- 2 months ago
For educational purposes
This episode contains detailed descriptions of every missile in NATO's arsenal up to the time of production.
Every air-to-air, air-to-ground, anti-armor, anti-aircraft & even nuclear missiles fielded by western nations at the height of the cold war.
This episode contains detailed descriptions of every missile in NATO's arsenal up to the time of production.
Every air-to-air, air-to-ground, anti-armor, anti-aircraft & even nuclear missiles fielded by western nations at the height of the cold war.
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LearningTranscript
00:00Tonight on Wings,
00:27take off with the Discovery Channel and modern missiles.
00:31In today's wars, handheld guided missiles can destroy aircraft flying twice the speed of sound,
00:37and cruise missiles travel hundreds of ground-hugging miles to find their target with pinpoint accuracy.
00:44From huge ICBMs carrying multiple warheads to the lightweight Stinger surface-to-air missile,
00:50modern missile technology has changed the concept of war.
00:54Tonight, soar high with modern missiles on Wings.
00:58Today, the world of missiles ranges from slim rockets fired by supersonic fighters,
01:00to small hand-held weapons steered by an operator and capable of knocking out emissions.
01:06Today, the world of missiles ranges from slim rockets fired by supersonic fighters,
01:12to small hand-held weapons steered by an operator and capable of knocking out a main battle tank.
01:18Today, the world of missiles ranges from slim rockets fired by supersonic fighters,
01:24to small hand-held weapons steered by an operator and capable of knocking out a main battle tank.
01:30There are also largely automatic weapons which protect the biggest warships against air attacks,
01:38and cruise missiles which are really pilotless bombers.
01:42Missiles are used by almost every army, navy and air force.
01:46Nobody would go to war without them.
01:54This missile is TOE.
01:56It gets its name from the initial letters of tube launched, optically tracked, and wire guided.
02:02It's the West's most important anti-tank missile,
02:06and there may well be more TOE's than any other missile in the world.
02:10Hughes Aircraft of California have delivered over 400,000,
02:14and will probably soon reach the half-million mark.
02:18TOE is a hefty missile, weighing about 45 pounds,
02:22but it can be used by infantry.
02:24Other TOE's are carried by Jeeps,
02:26by the four-wheel drive Hummer cross-country vehicle,
02:30or by cargo trucks.
02:32Carried as the main anti-tank weapon of the Bradley Infantry combat vehicle,
02:36it can also be mounted on the Cobra,
02:39S-76M helicopters,
02:41or the widely used Westland Lynx.
02:48All the operator has to do is acquire the target through a telescope
02:51which is bore sighted exactly parallel to an optical sensor.
02:55In this combat footage sequence, shot through the operator's sight,
02:59the effectiveness of helicopter-launched tow can be seen as the target is destroyed
03:04even though it moves behind the hill.
03:11The missile is fired from its tube by a quick-burn rocket
03:14and coasts until it is far enough from the operator for the main rocket to ignite.
03:19At the same time, a bright light appears in the missile's tail facing astern.
03:30As long as the operator keeps his sight on the target,
03:33the light is automatically kept exactly on course.
03:36Steering commands generated in the optical sensor
03:39are automatically transmitted along fine wires trailed behind the missile.
03:44Crosshairs in the telescope help the operator to aim correctly.
03:48The lower missile of these two is I-TOW, or Improved TOW.
03:58This uses exactly the same launch equipment as Standard TOW.
04:07It has an extensible nose probe which provides the optimum detonation distance
04:11between the shaped warhead and the enemy armor.
04:14I-TOW became operational in 1981.
04:18Today, the production version is TOW-2.
04:21This is a second-generation missile.
04:23It's rather heavier with a new and more powerful warhead,
04:28more powerful flight motor, thermal beacon, and new night sight.
04:32TOW-2A, now coming into service, has tandem warheads to defeat reactive armor.
04:39TOW-2B, for the 1990s, flies over its target and fires its warhead downwards.
04:46Both versions can be used over extended ranges by day or night, and from a wide range of launchers.
04:53Toe has counterparts made in Europe.
05:13These are gazelles carrying four or six hots.
05:17HOTS. The HOT gets its name from a French acronym meaning high subsonic speed, optically
05:24guided and tube launched.
