MGM-140 ATACMS

MGM-140 ATACMS
The MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS; pronounced /əˈtækəms/) is a tactical ballistic missile manufactured by the US defense company Lockheed Martin. It uses solid propellant, is high and in diameter, and the longest range variants can fly up to . The missiles can be fired from the tracked M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) and the wheeled M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS).
An ATACMS launch container has a lid patterned with six circles like a standard MLRS rocket lid, but contains only one missile; the identical pattern makes it more challenging for enemy intelligence to single it out as a high-value target.
History
The concept of a conventional tactical ballistic missile was made possible by the doctrinal shift of the late Cold War, which rejected the indispensability of an early nuclear strike on the Warsaw Pact forces in the event the Cold War went hot. The AirLand Battle and doctrines, which emerged in the late 1970s and early 1980s, necessitated a conventional-armed (hence much more accurate) missile to strike enemy reserves, so the United States Army Aviation and Missile Command sponsored the Simplified Inertial Guidance Demonstrator (SIG-D) program.
Within this program, Ling-Temco-Vought developed a solid-fuel analog of the MGM-52 Lance missile, designated T-22, with a new RLG-based inertial guidance package, which demonstrated unprecedented accuracy. In 1978, DARPA started the Assault Breaker technology demonstration program to attack armor formations with many mobile hard targets at standoff ranges. It utilized the T-22 missile and the Patriot-based Martin Marietta T-16 missile with cluster warheads.
Development of the missile now known as ATACMS started in 1980, when the U.S. Army decided to replace the Lance with a similar nuclear, but also chemical or biological, tipped solid-fuel missile dubbed the Corps Support Weapon System (CSWS). Concerned that two branches were developing too many similar missiles with different warheads, the Department of Defense merged the program with DARPA's Assault Breaker in 1981, and with United States Air Force (USAF)'s Conventional Standoff Weapon (CSW) in 1982–1983.
The new missile system, designated Joint Tactical Missile System (JTACMS), soon encountered USAF resistance to the idea of an air-launched ballistic missile. As a result, in 1984 the USAF ended its participation in the non-cruise missile portion of the program, leading to the missile being re-designated as the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS).
In March 1986, Ling-Temco-Vought won the contract for the missile design. The system was assigned the MGM-140 designation. The first test launch came two years later, thanks to earlier experience of the company with previous programs.
The first use of the ATACMS in combat was during Operation Desert Storm in 1991, where 32 of them were fired from the M270 MLRS. During Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003, more than 450 missiles were fired. As of early 2015, over 560 ATACMS missiles had been used in combat.
In 2007, the U.S. Army terminated the ATACMS program due to cost, ending the ability to replenish stocks. To sustain the remaining inventory, the ATACMS Service Life Extension Program (SLEP) was launched, which refurbishes or replaces propulsion and navigation systems, replaces cluster munition warheads with the unitary blast fragmentation warhead, and adds a proximity fuze option to obtain area effects. Deliveries were projected to start in 2018. The ATACMS SLEP is a bridging initiative to provide time to complete analysis and development of a successor capability to the aging ATACMS stockpile, which could be ready around 2022.
In January 2015, Lockheed Martin received a contract to develop and test new hardware for Block I ATACMS missiles to eliminate the risk of unexploded ordnance by 2016. The first modernized Tactical Missile System (TACMS) was delivered in September 2016 with updated guidance electronics and added capability to defeat area targets using a unitary warhead, without leaving behind unexploded ordnance. Lockheed was awarded a production contract for launch assemblies as part of the SLEP in August 2017. In 2021, Lockheed Martin was contracted to upgrade existing M39 munitions to the M57 variant with a WDU-18/B warhead from the Harpoon missile by 2024.
A plan announced in October 2016 to add an existing seeker to enable the ATACMS to strike moving targets on land and at sea was terminated in December 2020 to pursue other missile efforts.
The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023 authorized the production and procurement of up to 1,700 additional ATACMS systems.
War in Ukraine
In October 2023, a year and eight months after the Russo-Ukrainian War escalated to a Russian invasion, Ukraine received ATACMS from United States.
The use of these missiles threatened the entirety of the Russian land corridor in southern Ukraine. It further placed within reach the vast majority of the air bases operated by Russia inside Ukraine (north of Crimea), and complicated Russia's use of attack helicopters against Ukrainian targets.
Variants
M39 (ATACMS Block I) missile with inertial guidance. It carries 950 M74 anti-personnel and anti‑materiel bomblets, each about the size of a baseball and weighing , which are dispersed across a circular area approximately in diameter, covering in total and effective against parked aircraft, ammunition dumps, air defense systems, and gatherings of personnel, but not against armored vehicles. The size of the affected area can be changed by modifying the height at which the payload is released. Range of Block I is 25-165 km (15-100 mi). The M74 has a reported failure rate of 2%, or 19 for each M39 missile fired. Video is available of a U.S. Army test of the M39 at a mock airfield.
M39A1 (ATACMS Block IA) missile with GPS-aided guidance. It carries 300 M74 bomblets. There were 610 produced between 1997 and 2003. During Operation Iraqi Freedom, 74 were fired at Iraqi targets. The remaining ones are being updated to M57E1 missiles. The M39A1 and later variants can only be used with the M270A1 (or variants thereof) and M142 launchers. Range: .
