The MGM-18 Lacrosse was a short-ranged tactical weapon intended for close support of ground troops.[4] Its first flight test was in 1954 and was deployed by the United States Army beginning in 1959, despite being still in the development stage. The program's many technical hurdles proved too difficult to overcome and the missile was withdrawn from field service by 1964.
The Lacrosse project began with a United States Marine Corps requirement for a short-range highly accurate guided missile to supplement conventional field artillery. The Navy's Bureau of Ordnance issued contracts to both the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and the Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory in September 1947, for the study of design aspects pertaining to this mission. Initial planning involved a missile which could be fired from a ship or land launcher. Preset guidance would guide the missile until terminal guidance by a forward observer could take over. Then command guidance would be used to provide a circular probable error of not more than 15 feet (4.6m).[5]
The missile system was named the Lacrosse because it employed a forward observation station which had a direct view of the target. The forward observation station was mounted on a jeep and after the missile was launched control was passed to the forward station for final guidance to the target. Hence the name Lacrosse which is how the game of lacrosse is played with the ball being passed to players closer to the goal.
Project Lacrosse was established by the U.S. Marine Corps in 1947 at the Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University (APL/JHU). Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory, Inc. was selected for the initial study and later became the prime contractor.[6] Initially progress was slow and by 1949 the missile had grown from a derivative of the Lark missile to a much larger weapon carrying a 500lb (230kg) warhead.[7] Sight Tracking, Electronic Equipment Ranging (STEER) guidance was selected.[8]
In Late 1949 the Joint Chiefs of Staff established a policy assigning Army Ordnance responsibility for short-ranged surface-to-surface missiles.[9] As a result, in early 1950, the project was transferred from the Navy to the Army's Ordnance Corps and Redstone Arsenal. Cornell and Johns Hopkins continued with the project, with the former having primary responsibility for guidance systems design. The Lacrosse project went from exploratory to development of a weapon in mid-1951.[10]
During the next years the Lacrosse system was plagued by funding restrictions, and unsolved technical problems which caused schedule slippage and costs. These caused user criticism and loss of confidence in Lacrosse as a practical weapon system.[10] A serious deficiency in coordination by the Office, Chief of Ordnance Corps inhibited development during the mid-1950s.[11]
In 1955, the Glenn L. Martin Company was awarded contracts to participate in research and development and production. Martin would take over much responsibility for the project, as Cornell moved to work on expanding the missile's capabilities beyond the original requirements (particularly in the area of airborne control, funding for which was discontinued in 1959).
Early testing began in 1954 and production prototypes were available the next year. The difficulties encountered by the project are illustrated by the protracted design and testing periods, with the missile not entering into service until July 1959. Problems included reliability concerns and difficulties with guidance, particularly susceptibility to Electronic countermeasure jamming of the guidance signals.
In 1956, the Federal Telecommunications Laboratory began work on a different guidance system, known as MOD 1, which would have improved Lacrosse's performance with regards to electronic countermeasures. MOD 1, however, was terminated in 1959, causing the Marines to withdraw their participation in the project.[12]
Lacrosse was briefly stopped in Fiscal Year 1957 and reinstated 1958 though without funding for production engineering.[13] This funding situation was responsible for many of the deficiencies of Lacrosse I which was fielded.[13] The first units received Lacrosse in 1959, though the system would continue to be in need of development and refinement.
The Lacrosse weapons system was composed of a large number of vehicles and systems aside from the missile itself. There were three trucks, and a jeep, in the firing unit. There was also an extensive forward guidance system composed of a radar, four Missile Guidance System units, and several other units including a 45 kW generator. There was also a large Maintenance section composed of four trucks with trailers.[14] An extensive test program of the final system was mounted at White Sands. During the final development phase in 1958 and 1959 Martin fired 59 missiles. The Artillery Board fired from 1958 to 1960. The Systems Test Division fired 55 from 1958 to 1960.[15] Finally the Army user fired 23 missiles in early 1960. Cold weather testing was conducted at Fort Churchill, Canada in 1958–1959. Despite the many problems and deficiencies the system was improved and accepted for service in mid-1959.[16] Ultimately the Lacrosse would achieve an accuracy of between 0.9 and 2.1 meters, which was far better than the original objective.[16]
From mid-1959 production of Lacrosse systems were maintained on or ahead of schedule.[17] Though training had been in planning since the mid-1950s severe deficiencies existed for the first 18 months when the Lacrosse system was deployed.[18] Deployment was to ultimately include one Battalion for training in the United States, seven Battalions were deployed in Europe and one in Korea.[19]
Efforts at improvement of the Lacrosse system continued in 1960 but problems, especially with Electronic Counter Measures continued to plague Lacrosse.[20] On January 4, 1961 the ax fell and the Lacrosse program was established at 3 reduced strength battalions in Europe, 1 in South Korea and 4 in the USA. Inventory was reduced to 95 per battalion from 120 by the end of 1962.[21] Fiscal Year 1962 saw the effective end of the Army's experience with the Lacrosse system. Mary Cagle described the Lacrosse as "technically deficient and unacceptable to the user for which it was developed."[22] In her official Army history of the program she also stated that it was "a victim of financial anemia and acute indecision and inaction.[22]
Nearly 1,200 Lacrosse missiles were produced and deployed at a cost of more than US$2 billion in 1996 dollars (excluding the cost of the nuclear warheads).[23]
The first unit to be equipped with Lacrosse was 5th Battalion, 41st Artillery, based at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. In total, eight battalions would be equipped with Lacrosse, with most going to Europe, except one to Korea and one retained by the Strategic Army Corps.
