dela@ee.rochester.edu (Del Armstrong) (02/15/91)
From: dela@ee.rochester.edu (Del Armstrong) The Feb 11 issue of Newsweek has a little box on Page 6 which talks about: "... A new weapon in the hunt for mobile Scud missile launchers in southern Iraq and Kuwait. Defence sources say 50 Army Tactical Missle System (ATACMS) rockets have been sent to the Saudi border. When US radar planes pick up the Scud trajectory, the launcher's coodinates are radioed to ATACMS, which can file a missle at the Scud site in minutes. ATACMS accuracy is 'awesome', says a defense source." Just what is this beastie? Could somebody summarize for us what the capabilities of this "system" is, and how it achives its "awesome" accuracy. Del Armstrong Internet : dela@ee.rochester.edu UUCP : ...allegra!rochester!ur-valhalla!dela
major@uunet.UU.NET (Mike Schmitt) (02/18/91)
From: bcstec!shuksan!major@uunet.UU.NET (Mike Schmitt)
ATACMS (phonetic "A-tack-ems"). An inertially guided, semi-ballistic
missile system designed to attack targets beyond range of existing tube
artillery and rocket artillery. It's not a 'scud killer', it's a
surface-to-surface system. In my opinion, this will replace the
Lance (Lance range 75km).
Fired from a modified M270 MLRS launcher. Guided by an inertial system
which is very accurate. The warhead is loaded with M74 dual-purpose
bomblets (submunition). Each modified MLRS launcher carries two ATACM
missiles.
Not much else is known about it. As I said before, "Army Times" showed
a picture of an ATACMS system with the 1st Infantry Division - in the
Gulf.
mike schmitt
"Fire in the hole! Fire in the hole!"