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AllAfrica
6 days ago
- Business
- AllAfrica
US containerized missiles: steathy firepower, high strategic cost
The US military's turn to containerized missile launchers reflects a push for stealthy, mobile firepower that complicates targeting and enables rapid deployment but comes with operational, legal, and political concerns – especially regarding their use on allied soil and civilian cargo vessels. This month, The War Zone identified a prototype launcher known as the palletized field artillery launcher (PFAL) at Fort Bragg, after it appeared unannounced in footage from US President Donald Trump's June visit. Currently owned by US Special Operations Command (SOCOM), PFAL can fire most munitions in the multiple launch rocket system (MLRS) family – such as 227 millimeter guided rockets and Army tactical missile system (ATACMS) – from two pods housed in a standard container, though it cannot launch the precision strike missile (PrSM). Concealable on trucks, railcars, or ships, PFAL supports the Army's strategy to complicate adversary targeting. Originating from the US Department of Defense's Strike X program, it also informed designs for future uncrewed systems like the autonomous multi-domain launcher (AML). Although no longer funded after FY2021, PFAL remains strategically relevant for distributed, expeditionary operations, especially in the Indo-Pacific. Containerized launchers like PFAL offer operational benefits– concealability, rapid mobility and modular integration across partner platforms. Yet their covert nature also introduces tactical weaknesses, legal risks and political complications. While these systems enhance deterrence through ambiguity and dispersion, they risk civilian targeting, escalation and backlash from host nations wary of entanglement. At the tactical level, containerized launchers complicate detection and response. In remarks delivered at a June 2025 event hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), US Army Pacific Commander General Ronald Clark stated that such systems 'literally operationalize deterrence,' likening them to 'a needle in a stack of needles' due to their ambiguous electromagnetic signatures and visual resemblance to civilian containers. He emphasized that their dispersed posture enables US forces to hold Chinese targets at risk across the Indo-Pacific, while avoiding traditional launcher vulnerabilities. In a June 2025 Proceedings article, Rear Admiral Bill Daly and Captain Lawrence Heyworth IV emphasized advantages of modular, containerized payloads: low cost, ease of production and quick scalability. They noted that mounting them on unmanned or optionally manned vessels increases survivability and complicates targeting. A standardized interface allows for rapid reconfiguration, while adaptability enables distributed maritime operations with flexible firepower suited to near-peer conflicts. However, Ajay Kumar Das noted in a July 2023 piece for the United Service Institution of India (USI) that these systems are tactically vulnerable due to their deliberate lack of radar and active defenses. Das explained that containerized launchers are designed to blend with civilian traffic, leaving them unable to detect or repel threats. He said that while concealment aids deception, it undermines survivability. He warned that such launchers, often aboard civilian-manned vessels, become 'soft targets' in high-threat environments, exposing both cargo and crew to disproportionate risk in legally ambiguous zones. Gabriele Steinhauser highlighted in a March 2025 Wall Street Journal article the operational advantages of containerized platforms such as the US Army's Typhon system. She reported that the Typhon – mounted on trucks and deployable via transport aircraft – is 'relatively easy to move,' unlike shipborne systems that are more visible and vulnerable in the early stages of a conflict. Steinhauser stressed that such mobility enables pre-positioning across the Indo-Pacific and opens avenues for allied use, injecting unpredictability into adversary calculations. R. Robinson Harris and Colonel T.X. Hammes argued in a January 2025 article for the Center for International Maritime Security (CIMSEC) that containerized launchers support rapid, cost-effective fleet expansion. They estimated that converting surplus merchant ships into missile platforms with modular payloads can be done in under two years for $130 to $140 million each, dramatically faster and cheaper than building destroyers or frigates, which take seven to nine years and billions to construct. They advocated shifting force metrics from ship numbers to missile capacity, arguing that distributed firepower across many modest platforms complicates enemy targeting and boosts resilience. At the strategic level, US missiles on allied territory in peacetime can be politically fraught due to sovereignty sensitivities and domestic opposition. According to Jeffrey Hornung and other authors in a September 2024 RAND report, the Philippine government is especially cautious, given legal and political constraints alongside historical baggage, requiring that any US deployment serve Philippine interests and be framed as a joint effort. Hornung and others also point out that, in Japan, hosting offensive US systems raises concerns about escalating regional tensions and inviting preemptive strikes. They note that Japan has avoided hosting US ground-based missiles and prefers deployments on US territory or with regional partners, reflecting fears that such basing could entangle Japan in US-China conflict dynamics. Further, Raul Pedrozo writes in a 2021 report for the Stockton Center for International Law that using merchant ships to launch precision strikes without formally converting them into warships may violate Hague Convention VII, which requires overt identification, military command and crew discipline. According to Pedrozo, failure to meet these criteria could strip such vessels of protected status and make their use a violation of the law of armed conflict. Moreover, he adds that disguising launchers as civilian cargo risks being deemed perfidious – guilty of a treacherous act under the law of armed conflict – thereby endangering civilian mariners and undermining legal protections for commercial shipping. Containerized missile systems may be stealthy and scalable, but the ambiguity that makes them operationally effective also renders them legally and politically contentious. Their fusion of warehouse and warship invites hard questions about survivability, legality, and escalation, especially when deployed on allied soil in a region primed for great power confrontation.
