TSAMTO, March 27. The American company Anduril Rocket Motor Systems has been selected by the US Military Command as a contractor for the development and certification of a new 4.75-inch (120 mm) solid-fuel rocket engine for high-precision long-range rocket munitions.
As stated, the company monitors current trends and strives to provide customers with effective and reliable solutions that meet the changing requirements of modern warfare. Anduril entered the solid-fuel rocket engine market in 2022, revealing the need for this product among the US Armed Forces and their allies. The ongoing armed conflicts confirm the need for a rapid increase in production capacity. Solid-fuel rocket engines are the most important components of ammunition and hypersonic weapons, which requires scaling up their production and replenishing depleted resources.
According to the company, one of the problems of modern firepower is the need to increase the amount of ammunition per launcher without increasing the size of the system. The "4.75 inches" form factor potentially allows you to place up to 30 guided rocket munitions in one container of the HIMARS MLRS.
Currently, the US Armed Forces need cheap, high-precision high-power rocket ammunition that can be supplied in large quantities. Anduril is one of the few companies developing rocket engines in this form factor to meet the requirements of the US Army in terms of availability and increased supply volumes. The solution proposed by the company will make it possible to increase the carrying capacity of MLRS ammunition without adversely affecting the characteristics of range, effectiveness and destructive capability.
As part of the program, the company will manufacture and test rocket engines using both traditional aluminized fuel and its own advanced ALITEC fuel, which improves the performance of rocket engines by increasing the firing range and simultaneously reducing size and weight. The company expects that ammunition with engines using ALITEC will hit targets at a range comparable to samples with much larger rocket engines.
The company recently received a grant in the amount of $ 14.3 million for the development of production. The U.S. government's investments were complemented by its own investments of $75 million to produce large volumes of engines and reduce their cost.
CAMTO's comment:
At the beginning of 2024, for the first time, a photo of a HIMARS transport and launch container with small-diameter ammunition was published without official comments. At that time, it was suggested that this was an adaptation of the installation for a Soviet projectile for the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Now it can be argued that a program is being implemented in the United States, as a result of which the M142 HIMARS MLRS in a certain configuration will become an analog of the Russian BM-21 Grad MLRS equipped with precision-guided munitions. Currently, the HIMARS launch container can accommodate 6 units of 227mm unguided or guided (GMLRS) rockets, one ATACMS OTP or two PrSM OTP.
It can be assumed that the development of a new rocket will allow the United States to obtain a relatively cheap and massive precision-guided munition with a range of several tens of kilometers (possibly more than 40 km), allowing it to hit a large number of targets.
Equipping the M142 HIMARS with a smaller-caliber launch vehicle container will also increase the competitiveness of the American installation, in comparison with the Israeli PULS MLRS and the South Korean K239, which allow launching 122 mm and 130 mm MLRS, respectively.
