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Screen capture from a Lockheed Martin video showing the main components of the Precision Strike Missile. The nosecone has available space to install new seeker heads in the future giving the missile the hability to track moving target both on land and at sea.
If the future new Lockheed Martin Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) can be made to fly over 300+ miles, this might mean that the United States Marine Corps’ (USMC) HiMARS can fire these missiles from ships out at sea without requiring the LCACs, SSCs, LCUs, or LAWs to land forces on the beaches.
Peter Ong 10 Apr 2021According to Breaking Defense, Lockheed’s new Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) has ranges from 60 to 499 kilometers (37 to 310 miles). Two PrSMs will fit inside the rocket pod of a USMC High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HiMARS).
According to Lockheed Martin’s Precision Strike Missile’s page, the 156-inch (13 feet/4 meters) long and 17-inch (1.4 feet/0.4 meter) PrSM is designed for survivability, using Advanced Global Positioning System (GPS) updates that can work in a degraded environment for flight control guidance. The PrSM’s optimized warhead uses preformed fragments to maximize lethality and area blast coverage on the target (such as in an airburst fashion). The nosecone has available space to mount seeker heads at a future date to track both land and sea targets.
Lockheed video screenshot showing a HiMARS with two expended PrSMs per launch pod. A HiMARS can carry one launch pod, an U.S. Army MLRS can carry two pods, or four PrSMs.
According to Breaking Defense’s article, the U.S. Army wants the PrSM to fly out even further, perhaps out to 500-1,100 miles (804-1,770 kilometers) with further future upgrades.
AUSA Warriors Corner 2019 on Long Range Precision Fires (LRPF) had a Powerpoint slide statement that read:
At the AUSA Global Force Next 2021’s presentation on Long Range Precision Fires, the representative for Fires/Combat Maneuver Systems, Tactical and Strike Missiles, Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control said that the company has 30 years of performance data on ATACMS (ATACMS was first fielded in 1991) that allows Lockheed to model the flight characters and predict the effectiveness of the Precision Strike Missile. The use of 3D printers has allowed for a faster production although the Lockheed representative admitted that COVID-19 has affected and slowed the progress of all the Defense suppliers.
Naval News comments
Alluding to U.S. Army General James McConville’s comments, if the U.S. Marine Corps is to operate as independent small units as envisioned by USMC General David Berger, HiMARS armed with PrSMs would be instrumental in a land attack and Anti-ship role, especially if the missile’s range is increased to 310-1,100 miles (500-1,770 km) and the nosecones are fitted with an advanced seeker that can track moving targets. A missile that has a dual-functional method of seeking and tracking both moving land and sea targets would mean that one or a few HiMARS can effectively deter a broader assortment of moving enemy threats and can provide much better effective deterrence than the existing PrSM that just uses advanced GPS guidance against stationary targets and currently has no seeker to target moving enemy targets.
U.S. Navy hovercrafts, Landing Crafts, and Light Amphibious Warships (LAW) would not have to beach and unload the HiMARS if the PrSM’s long range is enough to reach out and fire from the ship itself, such as from the helicopter flight deck as demonstrated from the flight deck of the San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship USS Anchorage (LPD 23) during Dawn Blitz 2017 Oct. 22, or the flight deck of the upcoming LAW. (See photos below). 300+ miles is more than the 100 nautical mile range (115mi/185 kilometers) of the Naval Strike Missile and more than the 150 nmi (172mi/280 km) Harpoon.
If the U.S. Army and Lockheed can manufacturer the PrSM variant with increased range and possess an advanced seeker head that tracks moving targets, such a PrSM might alleviate the twenty-five percent budget cut that the U.S. Marine Corps sustained in researching and developing LRPF Ground-Based AnLRti-ship Missiles.
“The High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) was fired from the flight deck of the San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship USS Anchorage (LPD 23) during Dawn Blitz 2017 Oct. 22.” [Author: With a missile range of 310 to possibly even 1,100 miles, (500-1,770 km), a single or a few USMC HiMARS can expand the defense deterrence radius to fire from the amphibious ship or LAW itself without even having to close in and land HiMARS on shore. US Navy picture.
The Light Amphibious Warship (green ship, bottom) will have to land the USMC HiMARS because the PrSM missiles currently have short range. Lockheed’s future PrSMs with expanded ranges and advanced seekers can have the HiMARS fire from the helicopter flight deck when out at sea at moving land and sea targets as envisioned by USMC General Berger. Image: Sea Transport Solutions.
New PrSMs Variants Could be a Game Changer for the U.S. Marine Corps’ HiMARS - Naval News
If the future new Lockheed Martin Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) can be made to fly over 300+ miles, this might mean that the United States Marine Corps’ (USMC) HiMARS can fire these missiles from ships out at sea without requiring the LCACs, SSCs, LCUs, or LAWs to land forces on the beaches.
www.navalnews.com
