For a long time, no attention was paid to the development of multi-barreled rocket artillery in the United States; after the Second World War, work on the creation of such systems was practically not carried out. Therefore, already in the 1970s, the Americans faced a serious problem, the NATO armies had nothing to oppose to the Soviet Grad MLRS and Uragan MLRS, the latter was adopted by the Soviet Army in 1975. The American response was the M270 MLRS MLRS on a tracked chassis, the mass production of combat vehicles began in 1980. Today, the M270 MLRS is the main MLRS in service with the American army and at least 15 other states.
American underestimation of MLRS
For a long time, the American military relied on barrel artillery. Neither in the 1950s nor in the 1960s in the United States and NATO countries did they pay due attention to the development of multi-barreled rocket artillery. According to the dominant strategy, the task of supporting the ground forces on the battlefield was to be solved by cannon artillery, which was advantageously distinguished by high firing accuracy. In a large-scale military conflict with the countries of the Warsaw Pact (OVD), the Americans relied on tactical nuclear ammunition from barreled artillery - 155-mm and 203-mm projectiles. At the same time, the Americans considered the use of rocket artillery on the battlefield to be ineffective in modern warfare and somewhat archaic.
The Americans realized that this approach was wrong only in the 1970s. The next Arab-Israeli war of 1973 had a great influence on the change in strategy, when the Israeli military, through the use of multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS), managed to quickly disable a large number of positions of Arab anti-aircraft missile systems. The suppression of the air defense system provided the Israelis with air superiority. The ability to launch air strikes against enemy forces with impunity quickly led to a positive outcome for Israel. American intelligence noted this success and the role of the MLRS in the fighting. At the same time, experts in the field of using artillery in hostilities appreciated the successes of Soviet designers in the field of creating multi-barreled rocket artillery. The massive arrival of modern 122-mm MLRS of the Grad family, which Moscow supplied to its allies, also did not go unnoticed. The BM-21 combat vehicle, which carried 40 guides at once for launching a wide range of rockets, represented a formidable force on the battlefield.
The realization of the significant superiority of the USSR and its allies in tanks in the European theater of operations also played a role in the development by the Americans of their own MLRS. The Soviet Union and the ATS countries could deploy three times more tanks on the battlefield than the NATO allies had. But there was also another armored vehicle with anti-nuclear protection, which was also actively developed and produced in series of thousands. At certain moments of the battle, there could be so many targets of a potential enemy on the battlefield that no barrel artillery could cope with their timely defeat.
In the aggregate, all this led to the fact that the military-political leadership of the United States changed its view of multi-barreled rocket artillery. A fundamental decision was made on the need to create our own MLRS. The distinctive features of the future combat vehicle were, in addition to the high density of fire and rate of fire, a fairly large caliber of the ammunition used. The final decision on the program for the creation of MLRS was made in 1976. Since then, more than $ 5 billion has been spent on the design stage, testing, preparation of serial production and serial deliveries to the American army. Vought Corporation (today Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control) was chosen as the main contractor for the project.
The monetary costs of the program fully justified themselves when in 1983 a new 227-mm MLRS М270 MLRS was adopted for service. This multiple launch rocket system entered service with the US Army and Washington's allies in the NATO bloc. The very name of the system stands for Multiple Launch Rocket System (multiple launch rocket system), today it has become a household name in Western countries. It is this abbreviation that is used to designate all weapons systems of different countries belonging to this class. The combat debut of the new American MLRS was the 1991 Gulf War. New multiple launch rocket systems have proven their high effectiveness in modern warfare, with the Americans using M270 MLRS launchers to launch MGM-140A short-range ballistic missiles with cluster warheads.
Composition and features of the M270 MLRS complex
When developing a new MLRS, the Americans proceeded from the fact that the installation was used as a nomadic weapon. This requirement laid down the need to create a highly mobile multiple launch rocket system that could easily change firing positions, as well as fire from short stops. Such tactics are best suited for solving a large number of the most important tasks facing artillery today: conducting counter-battery warfare, suppressing enemy air defense forces and means, and defeating advanced units. Thanks to their mobility, self-propelled artillery mounts can solve such tasks with the greatest efficiency, since they can quickly get out of a retaliatory strike by changing firing positions.
As a platform for their MLRS, the Americans chose the tracked version, based on a modified chassis from the M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicle. The undercarriage is represented by six support and two support rollers (on each side), the drive wheels are front. Thanks to the use of a tracked chassis, the multiple launch rocket system received the same mobility and maneuverability as the BMP and the M1 main battle tank, as well as the ability to move freely over rough terrain. A 500-horsepower Cummins VTA-903 diesel 8-cylinder engine was placed on the launcher under the cockpit, which can be folded forward, opening access to the power plant. This engine provides a combat vehicle weighing almost 25 tons the ability to move along the highway at speeds up to 64 km / h, the maximum speed of movement on rough terrain is 48 km / h. The designers placed two fuel tanks with a total capacity of 618 liters in the rear of the vehicle under the base plate of the artillery unit. The fuel supply is enough to cover up to 485 km on the highway. The installation is airborne, the M270 MLRS can be airlifted using military transport aircraft: C-141, C-5 and C-17.
