![\"lrpf](\"http:\/\/static1.businessinsider.com\/image\/57d01bfab996eb94008b6519-1800\/lrpf_lead_img_lrg.jpg\")
<\/p>\nEl Ej\u00e9rcito de\u00a0EEUU ,\u00a0est\u00e1 trabajando para dise\u00f1ar un sistema de armas de artiller\u00eda capaz de identificar y destruir b\u00fankers , aeropuertos,\u00a0concentraciones de tropas y otros blancos\u00a0de ubicaci\u00f3n fija .\u00a0 Los emergentes fuegos de precisi\u00f3n de largo alcance, est\u00e1n\u00a0programados para ser operativos para el a\u00f1o 2027. La nueva arma ser\u00e1\u00a0\u00a0dise\u00f1ada para sustituir el sistema del Ej\u00e9rcito \u00a0MGM-140 ATACMS\u00a0, un misil lanzado desde tierra capaz de disparar hasta 160\u00a0kil\u00f3metros.”Los adversarios ya est\u00e1n equipados con armas de largo alcance que podr\u00edan infligir un da\u00f1o sustancial a distancias m\u00e1s all\u00e1 fuerza de choque del Ej\u00e9rcito”, dijo el ex coronel del Ej\u00e9rcito John Weinzettle, ahora un administrador de programas en los negocios de\u00a0 Avanzada de\u00a0sistemas de misiles de Raytheon.<\/p>\n
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The Army is working to engineer a sleek, high-speed, first-of-its-kind long-range ground launched attack missile able to pinpoint and destroy enemy bunkers, helicopter staging areas, troop concentrations and other fixed-location targets from as much as three time the range of existing weapons, service officials said.<\/p>\n
The emerging Long Range Precision Fires, slated to be operational by 2027, is being designed to destroy targets at distances up to 500 kilometers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Long Range Precision Fires Missile will attack, neutralize, suppress and destroy targets using missile-delivered indirect precision fires. LRPF provides field artillery units with 24\/7\/365 long-range and deep-strike capability while supporting brigade, division, corps, Army, theater, Joint and Coalition forces as well as Marine Corps air-to-ground task forces in full, limited or expeditionary operations,\u201d Dan O\u2019boyle, spokesman for Program Executive Office, Missiles & Space, told Scout Warrior.<\/p>\n
The new weapon is designed to replace the Army\u2019s current aging 1980\u2019s era MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile System, a ground-launched missile able to fire at least 160 kilometers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe LRPF will replace the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) capability, which is impacted by the age of the ATACMS inventory and the cluster munition policy that removes all M39 and M39A1 ATACMS from the inventory after 2018,\u201d O\u2019boyle added.<\/p>\n
A key aspect of the strategic impetus for the long-range LRPF weapon is to allow ground units to attack from safer distances without themselves being vulnerable to enemy fire, Raytheon and Army officials explained.<\/p>\n
LRPF missile will have a newer explosive warhead and guidance technology aimed at providing an all-weather, 24\/7, precision surface-to-surface deep-strike capability, O\u2019Boyle added.<\/p>\n
In addition, the LRPF will fire from two existing Army launchers, the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System and the\u00a0M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System, O\u2019Boyle added.<\/p>\n
The new weapons system will fire two missiles from a single weapons pod and uses a more high-tech guidance system than its predecessors.<\/p>\n
Although additional competitions among vendors are expected in future years, however the Army did award a $5.7 million risk-mitigation contract to Raytheon for the LRPF program.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’re looking to replace a design\u00a0originally from\u00a0the 1980s,” said Greg Haynes, a Raytheon manager leading the company\u2019s campaign for a new long-range weapon. \u201cMissile technology has come a long way.\u201d<\/p>\n
The US Army was among the first-ever to deploy land-fired precision weaponry such as the GPS-guided Excalibur precision 155m artillery round and the longer-range Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System, or GMLRS. These weapons, which were first used in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan in the 2006 through 2009 timeframe, ushered in the advent of a new kind of weapon engineered to give Commanders more attack options and pinpoint enemy targets with great precision from long distances. In fact, among other things, GMLRS successfully destroyed Taliban targets in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n
While precision fires of this kind would, quite naturally, be useful in full-scale mechanized force-on-force combat \u2013 they proved particularly useful in counterinsurgency attacks as Taliban and Iraqi insurgents deliberately blended in with innocent civilians among local populations. As a result, precision attacks became necessary, even vital, to US combat success.<\/p>\n
Since the initial combat debut of these weapons, however, the fast pace of global technological change and weapons proliferation has fostered a circumstance wherein the US is no longer among the few combat forces to have these kinds of weapons. As a result, the US Army sees a clear need to substantially advance offensive ground-attack technology.<\/p>\n
\u201cAdversaries are already equipped with long-range weapons that could inflict substantial damage at distances beyond the Army\u2019s striking power,\u201d said former Army colonel John Weinzettle, now a program manager in Raytheon\u2019s Advanced Missile Systems business.<\/p>\n