The U.S. Army successfully used two Precision Strike Missiles (PrSM) against a moving target at sea. The event, which marked a first, took place during the Valiant Shield 24 SINKEX.
Naval News Staff 23 Jun 2024
Support was provided from high-altitude balloons and 'Vanilla' UAS providing communications relay over 27 hours even through severe weather.
U.S. Army press release
FORT SHAFTER, HAWAII – 3d Multi-Domain Task Force (3MDTF) continued to demonstrate its ability to operate in the INDOPACOM theater through its participation, experimentation, and innovation in Valiant Shield 24. 3MDTF deployed teams of soldiers across the Pacific while executing distributed command and control and employing emerging concepts and capabilities partnered with Department of Defense agencies and commercial industry.
Teams operating out of Japan, Guam, and Palau integrated extended range sensing, long range communication, effects, and fires to contribute to accomplishing training objectives.
In Guam, 3MDTF soldiers, partnering with the Research and Experimentation branch of the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense (OUSD) and Aerostar Industries, launched high altitude balloons (HABs) from Won Pat International Airport. Once launched, the HABs rapidly ascended above 50,000 feet and began operating around the Marianas Islands. Equipped with electromagnetic sensing and mesh communications equipment, the HABs helped inform future maritime domain awareness innovation and experimentation.
While HABs floated at high altitude, Platform Aerospace, partnering with OUSD (R&E) and 3MDTF, launched the Vanilla Ultra-Long Endurance Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Vanilla holds the world record for continuous, un-refueled flight of a combustion engine aircraft (>8 days). Vanilla can be configured for Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR), and Persistent Communications.
For Valiant Shield 24, Vanilla performed as a communication relay, operating effectively during a 27-hour flight. Vanilla’s launch and flight, including multiple hours of flight during a violent storm, validated operational use of an Ultra-Long Endurance UAS capable of multi-day, multi-mission configurations.
Vanilla is an OUSD Rapid Defense Experimentation Reserve (RDER) Program; Valiant Shield 24 was Vanilla’s graduation event and formal Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 8 assessment.
In Palau, hundreds of miles away, soldiers from 3MDTF and 1-181 Artillery Regiment of the Tennessee National Guard participated in the VS24 Combined Joint Live Fire SINKEX on June 16, 2024, utilizing the U.S. Army Autonomous Multi-Domain Launcher (AML) and two Precision Strike Missiles (PrSM). During the SINKEX, the AML was able to engage a moving maritime target in conjunction with other Joint assets. The VS24 SINKEX is the first employment of both the AML and the PrSM outside of the U.S and is a significant milestone in the Army’s development of long-range fires capabilities.
The prototype launcher will be capable of convoy operations, autonomous way point navigation, tele-operation, and remote launcher turret and fire control operation.
PrSM is the Army’s next-generation Long Range Precision Fires weapon and is capable of neutralizing targets at standoffs greater than 400 kilometers.
To bring together the soldiers and capabilities spread thousands of miles throughout the Pacific, the3MDTF All-Domain Operations Center (ADOC) on Oahu, and a Battalion command in Japan were established. These operations centers provided the hub for synchronized planning and execution during the exercise.
VS24 provides 3MDTF an invaluable ability to train alongside partners and allies. Col. Michael Rose, the 3MDTF Commander commented, “Valiant Shield enabled us to integrate with the Combined Joint Force and operate distributed while forward in theater. We were able to build new relationships and continue to deepen existing ties. Valiant Shield and like exercises in the region enables us to test our systems and processes as well as integrate new capabilities alongside our partners and allies, contributing to the continuous transformation of our multi-domain capability and increasing our warfighting readiness.”
VS24 is a multinational, biennial field training exercise focused on integrating interoperability training in a multi-domain environment. This training builds real-world proficiency in sustaining joint forces through detecting, locating, tracking, and engaging units at sea, in the air, in space, on land, and in cyberspace in response to a range of mission areas. VS24 is the 10th iteration of the Valiant Shield exercise which first began in 2006.
-End-
Naval News comments:
The decommissioned hulk of the Austin-class amphibious transport dock ex-USS Cleveland (LPD-7) was the target ship for this SINKEX.
The Lockheed MartinPrSMhas an objective range of 60 to 650 kilometers (37 to 403 miles). It is a surface-to-surface, all-weather, precision-strike guided missile, fired from both the M270A1 Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) and M142 High-Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS). As the replacement for the MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS), PrSM doubles ATACMS’ current rate-of-fire with two missiles per launch pod. It is designed to attack threat air defense systems, missile launchers, command and control (C2) nodes, troop assembly/staging areas and high-payoff targets throughout the battlefield at ranges of more than 500 kilometers.
A multi-mode seeker is used for engaging moving land and maritime targets. Future Increments of PrSM will include:
- Multi-domain operations capability to engage moving land and maritime targets;
- Enhanced lethality payloads capable of autonomously and collaboratively detecting, targeting, and striking high payoff targets that are moving, have moved, poorly located, or dispersed;
- Extended range capability enabled through air-breathing ramjet propulsion.
