The United States Navy said the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) was fired from the flight deck of the San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship USS Anchorage (LPD 23) during Dawn Blitz on October 22.
HIMARS is a weapons system consists of five-ton chassis vehicle M142 which carries either a launcher pod of six rockets or one MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS).
US Navy photo
HIMARS enables the US Marines to engage targets within minutes after firing and features an advanced targeting system that strikes with an extremely high accuracy rate, the US Navy said. It can also cover greater range than traditional artillery.
The demonstration aboard USS Anchorage consisted of HIMARS engaging a land-based target with a Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System Unitary (GMLRS-U).
“The first training objective was demonstrating this capability, and second, we wanted to have good effects on the target. We achieved both objectives. We destroyed the target at 70 kilometers while at sea,” said Major Adam Ropelewski, I Marine Expeditionary Force (MEF), lead planner for sea-based expeditionary fires.
“We shot a rocket off Anchorage to validate that we, as HIMARS operators, can shoot off an LPD and successfully hit the target,” said Lance Cpl. Ryan Irving, a HIMARS operator assigned to 5th Battalion, 11th Marines.