Quote Originally Posted by William F. Owen View Post
For MLRS it's a step forward but for we've had <8m accuracy for some time. I think Copperhead, was around during GW1 and there has been a similar Russian systems in service for the last 5 years.

I fully accept it's an improvement, but it's not a game changer. Go back 30 years and 207mm artillery could hit bridges and individual vehicles, in the low trajectory, though it required some adjustment of fire.


Wilf,

I totally disagree on the terms of the game changing or not, and here is why:

In this day and age, low CEP delivery systems have everything to do with the decision to employ those fires in the midst of a collateral damage calculus. I don't think Copperhead is really a player when you look at the comparative ranges involved, and the target designation requirement. You don't need to designate with the rocket systems.

HIMARS and the GMLRS rockets it employs are like night and day when compared to a Copperhead round, when you take into account the GPS guidance package.

In this day and age...in our small wars...we are frequently presented with a tactical problem that doesn't allow for adjusted fires. Pin-point accuracy (yes, a relative term) is required.

And as for airspace deconfliction, I'm not so sure that the rocket systems present a different problem than standard tube artillery. The three forms of deconfliction remain the same whether the round is dumb or not - lateral separation, separation by time, and separation by altitude. Determining the rocket path and telling aircraft to stay above or to the side of that path is an easy proposition, even if the rocket is going to alter it's course enroute; the stay-above has to be easy to plot and account for. Clearance delays are likely imposed due to the nature of the C2 system employed, not the calculations involved. Tighten up the procedures and all you have to deal with is flight time.

Am I a rocket fanatic? No...but if I can be ranged by rocket artillery where tubes cannot play, I''m not going to look down my nose at the support.