By Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization
“Outranging the enemy” were the words used by an Army flag officer when describing the concepts of operation informing the rapid development and deployment of a new generation of ground-fired weapons …. Such as the now-arriving Precision Strike Missile. (PrSM)
Indeed range, coupled with precision, speed, guidance targeting technology and various kinds of energetics and explosives are merely a few of the defining characteristics of the next-generation long-range strike weapon. Not long ago, the Army awarded PrSM-maker Lockheed a $219 million deal to produce more Early Operational Capability (EOC) weapons for the service. While many of the specifics related to the PrSM are not available for security reasons, weapons specs from both the Army and Lockheed Martin explain the weapon has a maximum range of 400 to 499 km, a breakthrough reach for a high-speed precision missile. The weapon is also compatible with HIMARS launchers and capable of launching from M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems and M270A2 Multiple Launch Rocket Systems,
“The Precision Strike Missile will provide Joint Force commanders with a 24/7, all-weather capability that will counter the enemy’s ability to conduct combat maneuver and air defense operations,” said Doug Bush, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology. “The rapid development and delivery of this capability is a prime example of the Army’s aggressive use of new acquisition authorities from Congress that allow us to move at much greater speed to get improved equipment to Soldiers.”
Air Force Research Lab Scientists Describe Collaborative Bomb Targeting & Golden Horde
PrSM & Combat Maneuver
Bush’s reference to the term “combat maneuver” seems quite significant, as longer-range weapons not only allow greater stand-off attack range but also enable forces to reposition within a larger protective envelope of fires. In operational terms, this can translate into forward reconnaissance or small unit targeted attacks. Additionally, mechanized formations might be capable of moving closer to contact with an enemy to “close” on a position beneath the protective fire of a 499km-ranged PrSM weapon.
Sure enough, the arrival of emerging technologies regularly changes maneuver formations, contributing to modern adaptations of Combined Arms Maneuver based on a wider operational area, large-scale use of unmanned systems and increased multi-domain networking capability. This concept introduces the idea of precision guidance, meaning the extent to which the weapon’s seeker can enable the weapon to maneuver in flight, receive new target information or strike moving targets. Army weapons developers have been testing new, high-tech “seekers” for PrSM, the details of which have not been available for security reasons. However, Bush’s comment about “all weather” targeting could be a reference to “millimeter wave” sensing which can indeed maintain target precision through weather obscurants. The weapon and its ammunition may also be armed with cutting edge guidance technologies, inertial measurement or in-flight data-sharing ability. The Air Force’s Golden Horde program, for example, has demonstrated the ability of “collaborative targeting” wherein air-dropped and guided bombs can exchange targeting detail between themselves in flight. It certainly seems “possible” that something similar could be in development for the Army, particularly given the extended flight time enabled by longer-range weapons. With Golden Horde, miniature computers and transmission technology are built into the rounds themselves to enable target data processing and collaborative information sharing between weapons in flight, some which relies upon data analysis at the point of collection. It seems conceivable, if not likely, that the Army is developing a comparable ability to “network” rockets, missiles and artillery to one another in flight. The Army’s now fast-developing “shaped trajectory” 155 artillery round, for example, can adjust course in flight to strike a target obscured beneath a bridge or on the other side of a small mountain. This kind of technology is fast emerging, so in terms of concepts of operation, it would seem quite relevant if the PrSM were being developed with an ability to shift-course and adjust in flight to destroy moving targets and accommodate new targets.
Land-Fired Tomahawk and SM-6
Furthermore, the PrSM joins a small arsenal of emerging ground-fired weapons now being fast-tracked by the Army in recent years, following Russia’s violation of the INF Treaty which limited certain medium-range strike weapons. A missile capable of traveling 400-to-800km, for instance, can hold critical parts of NATO at risk of attack from medium-range Russian missiles and rockets.
It is perhaps with this in mind that the Army is moving quickly to develop and deploy a range of ground fired weapons capable of attacking at these ranges, efforts which include adapting Navy weapons such as the Tomahawk and SM-6 Missiles for land-attack. Both the Tomahawk and the SM-6, long in service with the Navy, are now engineered with technology enabling them to track and destroy “moving” targets at distances up to hundreds of miles. The Block IV Tomahawk, for example, operates with a two-way data link and drone-like loitering ISR capability allowing in-flight target adjustments.
Given these developments, it seems clear that the Army is fast developing a formidable arsenal of high-speed, long-range precision-guidance ground missiles, rockets and artillery intended to change the paradigms of Combined Arms Maneuver and enable new tactics and concepts of operation.
Kris Osborn President of Warrior Maven – Center for Military Modernization. Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a Highly Qualified Expert with the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel. He also has a Masters Degree in Comparative Literature from Columbia University.
