Marine: A Guided Tour of a Marine Expeditionary Unit tcml-4

by Tom Clancy

  The Hughes Missile Systems TOW-2A anti-tank missile. The precursor warhead on the extensible probe helps defeat reactive armor.

  JACK RYAN ENTERPRISES L.T.D., BY LAURA ALPHER

  TOW-2B Anti-Tank Missile.

  JACK RYAN ENTERPRISES, LTD., BY LAURA ALPHER

  The TOW-2 missile is 3.8 ft/1.2m long, about 6 in./150 mm in diameter, and weighs 65 lb/29.5 kg. There are four spring-loaded, pop-out guidance fins at the tail and four wings at mid-body. Like most anti-tank missiles, TOW has two rocket motors, a small kick motor that ejects the missile from the launch tube, and a sustainer that ignites at a safe distance. An unusual feature on TOW is that the rocket exhaust nozzles are on either side of the missile body, to avoid interference with the fine steel guidance wires that stream out from the tail. TOW launchers can interface with a variety of different sighting and control units, and the Marines are currently acquiring an Improved Target Acquisition System (ITAS) from Texas Instruments, which combines a laser range finder, FLIR (Forward Looking Infrared), modular software, and a rechargeable ten-hour battery. TOW-2A uses a tandem warhead for direct attack, and TOW-2B uses a pair of explosively forged projectile warheads from a top-attack flight profile. Otherwise the two versions are identical. Maximum effective range is 3,75 km/2.3 mi.

  Rockwell International AGM-114 Hellfire

  Hellfire is a long-range high-speed laser-guided missile and it is used exclusively by Marine Cobra attack helicopters, although the U.S. Army and Navy have experimented with firing it from ground vehicles and ships, and Sweden has acquired a coast-defense version fired from a portable tripod mount. Hellfire is primarily an anti-tank missile, with a 20-1b/9-kg dual shaped-charge warhead that can essentially defeat any imaginable tank from any angle. It can also be used successfully against other targets. For example, the opening shots of the 1991 Persian Gulf War were Hellfire missiles fired by Army AH-64 Apache helicopters against Iraqi air defense radar sites.

  Hellfire is a big brute of a missile, measuring over 5 ft/1.625 m long, 7 in./178 mm in diameter, and weighing almost 100 lb/45.3 kg. Maximum range depends on the speed and altitude of the firing aircraft, but 5 mi/8 km is claimed. The solid-propellant rocket motor rapidly accelerates the missile to supersonic speed. The seeker in Hellfire's nose is similar to the seeker of a laser-guided bomb. It is programmed to home on a spot of laser light, pulsing with a particular pre-set code. As far as the missile is concerned, it does not matter who or what is lasing the target. The missile can be programmed to "lock on after launch," enabling the designator to remain hidden until the last few seconds of missile flight. The missile can fly a straight-line (direct-attack), or a "lofted" flight path, which provides extended range and an advantageous "top down" impact angle against an armored target.

  The Army's Apaches can "self-designate," but Marine AH-1W Cobras do not presently carry a laser designator. In 1996, though, a Night Targeting System will start entering service with the Cobras. But until these system are installed, the Cobras face a tricky tactical coordination problem. They have to rely on "buddy-lasing," which can be performed by a ground-based forward observer, or a Marine UH-1N helicopter equipped with one of the three surviving Nite Eagle laser-designator packages salvaged from the Army's failed Aquila RPV program. During Desert Storm, Marine Cobras, teamed in tank killing units with these few UH-INs, successfully fired 159 Hellfires. Each Cobra can carry up to eight Hellfires on launch rails attached to its stub wings. In FY-1994, Hellfire had a unit cost of abut $35,000.00

  Hughes MIM-92 Stinger Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM)

