The war of Russian aggression in Ukraine is one of the biggest proving grounds for modern weapons technology. Most drone technologies, for example, have been creeping along waiting to grant true validation to their product. Then along comes a war and, politics permitting, they now have the pristine probability to launch their weapons against all different armor targets and, not meaning to sound crass but, killing people. Unfortunately, war is business with a single driver — inflicting harm on humans in the most efficient way.
There’s the bottom line; I’m pretty sure I said it out loud, so there’s no taking it back. The equation is simple enough: if your Multiple Rocket Launch System (MRLS), for example, inflict more casualties than my MLRS… then, ultimately, I want your MLRS on my side in combat so I can win the war. There really is no other avenue to winning a war.
The Multiple Launch Rockets weapon
The Multiple Launch Rocket weapon draws its roots from the WWII Russian Katusha weapons. The basic system was a truck-pulled multiple-launch rocket payload of as many as 24 rockets per launcher. It was known to make a hellish racket when launched such that it garnered several nicknames from all sides of the war. The most prolific of the names, based on the monstrous racket the weapon emitted at launch, was “Moaning Meme.” The sounds struck absolute and lingering dread in the enemies on the recipient end.
Earlier MLRs were “fire and forget” weapons, which meant firing and forgetting if the rockets struck their targets or not. They were area weapons designed to (in the case of some) saturate an entire grid square (1,000m x 1,000m) with high explosives thereby destroying and demoralizing the enemy, and denying him that entire grid square parcel of land to operate in.
These MLRs were not guided munitions, nor were they ballistic rockets or missiles. Instead, they were of the Free Rocket Over Ground (FROG) class. FROG weapons are designed to strike their target or fly until they run out of fuel and kiss the dirt, much like the Nazi V-1 and V-2 Vergeltungswaffen used to attack and terrorize the citizens of Paris in WWII.
Surface-to-surface rockets generally belong to the artillery, according to the U.S. Army’s official Order of Battle (OB). (In the Order of Battle one would find the order of not only MLRS but other rockets, too.)
There are many surface-to-surface rocket systems and one of our top ones is going into action in the Ukrainian War.
Related: High-speed hype? The problems with hypersonic missiles
Enter the HIMARS
The U.S. has given Ukraine four HIMARS systems to help it turn the artillery tide against Russia.
The M124 HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System) is a multiple rocket launcher developed by Lockheed Martin. It offers combinations of ground mobility chassis such as pneumatic-wheeled M-270 trucks and the MLRS-type caterpillar-tracked chassis that are capable of being configured in many different launch setups.
HIMARS can fire a combination of ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile System) missiles, GMLRS rockets, and Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) rockets which have maximum range of approximately 300 miles — praise the Creator!
As exemplified by the HIMARS, the economy of multi-role weapons is clear.
Even in our national economy multi-purpose is fully recognized and perhaps one day will even be mandatory:
“Hey, Bill… do you think while you’re not brewing beer, Pak’s laundry down the street could use your fermentation vats to wash about 4,000 pairs of socks and trousers — five percent gratuity!”
By Almighty God and with honor — Slava Ukraïni
Geo sends
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- Twitter Bombs: Munitions allegedly carry revenge messages for Russian targets
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- What kind of fighter could the latest military tech really build?
The V1 and V2 rockets weren’t used against Paris, they were used against London, mainly.
A few were launched into belgium as well.
Loved the article, Geo, and even more so, how you transcend from the factual description to the finale. A tongue-in- cheek analogy! No one does it better than you.
Thank you so much for the compliments, Ms. Loula. When I write tech and other articles that bear a solemn atmosphere, I generally check my jest. While the closing comment was meant lightly, the modern industrial complex favors duel-use hardware items. Vats used to brew beer can just as easily cook up deadly chemical recipes that can amount to SA (nerve), blood, blister, and chemical agents of type organophosphate.
Cheers, Loula!
geo sends
I went up to Youtube and watched a couple of videos and they are really cool. Thank you, Geo, for your expert analysis.
Accuracy is the next boon in weapons technology, according to my vastly superior mind. I came to learn a secret, a secret whose nature was only specific to me by the
way it was whispered to me when I was told it. At the NTS during one of my latter years working there, it admitted to me that they had millimeter resolution at the site.
Look at your thumb or at a U.S. mint five-cent piece — the nickel. Both or ~25mm wide. This means that one day if you are so inclined to flip a nickel, a large-bore gun tube 50 miles away will be able to shoot the thumb and the nickel to stop the process.
All the best, Mic-Mac
geo sends
I always wondered how accurate they were and I don’t know if this is a silly question, can the HIMARS be used more than once? Is it a reloadable system or fire and just dump? I would think if it’s a dump then it would be an expensive piece of equipment.
Thanks Geo.
No, they can be re-loaded as many times as needed.
Brother Edwin Jackon states:
“No, they can be re-loaded as many times as needed.”
He is absolutely correct.
An MLRS fires a rocket such that all of the blast pressure from the launch is expended out the rear of the launcher. Guns like ARs and artillery pieces have areas that build up great pressure during the firing sequence, such as the chamber, barrel, et al. These are points of great wear to the guns and eventually call for failure for the weapon to fire.
I am not aware of any limit to the number of rockets a HIMAR battery can launch before it needs to be shown some love.
Rockets and recoilless rifles have no high-pressure point of failure. Consider the M-72 Light Anti-tank Weapon (LAW) is technically fired by one man from the shoulder and is recoilless by design in how it manages it’s backpressure gas at launch. And get this: it is made of plastic, very cheap, and does a decent job of destroying a light tank or bunker.
geo sends
Brother Edwin Jackon states:
“No, they can be re-loaded as many times as needed.”
He is absolutely correct.
An MLRS fires a rocket such that all of the blast pressure from the launch is expended out the rear of the launcher. Guns like ARs and artillery pieces have areas that build up great pressure during the firing sequence, such as the chamber, barrel, et al. These are points of great wear to the guns and eventually call for failure for the weapon to fire.
I am not aware of any limit to the number of rockets a HIMAR battery can launch before it needs to be shown some love.
Rockets and recoilless rifles have no high-pressure point of failure. Consider the M-72 Light Anti-tank Weapon (LAW) is technically fired by one man from the shoulder and is recoilless by design in how it manages it’s backpressure gas at launch. And get this: it is made of plastic, very cheap, and does a decent job of destroying a light tank or bunker.
geo sends