Rocket revolution: multiple rocket launchers were originally designed to saturate area targets. The introduction of new lightweight launchers and precision-guided munitions is making them a weapon of choice for asymmetric warfare.

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Guided munitions

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Rocket revolution: multiple rocket launchers were originally designed to saturate area targets. The introduction of new lightweight launchers and precision-guided munitions is making them a weapon of choice for asymmetric warfare.

The Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) is capable of ripple firing a full load of twelve rockets in less than a minute. Each M26 rocket is tipped with a 156-kg warhead carrying 644 M77 Dual-Purpose Improved Conventional Munition shaped-charge blast fragmentation bomblets. A single salvo of twelve rockets can completely blanket one square kilometre with these submunitions at ranges up to 31,600 metres. During the 1990-91 Gulf War more than 230 US Army and 12 British Army launchers showered bomblets upon shell-shocked Iraqi troops who nicknamed the weapon 'steel rain'. The effect was devastating to materiel and morale. One Iraqi division lost 97 of its 100 guns to a bombardment by 1800 rockets and two battalions of 203 mm M110 howitzers.

The MLRS, and other multiple rocket launchers (MRL), were designed to rapidly unleash large volumes of fire against critical...

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