05:35Each HOT weighs 50 pounds. Like TOW, HOT spins for flight stability as it pays out the fine
05:46guidance wires. Again, the operator sights the crosshairs of his magnifying optics on
05:56the target. Here, HOT training is taking place on a range. The operator quickly learns how
06:03to master the missile control panel with its joystick controller. Then, he can put five
06:08missiles through the same hole in the target. HOT fits on various land vehicles, such as
06:18the casemate system with auto reloading on West Germany's Jaguar tank destroyer, or the UTM-800
06:24on Panhard armored cars, or the Lancelot turret of the French AMX-10P.
06:39One of the cheapest and simplest anti-armor missiles is the Swedish Carl Gustav. This simple and
06:46robust handheld system fires an 84 millimeter rocket. It is in service with over 40 armies,
06:52and has been combat proven. Carl Gustav was originally just an anti-tank weapon. Today,
07:00it exists in various forms which can fire different kinds of projectile. The biggest round is the
07:09HEAT, high explosive anti-tank. Others include high explosive, smoke,
07:18fire and practice warheads. Though the HEAT round weighs only seven pounds, it can destroy a main battle tank.
07:42It rides in the barrel on a ring of Teflon to reduce the rapid spin imparted by the rifling, seen here inside the bore.
07:58Here, an engagement between a Carl Gustav team and a tank is seen from both the infantryman's and the doomed tank's point of view.
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08:25probably the most numerous European tactical missile is Milan this is made by the same team
08:49as hot aero special of France and MBB of West Germany a firing post can be set up by two men in a few
08:58seconds one carries the firing post and the other two missile tubes when the post is ready
09:19a tube is locked on in a simple rear-to-front push action this makes the electrical connection
09:25the operator can then sight and fire
09:28the missile weighs 14.8 pounds like hot it uses automatic infrared tracking and wire guidance
09:53these examples of armor show the holes made through the entire assembly by the
10:01jets from the Milan's shaped charges warhead Milan gained a good reputation with the British Army in
10:14the Falklands one of the major problems with designing a portable anti-tank missile system
10:29for use by infantry is keeping the weight down the design of armor has become more sophisticated
10:35the warhead large enough to tackle the thick frontal defenses of a modern battle tank can
10:41be unacceptably heavy as in this case infantry often have to wait until the tanks have passed through
10:48their position
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11:17now they can tackle the lighter side and back armor therefore some designers have
11:30reasoned that it makes sense to attack the thinner armor on top of the tank the
11:36Swedish RBS 56 bill flies just over the top of its target and the shaped charge
11:42fires diagonally downwards bill weighs 23.6 pounds and is another line of sight weapon
12:04the result of the hit on a fully armed tank is spectacular
12:12the
12:19the
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12:33Every modern army has to be protected against air attack,
12:48and it must take its protection with it,
12:50right up with the leading combat units.
12:54The British company specializing in infantry anti-aircraft missiles
12:57is Shorts, whose weapons have lots of combat experience.
13:03Blowpipe has now been developed into Javelin.
13:07This does not have to be steered.
13:09Instead, Javelin is another semi-automatic to line-of-sight weapon.
13:14The operator holds the bright aiming mark on the target,
13:18and a TV camera in the aiming unit senses bright flares on the missile
13:22and generates corrective signals.
13:33Missile tubes can be loaded, fired, and reloaded in seconds.
13:45Here, Javelin support is brought up in an armored personnel carrier.
13:49One version uses a lightweight multiple launcher
13:52which can fire three rounds in rapid succession.
13:55Here, there is just one target, a hostile helicopter.
14:11The operator gets it in his magnifying sight
14:13and puts the aiming pipper squarely on it,
14:16using his thumb control to keep the target centered until destroyed.
14:20As this animated sequence shows,
14:32the missile starts spinning for flight stability
14:35as it leaves the tube and the fin tips snap open.
14:38In slow motion, the firing sequence starts
14:50as the gas pressure generated by the rocket-driven gyro
14:53blows the cap off the end of the tube.
15:02Then the rear closure is blown off by the launch of the missile.
15:08The rapid-burned first-stage motor pops the missile from its tube.
15:21At a safe distance from the launcher, the cruise motor fires.
15:26This takes the missile to its target at supersonic speed
15:29out to distances exceeding 2.5 miles.
15:32Any airborne assault force, such as this troop being air-landed
15:49from Puma helicopters, has to have air defense.
15:53Few systems are as light and compact as Javelin,
15:56which, in its shoulder-fired version, weighs only about 22 pounds.
16:00But the maker, Shorts, now has an even newer missile,
16:09Starstreak, described later.