M48 (ATACMS Quick Reaction Unitary [QRU]) missile with GPS-aided guidance. It carries the WDU-18/B penetrating high explosive blast fragmentation warhead of the US Navy's Harpoon anti-ship missile, which was packaged into the newly designed WAU-23/B warhead section. There were 176 produced between 2001 and 2004, when production ceased in favor of the M57. During Operation Iraqi Freedom, 16 were fired at Iraqi targets and a further 42 were fired during Operation Enduring Freedom. The remaining ones are in the US Army and US Marine Corps' arsenal. Range: .
M57 (ATACMS TACMS 2000) missile with GPS-aided guidance. It carries the same WAU-23/B warhead section as the M48. There were 513 produced between 2004 and 2013. Accuracy is CEP (Circular Error Probability). Range: .
M57E1 (ATACMS Modification [MOD]) missile with GPS-aided guidance. M57E1 is the designation for upgraded M39 and M39A1 with re-grained motor, updated navigation and guidance software and hardware, and a WAU-23/B warhead section instead of the M74 bomblets. This variant includes a proximity sensor for airburst detonation. Production commenced in 2017 with an initial order for 220.
Future
Precision Strike Missile
In March 2016, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Raytheon announced they would offer a missile to meet the U.S. Army's Long Range Precision Fires (LRPF) requirement to replace the ATACMS. The missile will use advanced propulsion to fly faster and farther, originally out to , while also being thinner and sleeker, increasing the loadout to two per pod, doubling the number that can be carried by the M270 MLRS and M142 HIMARS launchers.
Lockheed and Raytheon were to test-fire their submissions for the renamed Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) program in 2019, with the selected weapon planned to achieve Initial Operational Capability in 2023. The initial PrSM will only be able to hit stationary targets on land, but later versions will track moving targets on land and sea. With the United States withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in August 2019, it was announced that the range of the PrSM would be increased beyond the '499 km' limitation previously placed upon it by the treaty.
In June 2020, the Army had begun testing a new multi-mode seeker — an upgrade for the Precision Strike Missile. The missile will enter service in 2023. The upgraded seeker is expected to be part of a major program improvement planned for 2025. In July 2021, the U.S. announced that Australia had become a partner in the PrSM Program with the Australian Army, signing a memorandum of understanding for Increment 2 of the program with the US Army's Defense Exports and Cooperation agency, and contributed . The United Kingdom announced its intentions to field the PrSM starting in 2024 as part of an upgrade to the British Army's M270 MLRS.
Operators
Current operators
: The Royal Bahraini Army purchased 30 M39-series ATACMS in 2000 and 110 M57 ATACMS in 2018.
: The Hellenic Army operates the 165 km variant.
: In 2002, the South Korean Army purchased 111 ATACMS Block I and 111 ATACMS Block IA missiles for the M270 MLRS.
: The Romanian Land Forces purchased 54 M57 ATACMS, which were all delivered by June 2022.
: The Polish Land Forces purchased 30 M57 ATACMS, which were all delivered by June 2022. Another 45 M57 ATACMS were ordered in February 2023.
: The Turkish Army uses the ATACMS Block IA.
: The Qatari Emiri Land Force acquired 60 M57 ATACMS in 2012.
: The United Arab Emirates Army acquired 100 M57 ATACMS in 2014.
: The United States Army and United States Marine Corps are both ATACMS operators.
: The Armed Forces of Ukraine operates ATACMS M39 Block I; these were used in combat for the first time on 17 October 2023.
Future operators
: In May 2022, Australia ordered 20 M142 HIMARS launchers for the Australian Army with 10 M57 ATACMS unitary rockets and other MLRS munitions in an AU$545m (US$385m) contract.
: A request to buy up to 18 M57 was approved in July 2022.
: A request to buy 10 M57 ATACMS missile pods was approved in October 2023.
: A request to buy 18 M57 ATACMS missile pods was approved in November 2022.
: Ordered 18 M142 HIMARS launchers with 40 M57 ATACMS missile pods along with other MLRS munitions (M30A2 , M31A2) for an estimated cost of 524 million USD in April 2023.
: In October 2020, the U.S. State Department approved the sale of 64 M57 ATACMS to Taiwan.
Failed bids
: A Finnish contract for 70 missiles was canceled due to high prices in March 2014.
: A request to buy 80 M57 ATACMS pods was approved in February 2023. In May 2023 the Royal Netherlands Army purchased 20 PULS rocket artillery systems made by Israel's Elbit Systems instead.
See also
United States Army Aviation and Missile Command
Comparable missiles
References
External links
ATACMS, Lockheed Martin
Army Tactical Missile System Block IA Unitary Lockheed Martin. Retrieved 6 October 2011.
Precision Guided Missiles and Rockets Program Review U.S. Defense Technical Information Center (14 April 2008).
ATACMS / ATACMS Block IA Unitary Deagel.com. Retrieved 6 October 2011.
M39 Army Tactical Missile System (Army TACMS) Federation of American Scientists | FAS.org. Retrieved 6 October 2011.
MGM-140
Military equipment introduced in the 1990s
Cluster munition