RDECOM’S ROAD MAP TO MODERNIZING THE ARMY: LONG-RANGE PRECISION FIRES


MORE PRECISE, MORE LETHAL


The Army is seeking new artillery weapons— missiles, howitzers, shells and rockets—that are more precise and more lethal over a longer range and that are capable of destroy- ing or degrading an enemy’s anti-access and area denial systems. (U.S. Army photo)


Tese future collaborative weapons will need to create physical damage, as well as nonkinetic effects to jam communi- cations systems, disturb sensors and stop electronics. To give Soldiers the flexibility, technical expertise and maneuverability to survive in multidomain operations, these collaborative weapons will need to deploy in both mounted and dismounted variants.


ARL scientists are also looking at ways to develop weapons that will accelerate from subsonic to supersonic speeds and morph into different shapes to adapt to emerging conditions, using information gathered from the enemy.


COLLABORATING WITH THE NAVY AND AIR FORCE In addition to working with hundreds of domestic and international industry and academia partners, RDECOM collab- orates with other Army organizations, DOD laboratories and joint services to develop and test science and technol- ogy (S&T) efforts. Te command shares information and discusses collaboration


28 Army AL&T Magazine


opportunities with Navy and Air Force counterparts during quarterly DOD lab sync meetings that each service hosts on a rotating basis. Working with the joint services provides opportunities to lever- age technologies and capabilities across the DOD enterprise and reduces the risk of researching and developing the same or similar technologies.


In developing the approach for the Land Based Anti-Ship Missile Program, RDECOM’s Armaments Center is work- ing with the Navy to leverage its expertise in maritime targets. Te Army has not studied the unique challenges of finding and attacking ships since it disbanded the Coastal Defense Artillery in the 1950s.


The Army has the capability now to destroy targets from land to land and from land to air using long-range missiles, but multidomain operations will require additional flexibility for the weapons to operate in the maritime domain. Te Land Based Anti-Ship Missile Program reflects a fundamental change in field artillery


October-December 2018


rockets and missiles. For the first time, the Army will have tactical missiles with seekers to precisely hit moved, moving or poorly located targets in an A2AD environment. (Poorly located targets are targets for which we lack precise infor- mation on where they are located—we may have had the precise location, but the target moved, for example.) Tese missiles will have significant impact on joint operations, including the Air Force and Navy, by giving them opportunities to conduct air and sea operations that may have been previously difficult or impossi- ble to execute. RDECOM will continue to work with experts from the Navy to understand the problems that exist and work possible solutions.


Te Army is also looking at best-of-breed technologies from all of the services, including the Air Force’s work in hyper- sonics. (See “Experiments in Hyperspeed,” Page 56.) Te Air Force is developing novel concepts for airframes and propulsion that could be applicable for any Army mission that may require hypersonic munitions.


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