16:11This is tracked rapier on the march
16:28with eight missiles ready to fire on an M548 armored launcher.
16:34It is just one of many versions
16:36of the British rapier anti-aircraft missile system
16:39in service round the world.
16:41Rapier weighs 94 pounds and flies at MAC-2
16:45to engage targets up to four miles away.
16:48A special feature of the missile is that it is designed
16:51to be so accurate that it pierces the target,
16:53the warhead exploding inside the enemy aircraft.
16:56In one version, the human operator could wear a Ferranti helmet-mounted sight.
17:06This is slaved to the sight line to the target.
17:13Once a target is spotted, it can be designated by pressing a button.
17:17A servo system instantly slews and elevates the eight missiles
17:21to point at the target.
17:23Some versions of rapier use command guidance to the line of sight,
17:27while other versions upgrade the basic system with radars,
17:31thermal infrared, and laser systems
17:33to give instant engagement, even at night or in bad weather.
17:37The latest version is rapier 2000,
17:40now under development against a 1 billion pound contract
17:44for service from about 1994.
17:53Much older and less effective than rapier
17:56is the U.S. Army's equivalent, Chaparral.
17:58This is based on the Navy's AIM-9D Sidewinder air-to-air missile,
18:04modified for use from land launchers
18:06such as this turret on an M730 tracked vehicle.
18:20Four missiles are carried on the rotating turret,
18:23which in this case is towed behind a cross-country vehicle.
18:25The much lighter M54 ground-in-placed version
18:30can be airlifted by a Chinook helicopter.
18:34Normally, the operator has to detect targets,
18:38slew and elevate the missiles,
18:39and ensure that the homing head of the missile selected
18:42is locked onto that target before firing.
18:45Thereafter, the infrared homing head in the nose of the missile
18:49steers it automatically onto its target.
18:52A forward-looking infrared thermal imaging device
18:55can be added to improve night or bad-weather operation.
19:05Star Streak, here mounted on the Alvis Stormer,
19:08carrying eight rounds ready to fire with 12 reloads,
19:11is the newest and most advanced surface-to-air missile in the world.
19:16The missile accelerates to twice the speed of a bullet,
19:19and its unique feature is the three metal darts
19:22which spread out, holding formation until they hit the target.
19:27Star Streak can also be mounted on a helicopter.
19:31There is a lightweight naval launcher
19:32and also a one-man version for firing from the shoulder.
19:36The three dense metal darts each have a separate warhead,
19:44and they ride a guidance beam to the target.
19:48Their spread, significantly increasing the chance of a direct hit.
19:51Another advanced technology system is ADATS.
20:03The name comes from Air Defense Anti-Tank System,
20:06and it's the first missile in the world
20:08designed to be equally good at destroying both types of target.
20:12Here, ADATS is mounted on an M113 chassis.
20:29The unmanned turret carries two quad-launch tubes,
20:34a surveillance radar, an infrared tracker,
20:37a TV, a laser rangefinder, and a laser guidance sensor.
20:42The operator detects targets on the display
20:58of the Contrave Surveillance Radar,
21:00which can track up to ten targets simultaneously.
21:08On detection of a target,
21:10it is handed off to a passive tracking system,
21:13either the TV or the thermal imaging infrared.
21:23When the target comes within range,
21:26a missile is fired and flies up the guidance beam
21:29from a coated carbon dioxide laser.
21:48In this case, the target was a QF-86 Sabre.
21:52Here, we have a tank in the crosshairs of the optical site.
22:11While a blast fragmentation warhead is used against aircraft,
22:15detonated by a proximity fuse,
22:17for use against tanks,
22:18a shaped charge is also provided,
22:21detonated by impact.
22:23Missile speed is over Mach 3.
22:28Armor penetration is exceptional,
22:30as witness these test slabs,
22:32pierced by the shaped charge.
22:34This side view shows the penetration
22:36recorded by an ultra-fast camera.
22:38The suit was a great technology band.
22:59The suit was made of a naszego frame,
23:01as it was not as possible.
23:02The suit was made of a satellite,
23:03or the is on the same one.
23:04The suit was made of a Samsung,
23:05a mobile device,
23:06and the human being
23:06Probably the only completely developed anti-tank helicopter outside the Soviet Union,
23:11the McDonnell Douglas AH-64 Apache can carry 16 of the powerful Hellfire missile.
23:19Made by Rockwell, Hellfire weighs a little more than 100 pounds,
23:23and homes on laser light reflected from a target illuminated by a laser designator
23:28used by frontline troops or by the laser of the Apache itself.
