Rocket ushers new era for combat tactics

[Woodmonkey]

Rocket ushers new era for combat tactics

The U.S. Army introduced a new combat weapon called a Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System, (similar to the one shown above) which is a satellite–directed warhead that is revolutionizing the use of artillery in war.
(Lockheedmartin.com)

WASHINGTON - When soldiers kicked off the battle in 2005 to retake the insurgent-held Iraqi city of Tal Afar, the assault also began a new era in Army combat tactics.

That first precision strike in September 2005 did not come from combat aircraft, as so many other military operations have begun, but from an artillery piece more than 40 miles away from the northern Iraqi city.

The U.S. Army that day introduced in combat the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System, a satellite–directed warhead that is revolutionizing the use of artillery. In a densely packed neighborhood, the GMLRS can — just like a smart bomb — zero in on a single building. It has given Army commanders a whole new option for how to take out a target in what is mostly a war fought in the streets, not on battlefields.

The rocket flies so high...that Army commanders must reserve air space.

Since Tal Afar, which ranks in importance with the retaking of Fallujah in November 2004, the Army has unleashed the GMLRS at a rate of about a dozen volleys a month. Sometimes, what is described by military spokesman as an “air strike” was actually the artillery system’s direct hit. It was used, for example, in western Iraq to take out an enemy mortar battery.

“There are a lot of tools over there we don’t often talk about,” said retired Army Lt. Col. Robert Maginnis, a former infantry officer. “Why tell the enemy? Look at how they are forced to operate — snipers out of the trunks of cars. Safe houses can be targeted any time. With a very lethal weapon that is incredibly accurate, you are going to be able to send a very clear message in 60 seconds.”

In the battle for Tal Afar, commanders wanted to destroy an insurgent safe house in the city’s congested Sarai district.

The rocket scored a bull’s-eye.

“GMLRS destroyed the house with no collateral damage,” said Lt. Col. Paul Yingling Jr., deputy commander of the 3rd Armor Cavalry Regiment, which led the liberation of Tal Afar. “Given the densely packed urban terrain in the Sarai district, the lack of collateral damage was no mean feat.”

This weapon works where other rocket systems would not because its global positioning system puts the rocket within 10 feet of its aim point. The rocket delivers a 200–pound warhead, as compared with a 500– or 2,000–pound bomb, further reducing damage to adjacent buildings.

The rocket flies so high (the exact altitude is classified) that Army commanders must reserve air space.

The Source