An article in Navalnews on Saturday said that if Lockheed Martin’s new Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) could reach a range of more than 300 miles (480+ km), it would mean that the U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) Seamaster rocket system could launch these missiles from ships at sea without the need for landing craft hovercraft, shore ship connectors (SSC), LCU landing craft or light amphibious warfare ships (LAW) for beaching.
The online magazine Breaking Defense reports that Lockheed’s new precision strike missile has not yet been test-fired at its maximum range, which the Army says is only a classified figure of more than 500 kilometers (311 miles). “The HiMARS High Mobility Multiple Launch Rocket System can carry two Precision Strike Missiles (PrSM).
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Trump administration’s sale of HiMARS rocket systems to Taiwan has deep implications
In October 2020, the Trump administration agreed to sell the HERMAS rocket system to Taiwan, which sparked worldwide attention. Don’t belittle the Hymas high-mobility rocket launcher, it will seriously threaten our army to seize the beach landing”, only 5,580 comments, the article exclaimed that “the 11 sets of “Hymas” high-mobility rocket systems sold to Taiwan by the United States are, frankly speaking, for anti-landing operations. “
The article describes the power of the HERMAS rocket system as follows: “We must not ignore the enormous threat of HERMAS. Mobile rocket systems have always been the greatest threat to ground forces, far more than conventional artillery or tactical missiles, and the extent of damage from an intense rocket barrage would be very serious, even leading to direct failure of the mission.”
However, the range of Hymas was still 300 kilometers at that time.
Photo: The Trump administration approved the sale of 11 sets of Haimas high-mobility rocket systems to Taiwan, and the land media exclaimed “a serious threat to our army’s beach landing”
Precise strike missiles may have a range of 1,700 kilometers in the future
According to Lockheed Martin’s “Precision Strike Missile” profile page, the 4-meter-long, 0.4-meter-diameter precision strike missile is designed for survival and uses advanced Global Positioning System (GPS) updates to operate in harsh environments and for flight Control guidance. The Precision Strike Missile’s optimized warhead uses preformed shrapnel to maximize target kill and area blast coverage (e.g., by airburst). The nose cone has available space for future installation of a detection head to track land and sea targets.
According to the Defense Breakthrough article, the U.S. Army wants the precision strike missile to have a longer range, perhaps 500-1,100 miles (804-1,770 km) with further upgrades in the future.
In 2019, the Association of the United States Army (AUSA) Warrior’s Corner PowerPoint slide on Long Range Precision Firepower (LRPF) described it this way.
“The Precision Strike Missile is a long-range missile launched from an existing launch platform that provides greater range, lethality, and survivability at a lower cost than the legacy MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS). The Army tactical missile is 13 feet (4 meters) in length, has a larger diameter of 24 inches (610 mm) and flies at speeds of Mach 3+ to targets from 80 miles (128 km) to 190 miles (300 km), depending on the Block configuration.”
In a presentation by the Association of the U.S. Army on long-range precision firepower, Lockheed Martin representatives said the company has 30 years of performance data on Army tactical missiles (ATACMS was first fielded in 1991), which allows Lockheed to predict the effectiveness of “precision strike missiles.” While Lockheed representatives acknowledged that the epidemic has affected and slowed down all defense suppliers, the use of 3D printers has also allowed for faster production.
Last month, Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville told the Association of the U.S. Army’s “Future Global Force” conference.
“The U.S. Army continues to be important in the Indo-Pacific region, providing combatant commanders with the option of Multi-Domain Operations. Multi-domain task forces will provide long-range precision launch, cyber, space and deterrence, hypersonic, air defense and more.
Referring to General McConville’s comments, if the U.S. Marines operate as a small, independent force as envisioned by Marine Corps General David Berger, Hymas rockets armed with precision-strike missiles would contribute to a land attack and anti-ship role, especially if the range of the missiles were increased to 310-1,100 miles (500-1,770 kilometers) and the nose cone was fitted with a nose cone capable of tracking moving Advanced searchers capable of tracking targets. A missile with the dual function of finding and tracking moving targets on land and at sea would mean that one or several Hymas rocket systems could effectively deter a wider variety of moving enemy threats, providing a better and more effective deterrent than existing precision-strike missiles that are not yet capable of targeting moving enemy targets and only use advanced GPS guidance against stationary targets.
If precision-strike missiles had sufficient range to fire from ships, U.S. Navy hovercraft, landing craft and light amphibious warships would not have to beach and offload Hymas rocket systems.
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