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First Post
20-06-2025
- Politics
- First Post
What are cluster munitions that Iran used against Israel? What makes them so dangerous?
On Thursday, Iran launched a ballistic missile at Israel carrying a warhead that dispersed roughly 20 cluster submunitions over an eight-kilometre radius in central Israel. The warhead split mid-air at an altitude of seven kilometres. While one bomblet struck a home in Azor, many failed to explode. Israel and Iran are not signatories to the 2008 ban on such weapons read more A Ukrainian military serviceman holds a defused cluster bomb from an MSLR missile that did not explode on impact, in the region of Kharkiv, Ukraine, October 21, 2022. File Image/Reuters On Thursday, Iran fired a missile at Israel that dispersed multiple small explosive devices intended to inflict greater harm on civilians, according to the Israeli military and its embassy in Washington. This marks the first known use of cluster munitions in the ongoing week-long conflict. 'Today, the Iranian Armed Forces fired a missile that contained cluster submunitions at a densely populated civilian area in Israel,' the embassy said in an email to Reuters. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 'Cluster weapons are designed to disperse over a large area and maximize the chances of a harmful strike,' the email continued. 'Iran unlawfully fired deliberately at civilian population centers, and seeks to maximise the damage to civilians in them by using wide-dispersal munitions.' What are cluster munitions? Cluster munitions are explosive weapons designed to disperse smaller submunitions — often referred to as 'bomblets' — over a wide area. These submunitions, which weigh less than 20 kilogrammes each, are released mid-air from a central dispenser or container, and descend unguided toward the ground. Each submunition is intended to explode on impact, causing widespread damage to personnel, vehicles and soft targets spread across several hundred meters. They are deployed through various delivery systems, including artillery shells, missiles, rockets and air-dropped bombs. A typical artillery shell may carry dozens of submunitions, while a Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) rocket can carry hundreds. For instance, the M26A1/A2 variant of the MLRS rocket contains 518 bomblets, while the M864 variant of a 155mm artillery shell carries 76. The United States had produced all three types — air-delivered, artillery and rocket-launched — but stopped producing them in 2008 and has gradually converted its stockpiles to comply with international conventions. Nonetheless, these weapons were once the US standard during the Cold War and remained in stockpiles for decades. The most advanced US submunition, the M77, has dual-purpose capabilities — penetration for vehicle targets and fragmentation for personnel. Unlike a 'unitary' warhead, which detonates in a single powerful blast, cluster munitions are designed for wide-area impact, increasing the chance of hitting multiple targets but also dramatically increasing the risk to civilians and non-combatants. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD How did Iran deploy cluster munitions in Israel? On Thursday, Iran launched a ballistic missile at Israel equipped with a warhead containing cluster submunitions, in what the Israeli Defense Forces described as the first such usage since the beginning of the recent hostilities. The warhead reportedly split at an altitude of around 7 kilometres (4.3 miles) above ground and dispersed approximately 20 submunitions across an estimated 8-kilometre (5-mile) radius. The small bomblets do not possess any propulsion or guidance system of their own. They simply fall to the ground and are designed to detonate upon impact. However, in this case, many reportedly did not explode. One submunition did hit a home in the town of Azor, causing structural damage. The Times of Israel reported that the damage was equivalent to that of a small rocket, as each of the bomblets carried an explosive charge of approximately 2.5 kilogrammes. While no injuries were reported from the attack, the presence of unexploded ordnance raised alarms. The IDF Home Front Command said sappers located and disposed of at least 20 unexploded bomblets but warned the public not to approach missile remnants, which could act as de facto landmines. Brigadier General Effie Defrin of the Israeli military noted, 'The terror regime seeks to harm civilians and even used weapons with wide dispersal in order to maximise the scope of the damage.