  The last time American fighting men had to face an enemy who held air superiority was in 1942 in Tunisia against the German Nazi Luftwaffe and the Fascist Italian Regia Aeronautica. Indeed, the main "air threat" to our ground troops in Vietnam and the 1991 Gulf War were mistaken attacks by "friendly" pilots. Yet, even the most obsolete Third World air force could inflict serious damage on a Marine landing force during the first few critical hours of an operation. While the ground-pounding Marines have great confidence that their brother and sister Marines who fly will be there to help in a pinch, they have always taken the problem of short-range anti-aircraft defense seriously. Each expeditionary Marine unit will normally have an assigned air defense platoon, equipped with the MIM-92 Stinger SAM, which began to replace the much less effective 1960s-vintage Redeye missile in 1982. The platoon includes three HMMWVs, each carrying three-man Stinger teams. The Stinger is sealed in its disposable launch tube at the factory and has a long shelf life. The launch tube clips onto a reusable gripstock assembly, an IFF antenna (this is optional) is attached to the front of the assembly, and the gunner hoists the entire 34-1b/15.4-kg assembly to his shoulder. The gripstock incorporates an audio cueing system, to tell the gunner when the missile seeker is "locked" onto a target. Normally the team will be alerted to the approach of hostile aircraft via radio from a ground-, air-, or ship-based surveillance radar.

  Stinger is 5 ft/1.5 m long, 2.75 in./7 cm in diameter, and weighs 12.5 1b/5.7 kg at launch. Range is highly dependent on the speed and direction of the enemy aircraft, but the official specs are 1 km/.6 mi minimum to 8 km/5 mi maximum. Stinger's seeker has an "all-aspect" engagement capability. This means that it does not need a direct line of sight to the hot metal of the engine exhaust; it is sensitive enough to sense that the aircraft is warmer than the sky behind it. Developed by Hughes Missile Systems, the seeker also incorporate a reprogrammable microprocessor, so that software changes can be rapidly implemented to cope with ever-changing enemy countermeasures.

  In FY-94, the unit cost of a Stinger missile was $38,000.00, and there were 13,431 in the U.S. Marine inventory. Stinger's first taste of combat was with the British Special Air Service Regiment in the 1982 British-Argentine war. A large number of Stingers were also supplied to Afghan freedom fighters during their long war against Soviet occupation; and they proved incredibly effective in the hands of uneducated but highly motivated gunners. Stinger has an impact fuse for direct hits and a proximity fuse that can turn a near miss into a kill by showering the target with fragments. There is also a timed self-destruct, so that live missiles do not come down on the heads of friendly troops.

  A Marine Stinger SAM team of the 26th MEU (SOC) stands alert on the USS Wasp (LHD-1). Such teams frequently stand watch on U.S. Navy ships to help catch any "leakers" through the ship's air defenses.

  JOHN D. GRESHAM

  The most exciting new Stinger development for the Marines is the Avenger air-defense vehicle. This is integrated by Boeing using the chassis of an HMMWV with a rotating turret that incorporates a FLIR, a laser range finder, an M2 .50-cal. machine gun, and reloadable canisters for eight missiles. A pair of Avengers will be normally be assigned to the Stinger platoon of a MEU (SOC). Combined with the three man-pack teams, it gives the MEU (SOC) a rudimentary air-defense capability. When combined with an offshore SAM umbrella from escorting surface ships, and perhaps the air-to-air capabilities of the MEU (SOC)'s embarked Harrier detachment, it gives the Marines a fighting chance against air attack until follow-on forces arrive to take over the job.

  An Avenger SAM vehicle assigned to the 26th MEU (SOC) in Tunisia during 1995. Based on an HMMWV chassis, it is armed with eight Stinger SAMS and a .50-caliber machine gun.

  OFFICIAL U.S. MARINE CORPS PHOTO

  The Future: Texas Instruments (TI)/Martin Javelin

  Javelin represents a new generation of precision-guided fire-and-forget antitank weapons. The joint Army/Marine Corps program, now in production, began in 1989 under the acronym AAWS-M (Advanced Anti-tank Weapon System — Medium). The Marines will receive a small initial batch (140 missiles) in 1997, and expect to field a full operational capability in the heavy weapons platoon of the rifle company and the heavy weapons company of the battalion by 1999. The joint Army/Marine requirement is 31,269 missiles and 3,541 Command Launch Units through the year 2004, but in the absence of a war, procurement targets rarely survive successive rounds of budget cuts.


