The Army and industry are improving lethality and revving up production of an ISIS-attacking, long-range precision guided mobile rocket weapon able to precisely hit enemy targets in all weather conditions at ranges up to 300 miles.
Engineered as a mobile launcher built onto a 5-ton Army FMTV, the Army’s High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, provides moveable offensive firepower against fixed enemy infrastructure, force concentrations or even groups of fighters deliberately blended into civilian populations.
The Lockheed-Martin built HIMARS launcher is able to fire one MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile System and six Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems – both GPS an inertial measurement unit-guided precision rocket weapons.
“HIMARS production has resumed in the US for the first time since mid-2013, creating a production capability critical for both US and partner nations' field artillery defense,” Daniel O’Boyle, spokesman for Program Executive Officer Missiles and Space, told Scout Warrior.
Although the initial current increase production lot supports Foreign Military Sales, re-establishing an active US line provides important flexibility and enables rapid response to changing conditions and emerging requirements, O’Boyle added.
HIMARS has been widely used in the ongoing US military support for Iraqi Security Forces attacking ISIS; it enables fire support from forward-positioned fire bases without immersing US troops in close-up, front line combat. While HIMARS would indeed have uses in large-scale force-on-force major power warfare, the weapons’ mobility and long-range precision is well suited for attacks on ISIS by offering substantial support to advancing ground forces attacking fast-maneuvering groups of enemy fighters.
“Early entry forces like HIMARS because it is C-130 transportable,” Becky Withrow, Director, Business Development, Army Special Ops and Advanced Programs, Lockheed, told Scout Warrior in an interview.
HIMARS rockets were particularly helpful in attacks on ISIS during the battle for Mosul, many reports indicated.
ISIS fighters are known to quickly change position and seek protection from different buildings or fortified fighting locations. As a result, having an ability to re-position attack locations can multiply options for commanders looking to move or re-deploy HIMARS in response to changing combat scenarios. The weapon is built to quickly receive new targeting information from a Tactical Operations Center or Battle Command location, developers said.
Lockheed is also working on an electronics upgrade to the ATACMS weapon by installing a new proximity sensor into the weapon. Instead of detonating on impact or using a delayed fuse, ATACMs will now be able to explode in the air above or near enemy targets.
“It can do a height of burst and become more of an area effect,” Withrow said.
This new technology for ATACMs is something advantageous for attacking enemies such as ISIS given that their fighters often move in small groups of fighters and travel in armed pick-up trucks.
Also, for the first time, Lockheed has built its own from-the-ground-up FMTV for its HIMARS launcher, moving beyond its prior efforts to integrate the launcher onto a BAE or Oshkosh-built truck.
"This allows us to be a system integrator for the entire vehicles and achieve improvements and efficiencies in the production. We are able to look at the whole vehicle and build it from there,” Withrow said.
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