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Overview of the ATACMS ballistic missile with a range of up to 300 km

  • October 18, 2023
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ATACMS (Army TACtical Missile System) is a solid-fuel tactical ballistic missile of the “ground-to-ground” class produced by the American company Lockheed Martin. It has a damage range of

ATACMS (Army TACtical Missile System) is a solid-fuel tactical ballistic missile of the “ground-to-ground” class produced by the American company Lockheed Martin. It has a damage range of up to 300 km. Various equipment options carry US MoD codes MGM-140, MGM-164 and MGM-168. ATACMS missile launchers are M270 MLRS and M142 HIMARS rocket launchers.

Development began in 1982 when the U.S. Department of Defense merged the Army CSWS program and the U.S. Air Force CSW program into the JTACMS (Joint TACMS) program.

Currently, missile complexes can use four types of ATACMS missiles. Only one of these (MGM-168A ATACMS Block 4A) carries a high-explosive warhead. The other three products are equipped with high-explosive fragmentation cluster warheads or other submunitions; their number depends on its type and purpose: yes, the 560 kg main part of the MGM-140A missile carries 950 warheads, while the MGM-164A is equipped with only 13 products of similar purpose with a total weight of 268 kg.

M142 HIMARS launchers are designed to launch one missile – on a wheeled chassis, and M270 MLRS – two missiles, on a tracked chassis.

The ATACMS family has the following missile variants:

  • The MGM-140A ATACMS Block 1 is the basic version of the missile with an inertial guidance system and a cluster warhead containing 950 M74 type warheads. Firing range up to 165 km.
  • MGM-140B ATACMS Block 1A is a modernized modification in which the inertial control system is integrated with the receiver of the American NAVSTAR satellite navigation system, the cluster warhead contains 275 M74 warheads. Firing range up to 300 km.
  • MGM-140B ATACMS Block 1A Unitary is a modification of Block 1A with a high-explosive warhead and a vertical tip section of the orbiter.
  • MGM-140 is a ship modification of the NTACMS missile.
  • MGM-140C/MGM-164A ATACMS Block 2 – Equipped with a cluster warhead with 13 self-guided BAT warheads developed by Northrop Grumman Corporation. Firing range up to 140 km.
  • MGM-164B ATACMS Block 2A – a cluster warhead was planned to be equipped with 6 self-guided intelligent combat elements P³I-BAT with a new unified search engine searching for a target in the millimeter wavelength range and two IR ranges. Firing range up to 220 km.
  • MGM-140E ATACMS Block 1A Unitary (QRU) / MGM-168A ATACMS Block 4A – a modification with a high-explosive fragmentation warhead WDU-18 weighing 226.8 kg. Firing range up to 270 km.

Source: Port Altele

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