  At first glance, what Javelin does seems impossible. "Precision guidance" usually requires a human being in the loop to control the flight of the weapon up to the moment of impact. A good example is the Marines' current portable anti-tank missile, the hated McDonnell Douglas M-47 Dragon, which entered service in the early 1970s. The Dragon gunner, crouched in a awkward and uncomfortable position, must keep the target centered in his telescopic sight during the missile's entire time of flight, as long as twelve seconds out to 1,000 m/1,094 yd. Steering commands travel down twin steel wires that uncoil from bobbins on the missile and the launch tube. If the enemy detects the smoke and flash of the missile launch, he will quickly fire back in the general direction with everything he's got. If the Dragon gunner ducks, or even flinches, the missile will probably fly into the ground or pass harmlessly over the target.

  Javelin does things differently. Because it uses an intelligent imaging-infrared seeker, the new missile combines precision guidance with fire-and-forget operation. In effect, the missile software "remembers" the thermal signature of the target it locked onto when it was launched. It also "knows" how to follow a moving target, and how to perform tricky maneuvers during its last few milliseconds of "life." The missile performs a climb and dive to strike the top of the target, where the armor is thinnest. If the target is inside a building, or under some kind of top-cover, the gunner can select a direct flight path.

  The Javelin system has two components: the missile round in a disposable launch tube, and the reusable 14-lb/6.4-kg Command Launch Unit (CLU), which looks rather like a big box camera with trigger-grip handles. The CLU snaps into a connector on the launch tube, and the gunner hoists the entire 49-lb/22.4-kg weapon up onto either shoulder, activates the replaceable battery (which powers the system for up to four hours), and looks through the eyepiece. In daylight, this functions as a four-power telescopic sight; and at night, or in blowing sand, smoke, fog, or other obscured conditions, it functions as a Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) viewer, presenting a green-and-black thermal image of the battlefield, with a 4-power wide field of view or a 9-power narrow field.

  A pair of infantry men launch a "fire-and-forget" Texas Instruments/Lockheed Martin Javelin anti-tank missile. This man-portable system will come into service with the Marines in several years.

  TEXAS INSTRUMENTS

  Javelin can be fired safely inside an enclosure, since there is no back-blast per se. A small kick motor, which burns for only a 1/10 of a second, ejects the missile from the launch tube to a safe distance before the main rocket motor ignites. Maximum range is over 2,000 m/1.25 mi. Javelin uses a "tandem warhead" to defeat spaced armor or explosive-reactive protection systems. A small shaped charge detonates first to strip away any outer layers; then, microseconds later, the main shaped charge detonates to penetrate and destroy the target. It is effective and deadly, as well as being the first of a new generation of "brilliant" guided weapons to enter U.S. service. So excited is the Marine Corps about this system that even before it is fielded, the Corps is thinking about using it as the primary anti-armor system on the new AAAV amphibious tractor. Keep your eye on this one, folks. It's going to be a winner!

  The Future: Lockheed Marine Loral Aeronutronic Predator

  For all of its shortcomings, the Marines generally miss the old M72 LAW. Light and compact, it gave them the ability to hit and destroy, albeit at short ranges, almost anything short of a heavy tank. In addition, it could be (and was) carried by every Marine in a rifle squad, meaning that a unit had a bunch of them to use in combat. Unfortunately, by the late 1970s the LAW was going out of service and was being replaced by heavier and more specialized systems like the AT-4. Nevertheless, the Marines have always wanted another "wooden round" heavy weapon like LAW, and they began a program to give them a 21st century version. Originally known as SRAW (Short-Range Assault Weapon), Predator has been under development since the 1980s, and will enter service around the year 2000. Weighing only 19 1b/8.6 kg, and measuring 35 in./89 cm in length, the missile and its disposable launch tube will be issued like a round of ammunition that any rifleman can carry and fire. Like Javelin, Predator has a "soft launch" motor that allows it to be fired safely from inside an enclosure.

  A cutaway view of the new Predator anti-tank missile being developed for the Marine Corps by Lockheed Martin Loral Missile Systems. The launcher is shown to the right.

  JACK RYAN ENTREPRISES, LTD., BY LAURA ALPHER

  System costs are kept low (about $5,000.00 per unit in FY-96) by dispensing with costly precision guidance and thermal-imaging components. For the required maximum range of 600 m/1,970 ft, it is sufficient to have a few microchips and mechanical components that function as an "inertial autopilot." Against a stationary target, this automatically compensates for crosswinds, uneven terrain, and variations in thrust as the rocket motor burns out. Against a moving target (up to speeds of 22 mph/35.4 kph), the missile's autopilot senses the slew (crossing) rate as the gunner tracks the target for about a second before launch, and then automatically computes the correct lead angle for target intercept. All the gunner has to do is keep the crosshairs of the 2.5 power telescopic sight on the center of the target and pull the trigger. The Predator does the rest.