23:36A version of Hellfire is also being developed with imaging infrared,
23:41or combined infrared and radar homing.
23:44This modular system, especially on the Apache, can satisfy a wide range of defense requirements.
23:52Hellfire can also be carried on the UH-68 Black Hawk,
23:56up to 16 being carried on the external store's support system.
24:06Another possible carrier is the AH-58D Warrior helicopter,
24:13with its mast-mounted laser designator.
24:16But this program is under threat following congressional refusal of funds in 1989.
24:22Most numerous and important of all Western tactical air-to-ground missiles is Maverick.
24:44More than 50,000 have been produced by Hughes Aircraft.
24:48Raytheon has come in as a second source producer of one particular version.
24:53The original AGM-65A is guided by a human operator who sees the target as viewed by a TV camera in the missile's nose.
25:03From the start, Maverick has been a precision missile.
25:07And the Thunderbolt 2 is just one of 13 types of aircraft from which it can be launched.
25:12AGM-65B has improved optics.
25:18AGM-65C and E are the laser Mavericks.
25:22The E version having a big 300-pound blast fragmentation warhead.
25:29These versions home automatically on laser light reflected, or scattered from the target.
25:35And where the laser designator is ground-mounted, they allow the aircraft to fire and forget,
25:40turning away to avoid the target's defenses.
25:43Such missiles essentially cannot miss.
26:12Mavericks can also be fired and guided by F-111Fs fitted with the pave-tac sensor under the belly.
26:19Raytheon also make the AGM-65D and G, which have an imaging infrared guidance seeker.
26:28While AGM-65F is the Navy anti-ship version with infrared guidance incorporating anti-ship logic circuits.
26:36Early versions of the Maverick weigh 450 pounds
26:40and have a shaped charge warhead for piercing armor or concrete fortifications.
26:47The various models can be selected for particular operational situations and types of target.
26:55Early experience with American anti-radar missiles was poor.
26:59Much better results have been achieved with AGM-88 HARM, the high-speed anti-radiation missile,
27:06which was developed by Texas Instruments and the U.S. Naval Air Systems Command, a naval weapons center.
27:12Great efforts have been made to achieve a really reliable weapon, which can be launched over the horizon
27:18or in quick reaction against all kinds of hostile radar.
27:32Among the aircraft deploying HARM are the Navy's EA-6B and A-6E,
27:37and the Air Force's F-4G Advanced Wild Weasels and the F-15E.
27:57The missile is continually being improved to keep it abreast of increasing hostile threats.
28:08HARM weighs a little over 800 pounds and has a maximum range of 15 miles.
28:14The guidance section has a broadband radar frequency receiver,
28:19which allows each missile to detect and destroy virtually any kind of radar.
28:24Another advanced feature is a digital autopilot.
28:29During a confrontation with Libya in the Gulf of Sidra in 1986,
28:33several HARMs were fired at missile guidance radars.
28:37As seen here, HARM often actually hits the target antenna.
28:50Of all the West's air-to-air missiles,
28:52none could even come close to the capabilities of AIM-54 Phoenix.
28:57This is despite the fact that it is quite an old missile,
29:00which Hughes' aircraft have been updating continuously.
29:03This is the latest AIM-54C version,
29:08which was flight tested from 1979 to 1985.
29:14Phoenix is bigger than any other non-Soviet air-to-air missile,
29:18with a launch weight of just over 1,000 pounds.
29:22It was the first air-to-air missile in service
29:24with its own active radar seeker in the nose.
29:28Phoenix can fly over 80 miles towards the target
29:31using a strapped-down inertial reference in digital autopilot.
29:36Then it switches on its radar
29:38and homes unerringly on the selected target.
29:41The missile is carried only by the F-14A and F-14D Tomcat interceptors.
29:48By far the most numerous air-to-air missile outside the Soviet Union
29:52is the AIM-9 Sidewinder.
29:54First developed on a shoestring budget more than 35 years ago,
29:59Sidewinder has progressed through many versions,
30:02carried by almost every Western combat aircraft.
30:05All have a body like a length of 5-inch pipe.
30:09The guidance sections, however, are visibly different.
30:12Here, an AIM-9P goes on an F-5E launching rail.
30:16Another family was started by the AIM-9L,
30:21here seen carried by an F-14A.
30:24This series has long-span pointed control fins.
