Ground vehicle systems: one way to deal with armoured formations close to the front line is to dispense submunitions from artillery rockets. (Complete Guide).

Atacms

Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control is responsible for the design and manufacture of the MLRS (Multiple Launch Rocket System), in which the M270 tracked vehicle fires twelve M26 or two Atacms (Army Tactical Missile System) rockets. During Desert Storm, 32 Atacms and over 10,000 M26s were fired. The MLRS is now fielded in 14 countries.

The baseline M26 delivers 644 dual-purpose M77 grenades over 32 km, while the extended-range M26A1/2 carries 518 over 45 km. The German-manufactured AT2 version dispenses 28 anti-tank mines. The Atacms Block I delivers 644 dual-purpose M74 submunitions to a maximum range of 165 km, while the Block IA has GPS guidance and carries 300 M74s for 300 km, and the Block II takes 13 Northrop Grumman Bat anti-armour submunitions to 140 km. In principle, the Atacms Universal Dispenser can deal with other submunition loads, such as four Locaas, eight BLU-108s or 32 Sadarms. The latest vehicle in the MLRS family is the Himars (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System), which mounts six M26-series rockets or one Atacms missile on the FMTV five-ton truck, which can then be transported in a C-130. The even lighter Limaws is planned for service entry sometime in 2006.

The Bat is the responsibility of the Electronic Systems division of Northrop Grumman and in its baseline form employs a combination of passive acoustic and imaging infrared seekers to detect and home on to moving armoured targets. It is currently in the low production phase for the US Army. The P3I Bat will add an advanced millimetre-wave radar and an improved imaging infrared sensor to expand the target set to include stationary and cold vehicles, including Sam and Scud-type launchers as well as artillery rocket systems. Tests from a helicopter have recently demonstrated the feasibility of releasing the Bat from a UAV such as Predator using a Bat UAV ejection tube (Buet).

Future development potential for MLRS includes the use of later payloads, notably the Lam (Loitering Attack Munition) being developed for the NetFires system, which is discussed later in this report.

Smerch

Russia's equivalent of MLRS is the 12-tube Smerch system, mounted on the 9A52-2 8 x 8 combat vehicle. It fires the 300 mm 9M55 family of rockets for a distance of up to 70 km. The 800 kg 9M55K1 weighs 800 kg and carries five top-attack anti-armour submunitions, each weighing 15 kg and equipped with a two-band IR seeker. The 9M55K4 dispenses 25 anti-tank mines, each weighing 4.85 kg.

Khrizantema

The KBM Khrizantema system is mounted on the BMP-3 tracked ICV (infantry combat vehicle) chassis, which houses a retractable fire control radar and 15 supersonic missiles in expendable tubes. The missiles are extended on a two-round launcher, which, after firing, is retracted to be automatically reloaded. Two targets can be engaged simultaneously, one missile using millimetre-wave radar guidance and the other laser beam-riding.

Losat

The trend to more easily deployed systems is illustrated by the Lockheed Martin Losat (Line-Of-Sight AntiTank), which is based on an air-mobile, up-armoured Hummer chassis. It has a crew of three and is equipped with a second-generation flir/video sensor and four Kinetic Energy Missiles (Kem) that can defeat all projected armoured fighting vehicles and can out-range tank guns. Eight reloads can be carried on a trailer. The Kem weighs 80 kg and houses a long rod penetrator. It has a maximum speed of Mach 4.5 and a range of over 4000 metres. The missile follows a lofted delivery to keep its exhaust plume above the line-of-sight, and it receives target position updates from the launch vehicle by means of a laser beam.

The Losat vehicle weighs approximately 5.5 tonnes and can be reloaded in less than ten minutes using an on-board materiel-handling system. Last August Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control received an initial $ 9.3 million production contract for 108 Kems. The company is already producing 44 missiles and 13 fire units under the ACTD (advanced concept technology demonstration) programme, and it is planned that, in an emergency, a company of the US Army's 5-11th Parachute Infantry Regiment could go to war with twelve Losat fire units in 2004. The US Army eventually hopes to acquire 172 more fire units and around 1600 missiles. Lockheed Martin has studied the use of Kems on a modified LAV III chassis, which would carry eight rounds externally and eight reloads internally.

Ckem

The US Army also has a programme for a lighter (23 kg) but faster (Mach 6.5) Compact Kinetic Energy Missile with a range of 5000 metres to act as the primary direct-fire anti-armour weapon for the Future Combat System (FCS). The concept definition and risk-reduction phases are being competed by Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and a team combining Northrop Grumman and Miltec. The SDD phase is expected to last from late FY2003 to late FY2007, leading to deliveries in FY2008. On 6 August 2002, a ballistic test firing of Raytheon's Hypervelocity Anti-Tank Missile (Hatm) took place in Norway. The Hatm is designed for compatibility with existing Tow launch systems, of which the US Army and Marine Corps have more than 6000. The firing was carried out from a prototype of the Raytheon Universal Launcher, equipped with the Itas and mounted on a Hummer.

It may be explained that, as currently planned, the FCS is to consist of up to 20 different manned and unmanned ground and airborne platforms. The ground vehicles will weigh 16 to 20 tonnes, and thus be transportable in a C-130 or its replacement. The concept technology demonstration phase is being conducted by Boeing teamed with SAIC. The decision to go ahead is scheduled for 2003, which will lead to the first unit being equipped in 2008 and deployed in 2010.

Aside from the Ckem, the other missile element of the FCS is the NetFires, which, funded by the Darpa, will provide indirect fire support. The NetFires involves the remote control of container/launcher units (CLUs) of low-cost, vertically launched precision and loitering attack missiles (Pam and Lam), each weighing around 45 kg. The CLUs would be dispensed across the battlefield from ground and airborne vehicles. The Lam is envisaged as a turbojet-powered, canister-launched, swing-wing Ucav with a loiter time of around 45 minutes, a range of over 250 km, a dual-mode (laser/ ladar) seeker for surveillance/ reconnaissance duties and a multi-mode warhead. The first flight of a Raytheon Lam took place on 17 June 2002.

The Pam will be more like a conventional missile in configuration, with an uncooled IR seeker and a variable-thrust rocket motor. It would carry out long-range (50 km) precision attacks against armoured targets such as tanks and command and control vehicles. Both missiles and launcher should have been demonstrated by the second quarter of 2004.