  In its nose Predator carries a highly sensitive "target detection device" that combines a tiny range-finding laser, angled downward and forward to sense the edge of the target, and a magnetometer that senses the mass of the target. When the software concludes that the missile is directly over the target, it detonates the 5-lb/2.25-kg warhead, which projects an explosively formed heavy metal penetrator (like that of the TOW-2B) at almost Mach 5 down through the thin roof of the target. In tests on old M-48 tanks, the projectile even continued downward to blow a hole through the hull floor! Loral has also proposed a "direct attack" version for the Army, with a simple, massive high-explosive or incendiary warhead. Minimum range, determined mainly by the safe arming distance for the warhead, is only 56 ft/17 m, making this an ideal weapon for ambushes in urban or wooded terrain. Maximum velocity of the missile is 984 fps/300 m/s, and the time of flight to 500 m/1,640 ft is only 2.25 seconds. While its size and weight will probably mean that only one Predator per Marine will be carried, it will give a rifle squad back its lethal-ity against armor and other heavy targets. In addition, the growth potential of Predator, as well as the Javelin system, means that these systems will be in service well into the 21 st century.

  Armored Fighting Vehicles

  The Marine Corps today has a small but vital force of armor, which is designed to provide support to the rifle units that are at the core of its being. It is a force focused on supporting Marines in the field and helping them accomplish their missions. Amphibious tractors are used to deliver troops to the shore under armor. The wheeled force of Light Armored Vehicles (LAVs) is used to provide screening and reconnaissance, as well as an under-armor anti-tank system. And the small force of main battle tanks (MBTs) provides a hard edge to the rest of the force, both in offensive and defensive operations. All of these vehicles are part of the TO&E of the Corps because they are needed on a modern battlefield, not because they are easy to support and move around. That perhaps is why the Corps is asking the question about whether or not MBTs and other armored vehicles will actually be needed in the future. This question is part of the ongoing Sea Dragon project at the Commandant's Warfighting Laboratory at Quantico, Virginia, and will be under study for some time to come. Meanwhile, armored vehicles will remain part of the Corps.

  General Dynamics M1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tank

  The Marines acquired their first tanks during World War II as hand-me-downs from the U.S. Army. Though tanks have seen action with the Corps in virtually all of their combat actions since that time, they never have been the center of the Marine combat force. Always used to support rifle units, they have mostly been deployed in small units like platoons or companies. From the 1960s to the Gulf Crisis in 1990, the armored fist of the Marine Corps was based around the M48 and M60-se
ries Patton tanks. These were the last U.S. MBTs that utilized cast-hull-and-turret construction, and served with honor for almost three decades. But by 1990, they were badly dated in terms of mobility, firepower, and protection. This is not to say that they were not a welcome addition to the forces that served in the Persian Gulf. On the contrary, when the M60 tanks of the First Marine Expeditionary Force's (I MEF) 3rd Tank Battalion rolled off of the ships of Maritime Preposition Squadron Three (MPSRON 3), they represented the first heavy armor to arrive in support of Operation Desert Shield (in August 1990). Equipped with reactive armor, they held the line until the M1A1 Abrams MBTs of then-Major General Barry McCaffrey's 24th Mechanized Infantry Division arrived in September.

  An M1A1 Abrams main battle tank assigned to BLT 2/6 in the well deck of the USS Whidbey Island (LSD-41). Note the openings on the left rear and aft deck for the air inlet and exhaust stacks.

  JOHN D. GRESHAM

  While other Army armored units arrived in the fall of 1990, the Marines continued to use their elderly M60s. Still, the limitations of the old Pattons were not lost on the leadership at Central Command (CENTCOM) headquarters. For this reason, the British 7th Armored Brigade (the "Desert Rats"), and later the 2nd Armored Division's "Tiger" Brigade, augmented I MEF with their more modern tanks and armored fighting vehicles. As the run-up to Desert Storm started, the leadership of the Marine Corps decided to do something about the shortcomings of the MBT force, and decided to request an early introduction of the M1A1 Abrams into service.