30:29The 9L version introduced a more powerful
30:32annular blast fragmentation warhead with an improved fuse.
30:35This is what it can do to a QF-102 target drone.
30:46By far the most important Western air-to-air missile is AMRAAM.
30:51Switch assigned departure control frequency.
31:00You're cleared for takeoff.
31:02Designated AIM-120A,
31:05AMRAAM has self-contained inertial and active radar guidance.
31:09Unlike the older Sparrow,
31:11it does not demand that the launch aircraft should keep flying towards the enemy,
31:16illuminating it with radar energy.
31:17AMRAAM's own radar makes it a fire-and-forget weapon.
31:22It flies here on the F-16.
31:25It also flies on the F-15 and F-18 aircraft.
31:30It will equip almost all Western fighters,
31:34including Britain's Tornado and Sea Harrier.
31:42Another complete change of scene takes us to the U.S. Navy's Harpoon.
31:47Designated RGM-84A,
31:50the Harpoon is a miniature aircraft powered by a turbojet engine.
31:57Complete with a tandem rocket booster that shoots it out of its canister or tube launcher,
32:02Harpoon weighs just over 1,500 pounds.
32:05It was developed by McDonnell Douglas to meet a U.S. Navy need for a precision weapon with over-the-horizon range exceeding 50 nautical miles,
32:15able to be used day or night in any kind of weather.
32:17Harpoon can be fired from submarines.
32:20It can be fired from surface warships.
32:28In the AGM-84 version, it can be dropped from aircraft.
32:32The missile drops down very close above the wavetops, skimming the sea controlled by a radar altimeter.
32:38Near its target, it switches on its active search radar.
32:45It has waypoint capability, enabling it to change course during flight.
32:51This also enables it to approach its target from any chosen bearing line.
32:55Or for one launch platform to fire two missiles, which will then approach the same target from different directions.
33:02Harpoon can be programmed to fly around an intervening landmass.
33:07In the final seconds nearing the target, Harpoon can execute a pop-up maneuver and dive on the target from above,
33:26or carry out evasive action to defeat the target's defenses.
33:29It is now carried on a wide variety of U.S. Navy vessels, ranging from battleships to patrol craft,
33:48and is in service with 15 other navies.
33:50The French equivalent of Harpoon is Exocet.
34:01Produced by Aerospatial, this missile became notorious during the Falklands campaign,
34:07when several British ships were crippled by the air-launched version.
34:11There are also ship-borne and submarine-launched variants.
34:14Exocet is rocket-propelled with a range of 26 miles.
34:20At launch, the missile curves up and around onto the desired target heading.
34:26It then descends until it is just above the sea, kept on course by an inertial guidance platform and radar altimeter.
34:34When the target is only about six miles away, the ADAC active radar in the nose is switched on,
34:40and this starts sweeping an arc ahead, looking for the target.
34:45When it finds the target, it locks on and steers the missile to hit it at the optimum height above the waterline.
34:52MM-40 is a version with a bigger motor, giving slightly longer range.
34:58SM-39 is a submarine-launched version, fired in a special container from the sub's torpedo tubes.
35:04The British Aerospace Seawolf can outperform any other close-range air-defense missile.
35:22It has repeatedly demonstrated its ability to destroy not only all kinds of aircraft, but also small supersonic missiles,
35:39and even shells fired from 4.5-inch guns.
35:42A rapid rate of fire can be sustained.
35:47The original installation is using this six-box launcher.
35:56As seen here in San Carlos water, this form of Seawolf was battle-proven in the Falklands campaign in 1982.
36:03A later version uses a four-barrel launcher, weighing only 2.5 tons.
36:09And a bigger advance, triggered by much earlier Soviet developments, is the vertical launch Seawolf,
36:15with groups of eight missiles sealed into vertical canisters.
36:22The U.S. Navy has also adopted the vertical launch version, but as part of the large and complex Aegis system.
36:28This is installed in the Ticonderoga class of large missile cruisers.
36:34It's the chief air defense system for the period up to at least 2010,
36:39and is designed for automatic destruction of aircraft, cruise missiles, and missile launcher platforms.
36:45It was initially tested against such easy targets as the QF-4B Phantom, the BQM-34 Firebee, and the QF-86 Sabre.
36:54The Aegis system has naturally been designed to function in an environment of severe electronic countermeasures.
37:01The system is based around the general dynamic standard SM-2 missile.
37:06This is fired by a large tandem rocket booster, and then uses an internal rocket sustainer to reach targets out to about 34 miles.
