US Marines at Balikatan military exercise in Philippines fire with HIMARS rocket launcher systems 11104163

Armies in the world - US Marines
 
US Marines at Balikatan military exercise in Philippines fire with HIMARS rocket launcher systems.
The US Marines from 2nd Platoon, Fox Battery, 14th Marine Regiment, fired six Reduced-Range Practice Rockets (RRPR) utilizing two M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), in Philippines April 4, 2016, as part of Balikatan 2016, US Marine Corps Forces in Pacific.
     
The US Marines from 2nd Platoon, Fox Battery, 14th Marine Regiment, fired six Reduced-Range Practice Rockets (RRPR) utilizing two M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), in Philippines April 4, 2016, as part of Balikatan 2016, US Marine Corps Forces in Pacific. U.S. Marines HIMARS (M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems) at military exercise Balikatan in Philippines.
     
Balikatan is an annual bilateral exercise between the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the US military, focuses on the Philippine-US partnership, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief capabilities, Philippine capability development and military modernization. Balikatan opened April 4 and will run until the 15th.

Approximately 6,500 U.S., 5,000 AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) and 70 Australian Defence Force personnel will take part in the 31st iteration of the exercise, which consists of a series of humanitarian civic assistance projects, a scenario-based staff planning exercise focused on territorial defense, and field training exercises to enhance military-to-military relationships.

The deployment of the HIMARS, which will be used for the first time in the 31 years of the RP-US Exercise Balikatan, would form part of the repositioning of troops and assets of the US in the country under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (Edca).

The M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) is a U.S. multiple launch rocket ystem mounted on a standard Medium Tactical Vehicle (MTV) truck chassis which was developed by Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control under an advanced concept technology demonstration (ACTD) programme, placed in 1996.

The M142 HIMARS carries a single six-pack of rockets on the army's family of medium tactical vehicles (FMTV) 6x6. The HIMARS (launcher) consists of a carrier (automotive portion) and a Fire Control system (FCS) that computes all fire mission data and a Launcher-Loader Module (LLM) portion that performs all operations necessary to complete a fire mission.

In addition to the standard MLRS M26 rocket which has a range of 32 km, HIMARS is capable of launching the entire MLRS family of munitions, including the extended-range rocket, the reduced-range practice rocket and all future variants. HIMARS carries a single six-pack of MLRS rockets, or one army tactical missile system (ATACMS) missile.

The extended-range MLRS rocket (ER-MLRS) improves the basic M26 range of 32km to more than 45km