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Why are cluster munitions considered dangerous? Cluster munitions are highly controversial due to their indiscriminate nature and the enduring danger posed by unexploded submunitions. The explosive bomblets, when deployed over a wide area, cannot distinguish between military targets and civilians. This makes their use in populated regions particularly devastating. Humanitarian concerns primarily focus on the dud rate — the proportion of submunitions that fail to explode as intended. These unexploded devices can remain hidden for years, causing injuries or fatalities long after active hostilities have ceased. Estimates of dud rates vary widely, from as low as 2 per cent to as high as 40 per cent, with US-made munitions generally performing better and Russian versions often exhibiting higher failure rates. 'They are egregious weapons with their wide-area destruction, especially if used in a civilian populated area and could add to the unexploded ordnance left over from conflicts," said Daryl Kimball, Executive Director of the Arms Control Association. He added that Iranian missiles tend to be imprecise, making it even more likely that such munitions will hit civilians rather than military targets. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions, signed by 112 countries and 12 observer entities, explicitly prohibits the use, development, production, acquisition, stockpiling or transfer of cluster munitions. The text of the convention states that these weapons 'kill or maim civilians, including women and children, obstruct economic and social development… impede post-conflict rehabilitation and reconstruction (and) delay or prevent the return of refugees and internally displaced persons… for many years after use.' However, Iran, Israel, Russia, Ukraine and the United States have not joined the treaty. While the US halted production in 2008 and converted many stockpiles, it has maintained the right to deploy such munitions in certain conflict scenarios. In 2023, after prolonged debate, the US transferred cluster artillery shells to Ukraine for use against Russian forces, as Kyiv accused Moscow of deploying similar weapons in the ongoing conflict. Could Iran have MIRV capability? In the aftermath of the missile strike, Israeli military technicians began recovering dozens of unexploded canisters and are now investigating whether Iran's missile technology may include true MIRV (Multiple Independently Targetable Reentry Vehicle) capability. While MIRVs differ from cluster munitions, they also deploy multiple warheads from a single missile. However, each warhead in a MIRV system is capable of being directed at separate, distinct targets and is guided, unlike the bomblets in a cluster bomb which are unguided. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD While no official confirmation has been made regarding MIRV usage, the inquiry highlights increasing concern over Iran's missile technology and whether its capabilities may be more advanced or diversified than previously assessed. Also Watch: With inputs from agencies
Daily Record
17-06-2025
- Daily Record
British Army's £2bn gunships ready to protect NATO allies from Russia
Apache helicopters take part in live-fire exercise in Europe for the first time The British military's £2billion Apache gunships and rocket systems have participated in a live-fire exercise in Europe for the first time, alongside allied NATO forces. The 3rd Regiment Royal Horse Artillery (3RHA) took part in Exercise Northern Strike 25, in Finland, as the military alliance braved cold-weather conditions as part of its Arctic strategy. The regiment fired guided rockets from its Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) while working in tandem with Apache AH-64E helicopters from 4 Regiment Army Air Corps. The MLRS system has the capability to fire up to 12 rockets in under a minute at targets over 50 miles away. Troops from the UK, Finland, Sweden and other nations collaborated in the live-fire drills, amid escalating tensions in the region due to Russia's increasing military presence on its border with Finland, reports the Express. The joint operation showcased the British Army's capacity to rapidly transport heavy precision-fire systems, with the systems being flown into Sweden before being deployed in its neighbouring ally. The aforementioned AH-64E Apache helicopters provided air cover for the MLRS during the exercise. The AH-64E attack helicopter is engineered to locate and annihilate enemy tanks, armoured vehicles and air defence units in all weather conditions. The British Army acquired 50 of these US-made crafts at an estimated cost of £1.8billion. A British Army update has confirmed that "this is the first time UK rocket systems and Apaches have operated together in Europe," while taking part in the multinational exercises. Their statement also noted: "Joint exercises like Northern Strike 25 demonstrate the UK's commitment to NATO, new NATO members and our international partners." Adding, "They ensure that the UK and its allies can integrate and operate in combat situations."
