Direct and indirect fire: the Multi-Role Armament and Ammunition System for the multi-mission FCS - MRAAS
The following article describes one of several possible scenarios for the design and operation of the future combat systems (FCS) for the Objective Force. The technologies described in this article are still under development and have not been tested on an FCS prototype. In FY03, the Army will make the decision as to the design of the FCS, including the type and calibers of the weapon systems and which technologies to incorporate. Ed.
In 1999, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, (DARPA), Arlington, Virginia, in conjunction with the US Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) with its headquarters at Fort Monroe, Virginia, initiated the FCS Program for the Objective Force. This program will leverage advanced technologies in platforms, sensors, communications, lethality and unmanned systems, including robotic ground vehicles and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
The FCS force has specific goals for strategic deployability, lethality and sustainability. For example, the FCS unit of action (brigade-sized) has a deployment goal of weighing only 25 percent of today’s heavy brigade. Additionally, this force must be more lethal, emphasize standoff precision engagement and be capable of closing with and destroying the enemy. FCS must be effective across the spectrum of conflict, including stability and support operations (SASO), and operate in all environments, including urban.
About this same time, the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology approved an Advanced Technology Demonstration (ATD) to be run by the Tank-Automotive and Armament Command-Army Research, Development and Engineering Center (TACOM-ARDEC) at Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey. The ATD is designated the Multi-Role Armament and Ammunition System (MRAAS), the subject of this article, and includes developing an integrated direct and indirect firing capability on a common chassis.
MRAAS will be mounted on an FCS chassis to produce an advanced strike system to perform multiple functions on the battlefield of 100-by-100 kilometers. TRADOC provided initial guidance for MRAAS to be capable of providing lethality overmatch in the direct fire mission and full-spectrum lethality in both the red zone and shaping zone fights. (The red zone is the FCS-based force’s standoff engagement area approximately 12 kilometers away from the enemy.)
TACOM-ARDEC began working with DARPA, TRADOC and industry to develop a high-technology armament system that will serve as one of the key FCS strike platforms and underpin the Objective Force’s ability to dominate maneuver and fires throughout the battlespace.
Operational Concept. Developing an operational concept facilitated understanding the multi-role tactical requirements of the MRAAS system. The concept exploration scenario was one in which a joint task force (JTF) commander requested an FCS force for a rapid deployment mission. The force included MRAAS and other platforms consistent with emerging FCS concepts.
The scenario investigated the actions of a notional decisive operations unit (DOU) consisting of MRAASs, reconnaissance and surveillance (R&S) platforms, infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) and responsive accurate munitions modules (RAMM). RAMM is another TACOM-ARDEC science and technology objective investigating a fully robotic indirect fire module that shoots conventional and special purpose 120-mm mortar munitions out to 15 kilometers.
In this operational concept, systems were inserted by parachute or immediate follow-on air transport landing on unimproved combat runways at a distance of about 75 kilometers from the threat force. The threat provided a robust baseline of battlefield targets, including tanks, light armored vehicles, cannons, rockets, missiles, trucks, helicopters, mortars and soldiers in the open and in fortified fighting positions.
Immediately after landing, the DOU dispersed. Due to limited airlift, the force did not bring UAVs. Instead, a RAMM launched a limited-dwell UAV, called QuickLook, that flew to the threat area and provided a live feed for targeting purposes.
MRAAS oriented and commenced standoff engagements at ranges out to 50 kilometers. Each FCS system had a predetermined mixture of munitions that was weighted toward attacking the threat through long-range standoff fires while maintaining an air defense and direct fire capability.
MRAAS steadily moved toward the enemy, continuing to destroy enemy targets. Based on his systems’ ammunition expenditure and movement rates, the DOU commander requested precision airdrop resupply between his force and the threat; MRAAS systems independently moved to dispersed pallets and resupplied.
The fight had unfolded rapidly, and MRAAS guns needed a quick ammo resupply. Resupplying ammunition at this point allowed systems to tailor the load for the last 25 kilometers of the fight when beyond-line-of-sight (BLOS) and direct fire engagements would prevail, but long-range engagements also might be needed. As a three-gun MRAAS platoon resupplied, the other platoon continued to rain lethal fires on the threat.