37:14Now the scene moves below the waves.
37:23This is the world of the fleet ballistic missile submarine.
37:28First deployed in 1960 by the U.S. Navy with the Polaris missile,
37:32it has since progressed through the Poseidon to today's Trident C-4, and much bigger Trident D-5.
37:41Man battle station missile for WSRT, spin up all missiles.
37:46Both versions of Trident are more compact than their predecessors, in that they make full use of the space in the submarine launch tube.
37:56Trident C-4 has a range of some 4,600 miles, and the D-5 a range of 7,500.
38:05All these missiles carry multiple independently targeted warheads.
38:09At first glance, this might look like a submarine-launched ballistic missile.
38:27But in fact, it unfolds wings, a tail, and an air inlet for a turbofan engine.
38:46It's the submarine-launched version of Tomahawk, designated BGM-109.
38:51Launched inside a stainless steel capsule from a normal torpedo tube,
38:57Tomahawk converts itself into a miniature pilotless bomber.
39:01It can fly several hundred miles, using a modified version of the Harpoon guidance radar,
39:07to sweep out the sea ahead, detect targets, pick out the most important, and home on it with deadly accuracy.
39:21There are many versions of Tomahawk.
39:25BGM-109 can also be fired from surface warships, usually from an armored box launcher.
39:32The tactical land attack version can be fired from surface ships or submarines.
39:37This version has terrain comparison guidance, which measures the gradient profiles of the land over which it is flying.
39:53The resulting accuracy is about 230 feet after flying 800 miles, the full range being 1,550 miles.
40:02Each missile flies at about 550 miles per hour, but is so small that it is difficult to detect and extremely difficult to shoot down.
40:12The tactical land attack version can carry various warheads.
40:17This is distributing multiple bomblets.
40:19An alternative is a single so-called unitary warhead, which can be conventional or nuclear.
40:35Here, a concrete building is demolished after a 400-mile flight from a submarine launch.
40:41Unlike the Soviet Union, the West has very few long-range missiles.
41:01Britain does not have any that are land-based, and even the US had purchased none between 1963 and the mid-1980s, when Peacekeeper began to go into service.
41:15Originally called MX, this missile is now designated MGM-118.
41:21Assembly takes place at the Martin Marietta Company.
41:26Each missile is just over 70 feet long and weighs 195,000 pounds.
41:32It can deliver 10 independently targeted warheads up to 5,000 miles away.
41:39After much argument, Congress permitted the deployment of 50 peacekeepers,
41:44and these have been installed in rebuilt silos, which previously housed Minuteman missiles.
41:51It's also possible that some will be based on railway trains,
41:55an obvious idea originally suggested for Minuteman in 1959, but never put into effect.
42:00Though it fires relatively simple, unguided rockets, the MLRS, standing for Multiple Launch Rocket System,
42:17promises to make a big difference to the tactical firepower of some Western armies.
42:22The system is American, but some will be produced by a group of companies in Europe.
42:26The rockets are launched from this self-propelled launcher loader, based on the Bradley Armored Vehicle.
42:34It incorporates its own precision navigation system, so there is no need to survey the site where it parks.
42:42Instead, rockets can be fired at once, their starting point being known with great accuracy.
42:48The fire control computer is used to align the launcher box to the desired direction,
42:54and elevate it to achieve the desired range, which can exceed 19 miles.
43:00Aiming and firing are under the control of the human gunner.
43:04But normally, all calculations are made by the computer, which accepts almost any language.
43:11Rockets can be fired singly or rippled in rapid succession, up to the maximum of 12 carried by the launcher.
43:18Reloading the two six-round containers is very rapid.
43:23The basic rocket payload comprises 644 of the M77 submunitions, as opposed to 88 submunitions in the new 155-millimeter artillery shell.
43:35These deadly bomblets scatter over an area of some 60 acres.
43:43Other warheads are now coming into production.
43:46One strews mines in the path of advancing armor, forcing them onto ground of your choice.
43:51Another carries terminally guided weapons, each of which can home individually onto a tank.
44:00The MLRS is designed to complement artillery and to engage enemy formations on an area basis.
44:08Its accuracy compares with the 155-millimeter gun, but it has significantly more range,
44:14and one launcher can sustain ten times the firepower.
44:33Modern weapons have awesome power.
44:35Any future war would mean Armageddon for us all.
44:39Part 1
44:56Part 2
44:59Part 2
45:04Part 2
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