Designations
The original Navy project was assigned the designator SSM-N-9. When transferred to the Army, the program became SSM-G-12, which changed to SSM-A-12 after minor changes in the Army's designation scheme. When adopted into service, the weapon system was referred to as M-4 and only gained its MGM-18A designation months before being declared obsolete.[24]
The UGM-27 Polaris missile was a two-stage solid-fueled nuclear-armed submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM). As the United States Navy's first SLBM, it served from 1961 to 1980.
The MGM-31A Pershing was the missile used in the Pershing 1 and Pershing 1a field artillery missile systems. It was a solid-fueled two-stage theater ballistic missile designed and built by Martin Marietta to replace the PGM-11 Redstone missile as the primary nuclear-capable theater-level weapon of the United States Army and replaced the MGM-1 Matador cruise missiles operated by the German Air Force. Pershing later replaced the European-based MGM-13 Mace cruise missiles deployed by the United States Air Force and the German Air Force. Development began in 1958, with the first test missile fired in 1960, the Pershing 1 system deployed in 1963 and the improved Pershing 1a deployed in 1969. The U.S. Army replaced the Pershing 1a with the Pershing II Weapon System in 1983 while the German Air Force retained Pershing 1a until all Pershings were eliminated in 1991. The U.S. Army Missile Command (MICOM) managed the development and improvements while the Field Artillery Branch deployed the systems and developed tactical doctrine.
Redstone Arsenal (RSA) is a United States Army post and a census-designated place (CDP) adjacent to Huntsville in Madison County, Alabama, United States and is part of the Huntsville-Decatur Combined Statistical Area. The Arsenal is a garrison for various tenants across the Department of Defense, Department of Justice, and NASA. RSA has benefited from decisions by the Defense Base Realignment and Closure Commission. The Redstone Arsenal CDP had a residential population of 837 as of the 2020 census. The base contains a government and contractor workforce that averages 36,000 to 40,000 personnel daily.
The M142 HIMARS is a light multiple rocket launcher developed in the late 1990s for the United States Army and mounted on a standard United States Army Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles (FMTV) truck frame.
Nuclear artillery is a subset of limited-yield tactical nuclear weapons, in particular those weapons that are launched from the ground at battlefield targets. Nuclear artillery is commonly associated with shells delivered by a cannon, but in a technical sense short-range artillery rockets or tactical ballistic missiles are also included.
The PGM-11 Redstone was the first large American ballistic missile. A short-range ballistic missile (SRBM), it was in active service with the United States Army in West Germany from June 1958 to June 1964 as part of NATO's Cold War defense of Western Europe. It was the first US missile to carry a live nuclear warhead, in the 1958 Pacific Ocean weapons test, Hardtack Teak.
The Nike Hercules, initially designated SAM-A-25 and later MIM-14, was a surface-to-air missile (SAM) used by U.S. and NATO armed forces for medium- and high-altitude long-range air defense. It was normally armed with the W31 nuclear warhead, but could also be fitted with a conventional warhead for export use. Its warhead also allowed it to be used in a secondary surface-to-surface role, and the system also demonstrated its ability to hit other short-range missiles in flight.
The Northrop SM-62 Snark is an early-model intercontinental range ground-launched cruise missile that could carry a W39 thermonuclear warhead. The Snark was deployed by the United States Air Force's Strategic Air Command from 1958 through 1961. It represented an important step in weapons technology during the Cold War. The Snark was named by Jack Northrop and took its name from the author Lewis Carroll's character the "snark". The Snark was the only surface-to-surface cruise missile with such a long range that was ever deployed by the U.S. Air Force. Following the deployment of ICBMs, the Snark was rendered obsolete, and it was removed from deployment in 1961.
The M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System is an American-developed armored, self-propelled, multiple rocket launcher.
The MGR-1 Honest John rocket was the first nuclear-capable surface-to-surface rocket in the United States arsenal. Originally designated Artillery Rocket XM31, the first unit was tested on 29 June 1951, with the first production rounds delivered in January 1953. Its designation was changed to M31 in September 1953. The first Army units received their rockets by year's end and Honest John battalions were deployed in Europe in early 1954. Alternatively, the rocket was capable of carrying an ordinary high-explosive warhead weighing 1,500 pounds (680 kg).
