Lance and Pershing - Missiles of the Field Artillery (1977)

for oh these modern missile systems  bear little resemblance to the horsedrawn Cannons field artilleryman still talk about World War II changed all that the impact  of the German V2s on London also had a profound impact on the field artillery the artillery  realized it needed the vastly superior range of the rocket propelled missiles if it was  to provide fire Support over rapid rapid L enlarging Battlefield areas so soon after the war  development began on a whole new family of missile weapons the latest in this line is Lance  one of two missile systems in use by the artillery today it is shown here in its primary  configuration aboard the self-propel launcher or the SPL is a diesel powered track vehicle  that carries all equipment necessary to fire the Lance once it has been positioned on its  pre- surveyed firing point and its road wheels locked out to form a stable firing platform  Lance can be made ready to fire in just a few minutes operational since 1972 Lance is  designed for General support to the core commanders it is 20 ft long and 22 in  in diameter and weighs approximately 2900 lb with a nuclear warhead and  approximately 3400 lb with a non-nuclear warhead the main assemblage contains the liquid propellant  tanks the rocket engine and the gyro stabilized inertial guidance system the Warhead section is  designed to carry either a nuclear or non-nuclear load the Gunner proceeds to bite the missile by  lining its gyro axis precisely with his sight unit then the Warhead parameters are inserted and the missile elevated to  one of two firing elevations elevate the remote theodolite operator  uses a theodolite to lay the missile 639 63 check he makes sure that  the missile is aligned to the firing asthma the portable monitor programmer  is used to insert the data into the missiles guidance system and to  control the firing sequence after removing the upper WOD of the anti-prop  solion unit the missile is ready for launch the firing cable is unrealed and the remote firing device is positioned  approximately 100 m from the missile arm 5 4 at the proper  time Lance is fired one fire once the missile has reached the necessary  velocity the larger booster engine shuts down while a small sustainer engine continues to burn  during flight the guidance system corrects for variations in air density and winds and  keeps the missile on course to the Target this might be a large troop concentration an  Airfield a Communications complex an enemy missile site or some other critical milit  Ary installation the non-nuclear Warhead carries a cargo of 836 bomblets which are  released above the ground and explode on impact designed to work in conjunction with  the SPL is the loader transporter another configuration of the same tracked vehicle  it can carry two complete Lance missiles and by use of its fixed length boom can  transfer the missile to the launchers both the SPL and the loader  transporter are highly mobile vehicles with their watertight halls and a rubber shroud covering the road  wheels they can negotiate enland waterways and they are air transportable additional versatility has been built into  the Lance system by making its launch fixture removable within minutes the launch  fixture could be converted by attaching Wheels Jacks and toe bar from the mobility  kit to produce the launcher zero link or lzl this is a lightweight auxiliary  launcher configuration that can be towed or carried by medium helicopters during air mobile  operations either as an internal or exter Turtle load reloading the lzl in the field  during air mobile operations when the LT is not available is accomplished  through use of this portable tripod hoist in fact all essential elements of the  Lance missile system are air transportable by helicopter Elevate its elevating and traversing  hand wheels are entirely hand operated the Lance must system is virtually as mobile and reliable as  Cannon artillery and gives the field commander a versatile quick action weapon that can hit distant  targets with great accuracy and with devastating impact the persing 1A is the field artillery's longest  rang guided missile as you can see persing takes over where Lance leades off and provides the  theater Commander with a quick response nuclear delivery system with a range effective up to  740 km because it uses a solid propellant persy has a much shorter reaction time than earlier  liquid propellant Rockets moreover it travels further with greater accur accy and with a larger  payload yet it is considerably shorter only 34 ft in length let's look at the four sections  which make up this missile the bottom two sections contain the first stage and second stage  solid propellent rocket Motors each stage has air F and Jet veins which correct for deviations  in the flight path the third section is the guidance and control section it contains the  heart to the missiles inertial guidance system a gyro stabilized platform which is constantly  oriented to the desired flight path here also is an onboard computer and devices to