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American tactical ballistic missile From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS; pronounced /əˈtækəmz/) is a supersonic tactical ballistic missile designed and manufactured by the US defense company Ling-Temco-Vought (LTV), and later Lockheed Martin through acquisitions.
ATACMS (Army tactical missile system) | |
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![]() ATACMS launch by HIMARS | |
Type | Rocket artillery Tactical ballistic missile |
Place of origin | United States |
Service history | |
In service | 1991–present[1] |
Used by |
|
Wars | |
Production history | |
Designer | Ling-Temco-Vought |
Designed | 1986 |
Manufacturer | Lockheed Martin |
Unit cost | M39: $820,000 (FY1998)[2] (or ~$1,476,000 FY2022) M57: ~$1,700,000 (FY2021)[3] |
No. built | 3,700[4][5] |
Specifications ([6][7]) | |
Mass | 3,690 pounds (1,670 kg) |
Length | 13 feet (4.0 m) |
Diameter | 24 inches (610 mm) |
Wingspan | 55 inches (1.4 m) |
Maximum firing range | 190 mi (300 km) |
Warhead | M74 bomblets (M39) or 214 kg (472 lb) WAU-23/B unitary warhead (M48, M57) |
Flight ceiling | 160,000 ft (50 km)[8] |
Maximum speed | Supersonic, in excess of Mach 3 (0.6 mi/s; 1.0 km/s)[8] |
Guidance system | GPS-aided inertial navigation guidance |
Launch platform | M270, HIMARS |
It uses solid propellant and is 13 feet (4.0 m) long and 24 inches (610 mm) in diameter, and the longest-range variants can fly up to 190 miles (300 km).[9] The missiles can be fired from the tracked M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) and the wheeled M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS).
An ATACMS launch container (pod) has one rocket but a lid patterned with six circles like a standard MLRS rocket lid to prevent an enemy from discerning what type of missile is loaded.[1]
The concept of a conventional tactical ballistic missile was made possible by the doctrinal shift of the late Cold War, which rejected the indispensability of an early nuclear strike on the Warsaw Pact forces in the event the Cold War went hot.[10] The AirLand Battle and Follow-on Forces Attack doctrines, which emerged in the late 1970s and early 1980s, necessitated a conventional-armed (hence much more accurate) missile to strike enemy reserves, so the United States Army Aviation and Missile Command sponsored the Simplified Inertial Guidance Demonstrator (SIG-D) program.[10]
Within this program, Ling-Temco-Vought developed a solid-fuel analog of the MGM-52 Lance missile, designated T-22,[11] with a new RLG-based inertial guidance package, which demonstrated unprecedented accuracy.[10] In 1978, DARPA started the Assault Breaker technology demonstration program to attack armor formations with many mobile hard targets at standoff ranges. It used the T-22 missile and the Patriot-based Martin Marietta T-16 missile with cluster warheads.
Development of the missile now known as ATACMS started in 1980, when the U.S. Army decided to replace the Lance with a similar nuclear, but also chemical or biological, tipped solid-fuel missile dubbed the Corps Support Weapon System (CSWS). Concerned that two branches were developing too many similar missiles with different warheads, the Department of Defense merged the program with DARPA's Assault Breaker in 1981, and with United States Air Force (USAF)'s Conventional Standoff Weapon (CSW) in 1982–1983.[12]
The new missile system, designated Joint Tactical Missile System (JTACMS), soon encountered USAF resistance to the idea of an air-launched ballistic missile. As a result, in 1984 the USAF ended its participation in the non-cruise missile portion of the program, leading to the missile being redesignated as the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS).[12]
In March 1986, Ling-Temco-Vought won the contract for the missile design. The system was assigned the MGM-140 designation. The first test launch came two years later, thanks to earlier experience of the company with previous programs.
