Comments on: Guided Unitary MLRS for Urban Warfare

By: Knowles Shaw

Knowles Shaw — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 17:18:25 +0000

Jim, other than your first glimpse of your newborn child in the delivery room (a pleasure that I hope you get to have one day), is there anything more beautiful than the vision of the massed fires of 27 M270 SPLLs during a nightime raid in the desert of Southwest Asia? Well, we probably shot that raid with only 26 launchers, b/c one of Shane's launchers was no doubt deadlined.

Hey Republican Guard -- got counterfire?

By: mannning

mannning — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 03:51:13 +0000

There are a number of portable or vehicle/air-borne Target Location Systems (TLS) available for acquiring targets in azimuth, elevation/depression, and range at a reasonable distance, and for designating them as well via laser; all measurements then mapped into GPS coordinates.

The GPS coordinates of the target are relayed digitally to the fire control point by the TLS. These GPS coordinates are then inserted into the weapon system. This targeting may have an overall accuracy of a few meters, or even less if all goes well.

(The GMLRS apparently does not have a laser-designator homing capability.)

The guidance and control system on the missile, and using GPS, is the critical factor, I believe, and that was mentioned in the reference.

By: yetanotherjohn

yetanotherjohn — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 19:59:16 +0000

Of course, you still need to know where to aim. And now you need to know with much more precision than a 1km x 1km grid point.

By: Triumph

Triumph — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 17:42:13 +0000

That they’re now trying to make this a precision weapon to hit small targets is interesting, indeed. Presumably, it reflects Lockheed’s desire to continue to sell these systems in a COIN world and necessity being the mother of all invention. If it works, though, it’ll make the King of Battle more relevant for future missions.

What's the problem with the old-school way--you seem to get more bang for your buck and more effectiveness at "clearing the theater"?

This just seems like a way for Lockheed to parlay some useless new invention for more defense contracts.