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Mysterious Shipping Container Rocket Launcher Spotted At Trump's Visit To Fort Bragg
A containerized launcher designed to fire the same suite of artillery rockets and ballistic missiles as the M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) and M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) has appeared at the U.S. Army's Fort Bragg in North Carolina. The ability to launch ballistic missiles, in particular, from what is outwardly indistinguishable from any other shipping container, presents a flexible strike capability that is harder for opponents to spot. Ukraine's recent Operation Spiderweb covert drone attacks highlighted to a dizzying degree the value of even lower-end concealed fires capabilities. The launcher inside the container is visible off to the side in a video, seen below, from President Donald Trump's visit to Fort Bragg today, which was posted online by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino. Trump was given demonstrations of various Army capabilities at the base's Holland Drop Zone, including the launch of artillery rockets. A separate launcher, the type of which is not immediately clear, was used to fire those rounds. President Trump arrives at the Holland Drop Zone—Fort Bragg… — Dan Scavino (@Scavino47) June 10, 2025 President Trump also observed paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division jump from a U.S. Air Force C-17 cargo plane and a mock special operations assault involving Green Berets and the elite 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment SOAR). A transporter erector launcher for the Soviet-designed Scud ballistic missile, or a full-scale mockup of one, is also notably present in the footage of the special operations demonstration. Bragg is the Army's main special operations hub, as well as home to the 82nd Airborne Division, among other units. The 82nd Airborne Division — Dan Scavino (@Scavino47) June 10, 2025 FORT BRAGG—@USArmy — Dan Scavino (@Scavino47) June 10, 2025 TWZ has not been able to quickly find additional information about the containerized launcher, but it is not entirely new. In August 2024, Military Times posted a video of it, seen below, across its social media accounts, but with no additional context. We have reached out to the Army for more details. What is clear is that the containerized launcher, the entire roof of which is designed to open to one side, can accommodate two of the same ammunition 'pods' used as the tracked M270 MRLS and wheeled M142 HIMARS launch vehicles. Pods are available that come loaded with six 227mm guided artillery rockets, a single Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missile, or two Precision Strike Missiles (PrSM). ATACMS and PrSM, the latter of which is beginning to enter Army service now to replace the former, are both short-range ballistic missiles. Current-generation 227mm artillery rockets in Army inventory can hit targets some 50 miles (around 80 kilometers) away, and a variant with a maximum range of just over 93 miles (150 kilometers) entered production last year. The longest range variant of the ATACMS short-range ballistic missile in Army service today can reach targets out to 186 miles (300 kilometers). The initial version of PrSM, also known as Increment 1, has a range of 310 miles (500 kilometers), but there are also plans to extend that out to 620 miles (1,000 kilometers) or more. It's worth noting that a PrSM with a range beyond 620 miles/1,000 kilometers would be categorized as at least a medium-range ballistic missile. The Army is also developing an anti-ship variant of PrSM with a new seeker and is eyeing further versions with 'enhanced lethality payloads' that could include miniature smart bombs and kamikaze drones. The Army is also currently exploring new pods loaded with smaller rockets that could expand the magazine depth of M270 and M142 launcher vehicles, but at the cost of a reduction in range. The service has been experimenting with new launcher vehicles that can fire this same family of munitions, including uncrewed types and a design offering significantly expanded ammunition capacity. Being able to launch this array of rockets and missiles already gives M270 and M142 immense flexibility. A containerized launcher would open up additional possibilities, including the ability to turn any truck that can carry a standard shipping container into a platform capable of firing long-range guided rockets and missiles. This, in turn, could help the Army more readily expand its available launch capacity as required. The containerized launchers could also be deployed in a fixed mode, offering forward operating bases the ability to hold targets at risk dozens, if not hundreds of miles away. This can include providing an on-call form of organic air/fire support for troops operating far from the forward base. The launcher inside the container cannot traverse laterally, but an array of them could be positioned in such a way to provide maximum coverage in all directions. Being a container-based design, whether deployed in a truck-mounted or fixed configuration, they would be readily relocatable from one location to another. The containerized launchers could also be loaded on rail cars and or employed from ships with sufficient open deck space. In any of these modes, the launcher would benefit from its unassuming outward appearance. This would present challenges for opponents when it comes to detection and targeting, since any container could potentially be loaded with rockets or ballistic missiles. As already mentioned, Ukraine just demonstrated the value of concealed launch capabilities in its unprecedented covert drone attacks on multiple Russian air bases. Other countries, including Russia, China, and Iran, have also been developing containerized launch systems for artillery rockets and/or missiles. In terms of naval use, specifically, it's also worth mentioning here that the U.S. Navy is already in the process of fielding a different containerized missile launcher, designed to fire Tomahawk land-attack cruise missiles and SM-6 multi-purpose missiles, in shipboard and tractor-trailer configurations. The Navy launcher is based on the Mk 41 Vertical Launch System (VLS) found on various American and foreign warships, and is directly related to the Army's ground-based Typhon system that can also currently fire Tomahawks and SM-6s. How close the containerized launcher seen at Fort Bragg may or may not be to becoming an operational capability is unclear, but its potential value is not hard to see. Contact the author: joe@
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Yahoo
Teenager injured in Russian attack on Sumy on 3 June dies
A teenager injured in a Russian strike on the city of Sumy on 3 June has died in hospital, bringing the death toll from that attack to six. Source: Oleh Hryhorov, Head of Sumy Oblast Military Administration, on Telegram Quote: "A 17-year-old boy who was injured in the enemy attack on Sumy on 3 June has died in hospital. Doctors fought for his life for almost a week." Details: Hryhorov added that the death toll from that Russian attack had increased to six people. Background: On 3 June, Russian forces struck central Sumy using a long-range multiple launch rocket system (MLRS). Initially, three people were reported killed and 25 injured, including three children and three adults in a serious condition. Later, the death toll rose to five. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!