In 2007, the U.S. Army terminated the ATACMS program due to cost, ending the ability to replenish stocks. To sustain the remaining inventory, the ATACMS Service Life Extension Program (SLEP) was launched, which refurbishes or replaces propulsion and navigation systems, replaces cluster munition warheads with the unitary blast fragmentation warhead, and adds a proximity fuze option to obtain area effects. Deliveries were projected to start in 2018. The ATACMS SLEP is a bridging initiative to provide time to complete analysis and development of a successor capability to the aging ATACMS stockpile, which could be ready around 2022.[needs update][13]
The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023 authorized the production and procurement of up to 1,700 additional ATACMS, but this was not funded by the 2023 Defense Appropriations Act.[14][15][needs update]
In January 2015, Lockheed Martin received a contract to develop and test new hardware for Block I ATACMS missiles to eliminate the risk of unexploded ordnance by 2016.[4][5] The first modernized Tactical Missile System (TACMS) was delivered in September 2016 with updated guidance electronics and added capability to defeat area targets using a unitary warhead, without leaving behind unexploded ordnance.[16][17] Lockheed was awarded a production contract for launch assemblies as part of the SLEP in August 2017.[18] In 2021, Lockheed Martin was contracted to upgrade existing M39 munitions to the M57 variant with a WDU-18/B warhead from the Harpoon missile by 2024.[19]
A plan announced in October 2016 to add an existing seeker to enable the ATACMS to strike moving targets on land and at sea[20] was terminated in December 2020 to pursue other missile efforts.[21]
Starting from 2016, in-view of some lagging in world arms race, where ATACMS become outdated, Long-Range Precision Fires (LRPF) began to be developed[22], which later was renamed to Precision Strike Missile (PrSM), suggesting to replace ATACMS missiles on the phase (version) "Increment 1" of PrSM[23][24][25]. That exact replacement began to fill the U.S. Army at the late 2023.[26]
![]() | This section needs to be updated. (August 2024) |
M39 Block I | M39A1 Block I | M48 QRU | M57 Block IA Unitary | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Mass | 1,667 kg (3,675 lb) | 1,318 kg (2,906 lb) (est) | Unknown | Unknown |
Length | 3.975 m (13 ft 0.5 in) | |||
Diameter | 610 mm (24 in) | |||
Guidance type |
INS | GPS aided INS | ||
Warhead | 950 x M74 bomblets[note 1] | 300 x M74 bomblets | WAU-23/B unitary warhead | |
Warhead weight |
591 kg (1,303 lb) | 174 kg (384 lb) | 214 kg (472 lb) | |
Fuze | M74 APAM bomblets each initiated by an M219A1E1 fuze | FMU 141/B point detonating fuze | Tri-mode (point detonating, proximity, and delay) fuze | |
Motor | Solid-propellant rocket motor | |||
Max speed | Mach 3 (1,000 m/s; 3,300 ft/s) | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown |
Min range | 25 km (16 mi) | 70 km (43 mi) | ||
Max range | 165 km (103 mi) | 300 km (190 mi) | 270 km (170 mi) | 300 km (190 mi) |
The ATACMS was first used in combat in 1991: 32 were fired from the M270 MLRS during Operation Desert Storm.[88] In 2003, more than 450 were fired in Operation Iraqi Freedom.[89] As of early 2015, more than 560 ATACMS missiles had been used in combat.[4][5]
Starting from October 2023 Ukraine, using the earliest (short-ranged) versions of ATACMS during the Russian invasion of Ukraine [90], where these missiles threatened the Russian-occupied "land corridor" to Crimea in the southern part of Ukraine[91] as well as the vast majority of the Russian-operated air bases at the north of occupied Crimea, which significantly complicated use of attack helicopters, previously based there, by Russia against Ukrainian targets.[30][35]
Starting from 19 February 2024 there were rumors about possible near-future use of later (longer-ranged) versions of ATACMS by Ukraine[92], which in 2 months were proven correct, when an ATACMS missile attack to the Russian-occupied Dzhankoi air base, which was positioned much further from nearest Ukraine-controlled territory then earliest version of ATACMS' strike range, resulting in six main explosions and several reported secondary explosions.[93], and was officially confirmed within a week, when U.S. officials revealed Ukraine already received and deployed the missiles to a combat ready status a month ago.[94][95][96][97][98][99]
On June, 23th, 2024 an incident happened during an attack on Sevastopol, where Russian air defense missiles were fired at multiple ATACMS missiles resulting in explosions that caused 2 to 4 dead and more 150 injured people on Uchkiivka Beach, where locals reported that no air raid warning had taken place and therefore people on the beach were not able to evacuate.[100][101].
The ATACMS uses multiple inertial navigation units knitted together with software, so it is able to maintain accuracy when GPS is lost from Russian electronic warfare better than other GPS-guided weapons.[102]
On July, 1st, 2024, Russia claimed to have recovered an ATACMS missile guidance system intact and Russian officials are studying the guidance system to "identify any weak spots".[103]
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