I know it’s mothballed, but wouldn’t it be a powerful tool in fighting the ACF from the fire bases around the mountain ranges. They love to use the high ground, wouldn’t MLRS be better than mortars and M198 & M777’s?http://www.military-today.com/artillery/m270_mlrs.htm
I don’t know if it was MLRS or HIMARS but a buddy of mine shot rockets for the USMC there last year.
First of all I can assure you that MLRS is not “mothballed” as you put it. There are many active MLRS units in the USA and USMC using HIMARS and MLRS tracks. They aren’t going anywhere anytime soon.
Second, take my word for it, there are rockets and guns in A-stan. Honestly though guns are preferred to rockets here. Why? For one a 105mm or 155mm round is WAY cheaper than an even the most basic MLRS rocket. For 2 the risk of collateral damage is far less with the smaller warhead and smaller error probability of a cannon.
Third, there are some things you have to understand about using arty in theater. Letting loose a several hundred pound piece of artillery into the air is no trivial matter. It requires clearances from…fuck just about everyone. A ground commander usually has to clear it, and with MLRS you are talking a Lt. Colonel or above more than likely has to give personal clearance and their career is riding on that rocket once it leaves the launcher. Next Tac Air has to clear it, and UAVs in the area have to be out of the way, blah blah blah. Then once you actually get to the point where you can start thinking about effects on target you have to get into collateral damage concerns, poor media coverage when a US unit “shells a peaceful Afghan village” :rolleyes: etc.
The sad truth is that many of the commanders who would love to bring artillery to bear on the enemy have their hands tied and simply can’t.
Plus, it’s stupid. There just are not enough targets worthy of MLRS attention to even bother bringing them in theater.
Different kind of war. Unless, you respond to Insurgent attacks by leveling a nearby village, which is a completely new kind of stupidity.
It’s HIMARS.
Aside: seeing 7 of them popped off in short order, at night, is pretty freakin’ spectacular. All in the same direction; somebody wasn’t working and playing well with others, that night.
MLRS main use is in armored warfare not insurgency operations.
I would rather they bring in more Gun Bunnies than MLRS. They have a better chance of assigning a Battery (OPCON) to a maneuver element than the MLRS.
I would think that mortars would be the quickest into action for engaging small groups.
That’s why they have these at the Company and Battalion level. But mortars are primarily for (relatively) close-in use. You still want the artillery backing you up whenever possible.
FWIW, I was a Mortarman on active duty.
Doesn’t MLRS have an air burst round that clears a huge area. When they ACF are shooting down on the bases, I just thought what a game changers MLRS would be on those area’s.
All artillery has air bursting capability even mortars.
It does. It’s the fuse that determines when the shell goes off.
GMLRS are awesome and they are being used.
My last tour that I returned from in 09… our gun bunnies fired more 155 Illum than anything else… I couldnt even get them to fire an Excalibur round and those are GPS guided…$150,000 dollar projectile sitting in a connex for 15 months… shame
getting approval and the asking permission process is the way of the furture
HIMARS is in use in Afghanistan. The USMC does not have MLRS.
DoD has decided that submunitions will not be used in Afghanistan (although nothing surprises me). That means that the basic rocket, M26, cannot be used, as it contain 644 of them. They are released in mid air and spread out. Range is 32 Km, accuracy is 10 mils, so you have to use a few of them to get the desired results.
What you are more likely to see is the M31 GMLRS Unitary. 51.5 pounds of HE and the ability to hit the target every time.
Clearance comes from ISAF and takes hours. 73% of rockets fired are planned targets. The remainder are targets of opportunity. Because rockets can reach 50,000 feet MSL the Air Force takes a strong professional interest when one is fired.
Rocket, tube and mortar artillery all have a place. They don’t do the same thing.
Thanks SethB