determine  Direction and velocity the fourth section contains the nuclear warhead persing is transported and  launched from this four-wheeled semi-trailer called the erector launcher the system's prime  mover is this powerful multifuel truck tractor m757 together these two vehicles provide  all the pneumatic mechanical hydraulic and electrical assemblies needed to  transport Orient erect and launch the missile the persin can be moved over rough road and across open terrain these vehicles have a cruising range of  300 miles and are capable of pting many enland waterways each purging firing platoon has  three erector launchers plus their supporting Vehicles this vehicle transports the programmer  test station and power station which is carried aboard a modified version of the same  truck tractor accompanying the Splatoon is the battery control Central  and the long range track 80 radio set the purging Battalion is one of the Army's  largest with almost 1,500 men needed to maintain and operate its 36 launchers and support equipment  when the Battalion is deployed to the field each of its missiles is programmed on an assigned  Target in order to hit that Target the missile guidance platform must be aligned to the firing  aspect this alignment process is performed fully automatically by the automatic reference  unit once its low powerered laser has been locked onto the missiles guidance platform the  missile Warhead which has been carried in this handling device during transport is swung around  lifted up and made it to the guidance and control section meanwhile the ground support  power station has been started so now the operator of the programmer  test station can began the C down that means he's going to program the  computer a sophisticated third generation model which will calculate the  data to hit the target program the missile guidance computer and test all  elements of the missile and its controlling systems power station on for missile one select missile missile one selected  holding for confidence count enter set number bu asmith and Mills 14540 29 signals from the  computer go by cable to the sequential launch adapter a new modification to the puring system  basically a switching unit it allows the pts operator to select any one of the three missiles  to count during the countdown the missile is actually run through a simulated launch and flight  by the computer controlled surfaces gyro units and electrical units are all checked to make sure  they are functioning properly meanwhile the track 80 radio set has been positioned and  put into operation its 8T parabolic antenna provides reliable Communications up to 160 km  all Communications flow into the battery control Central from within this expandable van the  battery Commander is able to exercise control over the nine missiles of his fire firing platoon and  maintain contact with his Battalion and other Army elements at this point the firing platoon  is on quick reaction alert that means its missiles have been preconditioned on targets and  a very short countdown quick count may be used to fire sir stand should a fire mission come in the  battery Commander is ready to carry it out within minutes a quick count is used to  prepare the missile for immediate launch Miss that's the one select because persing is a nuclear  weapon system elaborate safeguards have been built in to ensure against  its misuse the key is located in a safe under Twan control to prevent any  one individual from activating the missile when the short countdown  nears the end the firing sequence is initiated because it has its own inertial guidance system  the FY neither receives nor sends any instructions once it's inl therefore it is effectively immune  to enemy jaming the onboard computer constantly collects inlight data Compares it with a desired  flight fan and then Maneuvers the jet veins and air F to keep the missile on course at the time  the first stage rocket motor burns out it has boosted the missile into a ballistic curve toward  the target after a coast period explosive bolts sever the splice band which holds the sections  together and first stage separation occurs the second stage rocket motor ignites and pushes the  missile onward when the missile has attained a certain velocity at a predetermined point in Space  the splice band is blown and the thrust reversal ports are fired the second stage is then shut down  by blowing gaping holes in its side after Warhead separation a small rocket motor imparts a spin to  the Warhead to provide stability and flight from this point on it acts like any other artillery  projectile following an established ballistic curve to the Target at a preset point for  either an Air or Surface burst there is nuclear detonation there you have seen our army now has  two modern guided missile systems to supplement its Cannon artillery Lance and persing are  reliable mobile and powerful and able to operate under extreme weather conditions  they give the field artillery the long thrust it needs to support far-flung armor and  Airborne operations and to deter any wouldbe aggressor I