ATACMS

The MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS ) is an American short-range tactical ballistic missile. It is launched from the M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS), the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), and the GMARS. Depending on the variant, it has a maximum range of up to 190 miles (300 km).

ATACMS originated in the Joint Tactical Missile System (JTACMS) program, which began in 1980 to replace the MGM-52 Lance. After the United States Air Force withdrew from the program in 1984, the missile was redesignated the Army Tactical Missile System and its development continued under the U.S. Army. Ling-Temco-Vought (LTV) later won the missile design contract, and ATACMS entered service in 1991, before evolving through several variants with different guidance systems, warheads, and ranges.

ATACMS has been used in combat in the Gulf War, the Iraq War, the Russo-Ukrainian War, and the 2026 Iran war. It has undergone modernization through the ATACMS Service Life Extension Program (SLEP) and is being replaced in U.S. service by the Precision Strike Missile (PrSM).

History

Pre-development

The concept of a conventional tactical ballistic missile was made possible by the doctrinal shift of the late Cold War, which rejected the indispensability of an early nuclear strike on the Warsaw Pact forces in the event the Cold War went hot. The AirLand Battle and Follow-on Forces Attack doctrines, which emerged in the late 1970s and early 1980s, necessitated a conventional-armed (hence much more accurate) missile to strike enemy reserves, so the United States Army Aviation and Missile Command sponsored the Simplified Inertial Guidance Demonstrator (SIG-D) program.

Within this program, Ling-Temco-Vought developed a solid-fuel analog of the MGM-52 Lance missile, designated T-22, with a new RLG-based inertial guidance package, which demonstrated unprecedented accuracy.