Australia Fires First ATACMS Missile in Northern Territory
Australia Fires First ATACMS Missile in Northern Territory
Australia has fired its first army tactical missile system in the Northern Territory to demonstrate capability for its northern borders.
"The ATACMS is an all-weather, inertially-guided surface-to-surface missile first used in the 1990s that can intercept high-value targets up to 300 kilometers (186 miles) away."
from Wikipedia:
The MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) is a tactical ballistic missile manufactured by the US defense company Lockheed Martin.
In March 1986, Ling-Temco-Vought won the contract for the missile design. The system was assigned the MGM-140 designation. The first test launch came two years later, thanks to earlier experience of the company with previous programs.
The first use of the ATACMS in combat was during Operation Desert Storm in 1991
In 2007, the U.S. Army terminated the ATACMS program due to cost, ending the ability to replenish stocks. To sustain the remaining inventory, the ATACMS Service Life Extension Program (SLEP) was launched, which refurbishes or replaces propulsion and navigation systems, replaces cluster munition warheads with the unitary blast fragmentation warhead, and adds a proximity fuze option to obtain area effects. Deliveries were projected to start in 2018. The ATACMS SLEP is a bridging initiative to provide time to complete analysis and development of a successor capability to the aging ATACMS stockpile, which could be ready around 2022.
Business, evidently, is brisk:
CANBERRA, Australia — Australia announced Thursday it will boost its defense capabilities by spending more than AU$1 billion (U.S. $683 million) on new advanced missile and rocket systems, including American-made High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems
WASHINGTON ― The U.S. State Department has approved Poland to buy advanced rockets and rocket launchers worth $10 billion, marking the latest such order from Eastern European allies in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
WASHINGTON, July 15 (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department has approved the potential sale of HIMARS rocket systems to Estonia, missiles to Norway and torpedoes to South Korea in separate deals that could be worth more than $1.5 billion in all, the Pentagon said on Friday.
In a June 24 release, the U.S. Department of Defense announced a $562 million sale of the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) to Bahrain, Poland, and Romania. First fielded in 1986, the ATACMS surface-to-surface missile can deliver a 160-560 kg warhead at ranges up to 300 km. The contract is scheduled for completion in June 2022.
On October 21, the U.S. State Department approved the sale of 64 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) and 135 AGM-84H Standoff Land Attack Missile Expanded Response (SLAM-ER) missiles to Taiwan. On October 26, the United States also approved the sale to Taiwan of up to 400 RGM-84L-4 Harpoon Block II missiles. The sales are valued at $436 million, $1 billion, and $2.37 billion respectively
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