In addition to its high cross-country ability and mobility, the launcher received a reservation. In particular, the three-seater cabin, located in front of the M993 cargo conveyor, is fully armored, and the cabin is also equipped with a ventilation, heating and soundproofing system. There is a hatch in the roof, which can be used both for ventilation and for emergency evacuation of the car. The cockpit windows are equipped with bulletproof glass and can be closed by metal shutters with armored shields. The cockpit contains the workplaces of three people - the driver, the commander of the launcher and the operator-gunner. In addition to the cockpit, a launch charging module was also booked, in which two transport-launch containers and a loading mechanism are located. This solution increases the survivability of the installation in combat conditions. If the vehicle does not manage to get out of the response artillery strike in time, the armor will protect the installation and the crew from fragments of artillery shells and mines exploding at some distance.
The artillery part of the launcher is represented by a fixed base with a rotating frame and a gyro-stabilized rotating platform with an M269 launch charging module (PZM) attached to it. This module includes two TPKs with a reloading mechanism, which are placed inside an armored box-shaped truss. TPK are disposable. The assembly of the TPK is carried out at the factory, it is there that the rockets are placed inside and the process of sealing the container takes place. In such TPK shells can be stored for 10 years. The guides are located in the TPK themselves, each such container contains 6 fiberglass pipes, rigidly fastened to each other by an aluminum alloy cage. A feature of the MLRS M270 MLRS is that inside the guides, the designers placed spiral metal skids, which, when fired, give the rocket projectiles a rotation at a frequency of about 10-12 revolutions per second. This ensures the stability of the ammunition in flight, and also compensates for the eccentricity of the thrust. To load, aim and fire 12 shells from two launch containers, the installation needs only 5 minutes, the time of the salvo itself is 60 seconds.
The MLRS M270 MLRS, which was adopted by the American army in 1983, in addition to the combat vehicle itself - the launcher, included a transport-loading vehicle (TZM), transport-launch containers (TPK) and the 227-mm rockets themselves. Today, each launcher is served by two transport-loading vehicles at once. These are high-pass 10-ton trucks M985 with a wheel arrangement of 8x8 or newer M-1075 with a wheel arrangement of 10x10. Each of these machines can be equipped with a trailer. Each vehicle with a trailer can carry up to 8 transport and launch containers. Thus, for each launcher there are 108 shells (48 + 48 + 12 already on the launcher). The weight of the equipped TPK is 2270 kg, for working with them on the TPM there are slewing cranes with a lifting capacity of up to 2.5 tons.
The combat debut of the M270 MLRS installations
The combat debut of the American multiple launch rocket system was the operation of a multinational force during the first Gulf War. The installations were massively used during Operation Empty Storm in 1991. It is believed that the Americans attracted from 190 to 230 launchers to the operation (according to various sources), with 16 more installations deployed by Great Britain. On Iraqi positions, they fired almost 10 thousand unguided rockets with cluster warheads. Air defense positions and Iraqi artillery, accumulations of armored vehicles and vehicles, helipads were subjected to strikes. In addition, at least 32 MGM-140A tactical ballistic missiles were fired at Iraqi positions (up to two such missiles can be placed on the launcher). These missiles have a range of up to 80 km and carry 300 ready-made combat submunitions at once.
At the same time, the overwhelming majority of the projectiles used in Iraq were the simplest unguided M26 missiles with a cluster warhead equipped with M77 cumulative fragmentation sub-elements. The maximum launch range of such ammunition is limited to 40 km. For the American army, the use of such systems was a step forward, since, according to experts, a salvo of just one launcher was equivalent to hitting a target with 33 155 mm artillery pieces. Despite the fact that the US military assessed the capabilities of the M77 combat units to combat armored targets as insufficient, the debut was a success. It was the M270 MLRS MLRS that became the only field artillery system that could be useful in conjunction with Abrams tanks and Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, as well as interact with American tactical aviation, which provided crews with timely information about the targets and movements of Iraqi troops.
By the time of the fighting in Afghanistan in the 21st century, where the British deployed several of their M270 MLRS launchers in 2007, new guided munitions arrived. The British used the new M30 GUMLRS guided missile with a maximum range of 70 km, the first international customer of which was the UK. According to the assurances of the British military, who used about 140 of these ammunition, they demonstrated a very high accuracy of hitting targets.