The MGM-29 Sergeant was an American short-range, solid fuel, surface-to-surface missile developed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The missiles were built by Sperry Utah Company. The Sergeant was the third and last in a series of JPL rockets for the US Army whose names correspond to the progression in Army enlisted ranks, starting with Private and Corporal.
The General Dynamics FIM-43 Redeye is a man-portable surface-to-air missile system. It uses passive infrared homing to track its target. Production began in 1962 and – in anticipation of the Redeye II, which later became the FIM-92 Stinger – ended in the early 1970s after about 85,000 rounds had been built. The Redeye was withdrawn gradually between 1982 and 1995 as the Stinger was deployed, though it remained in service with various armed forces of the world until quite recently, being supplied via the Foreign Military Sales program. It was initially banned from being sold overseas, to avoid missiles falling into the hands of terrorist organizations. However, after the export ban was lifted, the weapon was never actually used by terrorists against civil aircraft, in contrast with other MANPADS. While the Redeye and 9K32 Strela-2 (SA-7) were similar, the missiles were not identical. Nonetheless, the CIA concluded that the Soviet SA-7 had benefited from the Redeye’s development.
The MGM-5 Corporal missile was a nuclear-armed tactical surface-to-surface missile. It was the first guided weapon authorized by the United States to carry a nuclear warhead. A guided tactical ballistic missile, the Corporal could deliver either a nuclear fission, high-explosive, fragmentation or chemical warhead up to a range of 75 nautical miles (139 km).
Project Hermes was a missile research program run by the Ordnance Corps of the United States Army from November 15, 1944, to December 31, 1954, in response to Germany's rocket attacks in Europe during World War II. The program was to determine the missile needs of army field forces. A research and development partnership between the Ordnance Corps and General Electric started November 20, 1944 and resulted in the "development of long-range missiles that could be used against both ground targets and high-altitude aircraft."
The General Dynamics Mauler was a self-propelled anti-aircraft missile system designed to a late 1950s US Army requirement for a system to combat low-flying high-performance tactical fighters and short-range ballistic missiles.
The SSM-N-9 Regulus II cruise missile is a supersonic guided missile armed with a nuclear warhead, intended for launching from surface ships and submarines of the U.S. Navy (USN).
The United States Army's Nike Ajax was the world's first operational guided surface-to-air missile (SAM), entering service in 1954. Nike Ajax was designed to attack conventional bomber aircraft flying at high subsonic speeds and altitudes above 50,000 feet (15 km). Nike was initially deployed in the US to provide defense against Soviet bomber attacks, and was later deployed overseas to protect US bases, as well as being sold to various allied forces. Some examples remained in use until the 1970s.
The XSSM-A-23 Dart was an anti-tank guided missile developed for the United States Army in the 1950s. After protracted development, the missile, similar in design to the French SS.10, was cancelled in favor of purchasing the SS.11 missile.
The Human Engineering Laboratory (HEL) was a research institution under the U.S. Army Materiel Command that specialized in human performance research, human factors engineering, robotics, and human-in-the-loop technology. Located at Aberdeen Proving Ground, HEL acted as the Army’s lead laboratory for human factors and ergonomics research from 1951 to 1992, during which researchers investigated methods to maximize combat effectiveness, improve weapons and equipment designs, and reduce operation costs and errors. HEL was one of the seven Army laboratories that merged together to form the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) in 1992.
References
Citations
↑ "Lacrosse Missile (MGM-18)". U.S. Nuclear Weapons Cost Study Project. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution. August 1998. Archived from the original on September 10, 2011. Retrieved October 11, 2011.
↑ Knight, Clayton (1969). Blackwood, Dr. Paul E. (ed.). The How and Why Wonder Book of Rockets and Missiles. How and Why Wonder Books. Vol.5005 (4ed.). New York: Grosset & Dunlap. p.6. ASINB0007FD82K. LCCN71124649.
↑ "Lacrosse Missile (MGM-18)". U.S. Nuclear Weapons Cost Study Project. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution. August 1998. Archived from the original on September 10, 2011. Retrieved October 11, 2011.
↑ Parsch, Andreas (26 January 2002). "Martin SSM-A-12/M4/MGM-18 Lacrosse". Directory of U.S. Military Rockets and Missiles. Retrieved October 11, 2011.
Bibliography
Cagle, Mary T., History of the Lacross Guided Missile System (U) 1947-1962 U.S. Army Missile Command. 1962.
Kennedy, Gregory P. (2009). The Rockets and Missiles of White Sands Proving Ground 1945-1958. Schiffer Publishing Ltd. ISBN9780764332517.
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