheads” and the ability to hit “fleeting” targets.
“We are using the term ‘fleeting,’ because of the difficulties surrounding artillery hitting a ‘moving’ type target,” added Buster Thrasher, program manager at Lockheed Martin. “When you say ‘moving’ it has connotations of a BMP going down a road at 30 kilometers an hour. People will tell you, ‘That’s pretty hard to do.’ And it is.”
“On this particular rocket we’re going to integrate a semi-active laser [SAL] seeker,” Arnold said. “And the one that we’re using is what we originally developed at Lockheed Martin for our DAGR rocket – a 2.75-inch guided rocket launched off helicopters. We’re leveraging that seeker technology and incorporating it on the front end of a GMLRS rocket.
“We’ll focus this first shot on demonstrating how we can integrate the SAL seeker onto Guided MLRS,” Arnold added. “Then I think from there we will explore some scalable effects warhead technologies, and some extended range options on how we can get to greater ranges with GMLRS.”
The initial test flight for the new rocket design is slated for the late-July/early-August 2010 timeframe. Whether or when the new design could be made available to warfighters remains to be seen.