By Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization
The precision-guided Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System blasted onto the scene during Operation Enduring Freedom when it was used to attack the Taliban and then also used in Iraq in Operation Iraqi Freedom as well.
The arrival of the weapon, which uses GPS and IMU precision guidance emerged at a time when the Army was just beginning to shape attack tactics and strategies due to the arrival of precision land munitions. Going back to the Gulf War in the early 1990s, precision guided air attack and weapons such as Joint Direct Attack Munitions have enabled pinpoint attacks from the air, however it was 2007 when the Army introduced a first-of-its kind precision-guided land weapons such as 155mm artillery and rockets as well. These innovations were paradigm changing for land-war commanders who had for years merely thought of artillery as an “area” weapon designed to blanket an area with suppressive fire, allowing troops to maneuver.
The GPS-guided 155m artillery, called Excalibur made by Raytheon, was first fired in Iraq in 2007, and the weapon was immediately able to pinpoint targets with a Circular Error Probable of only 1-meter. This introduced an unprecedented measure of precision for ground commanders, who quickly adapted Concepts of Operation to attack insurgents and Taliban in Iraq and Afghanistan with new tactics. Around this same general time, Lockheed’s GMLRS blasted onto the scene and showed great promise destroying high-value Taliban and terrorist targets. An official familiar with OEF told Warrior years ago that a GMLRS was in fact responsible for killing now deceased Taliban leader Mullah Omar.
More recently … GMLRS rockets have proven paradigm-changing in Ukraine as they have enabled Ukrainian fighters to target Russian equipment, forces and rocket launchers from greater stand-off ranges. Given Russia’s indiscriminate bombing of Ukrainian neighborhoods and direct targeting of civilian areas, an ability to destroy long-range rocket and missile launchers has proven critical to Ukraine. Even if thed NATO and Ukrainian surveillance can see the launchers with ISR, there needed to be a way to destroy them without air superiority, given that Ukrainian fighters have been unable to destroy them from the air.
At its inception, GMLRS was capable of traveling as far as 70km to destroy a target. Now, however, GMLRS creators Lockheed Martin have successfully tested a range-doubling new variant of the GMLRS which achieved ranges of 150km. In effect, this successful firing test, which took place at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., doubles the range of the weapon while sustaining precision-strike technologies.
“The test demonstrates nearly double the range, while maintaining the precision GMLRS is known for,” said Jay Price, vice president of Precision Fires at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, said in a company statement.
In an essay describing the flight trajectory of the Extended Range GMLRS, Lockheed weapons developers extended range from launch to impact and also integrated the weapon with HIMARS rocket launchers to achieve “overall mission performance.”
“Prior to launch, the rocket pod underwent Stockpile to Target Sequence (STS) testing. This effort simulates cumulative effects ER GMLRS will meet in the field between factory and launch for the life of the system and demonstrates durability of the missile and launch pod container,” the Lockheed essay said.
Overall, Lockheed has produced more than 60,000 GMLRS and also upgraded and adjusted the weapon to accommodate new explosive technologies such as a unitary warhead and “alternative warheads.” Also, the ability to use gyroscope types of Inertial Measurement Unit guidance can help maintain precision for the weapon in the event GPS is jammed or disabled by enemy interference.
Kris Osborn is 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.
