© 1997-2007 Bill Mesham

Carrying the Lance

Lance is an American Surface to Surface Missile system (SSM) that was deployed by several NATO countries in Europe from the 70s to the early 90s. It was operated by the USA, UK, Germany, Holland, Italy and Belgium and was capable of firing a nuclear or conventional warhead, although the non-US countries only possessed the nuclear option. This article will review the vehicles, the organisation and the missile employment and is based on the authors own experiences as a regimental officer between 1983 and 1986 with the British Army. A number of these vehicles have now found their way into private hands and hopefully this will add some useful background detail to help make the vehicles come to life again.

Lance began life in late 1962 as a development by Ling-Temco-Vought Inc. (later the Vought Corporation) to replace the Honest John system which was then in use with many NATO countries. It was first fired in March 1965 as the XMGM-52A and was immediately found to be extremely accurate for what is an “aimed” rather than “guided” weapon. An extended range version was launched in 1969 and it was approved by the US Army for use with a nuclear warhead in May 1972. British interest began in 1966 when a military team was sent out to Fort Sill, in the USA, to evaluate the system and this continued to be staffed until 1975 when Honest John was retired from the British Army and Lance accepted.

Lance equipment then began to arrive in the UK and training and conversion took place up until the end of 1976, including the first firing of Lance from the RA Range in the Hebrides by 36 Msl Battery. Due to the increased potential of the new system, Britain’s two Honest John Regiments, 50 Msl Regt RA and 24 Msl Regt RA, were amalgamated in 1977, 50 Msl Regt remaining. During its service the Regiment consisted of either 3 or 4 Missile Batteries, a Headquarters Battery, a REME Workshops, and the 69th US Army Field Artillery Detachment.

 

Organisation

Within each Battery the Battery Commander (BC) was responsible for overall control. The BC would locate areas for the Battery to deploy in and liaise with the Regimental Command Post. The Battery Command Post was based on a 432 APC converted to take the Field Artillery Computing Equipment (FACE) and was responsible for the issue and receipt of orders from the Regimental CP. The CP was also responsible for passing orders to the A&T Troop regarding the mating and preparation of missiles for future use. Most communication was done in code and fire orders were done using one-time message pads using a secure code.

The Firing Troop was responsible for the survey and reconnaissance of launcher sites, resupply and admin. Each firing section consisted of a M752 Lance launcher and two 432s as a command post and section vehicle. The launcher was adapted from the M113 series and proved to be a popular and reliable vehicle that was easy to drive and maintain. The two-man crew (driver and commander) had a small compartment in the front left of the vehicle and once in action the cab could be folded flat to protect the inside from blast when firing. The rest of the vehicle was basically open and the back consisted of a one-piece door that folded down to form a ramp allowing easy access. Simple maintenance could be done on the engine through a panel on the front of the vehicle but any major work involved the removal of the launcher truss or crane to access the engine fully.

Each launcher was commanded by a Lieutenant with a Sgt as 2i/c and a crew of 8-10 to man the radio, deploy the launcher and provide local defence. Launchers could be deployed with or without a missile and would move independently to their surveyed location and hide up, deploying at the last possible minute to fire the missile at the required time. Once fired the launcher would “scoot” to its next location, resupply point or hide area. For special operations the launcher truss was removable and could be fitted to the alternative firing platform, the towed LWL (Light Weight Launcher M740), sometimes known as the “Zero length launcher”. This complete unit and crew could be carried by medium lift helicopters and although an unlikely scenario, gave the commander another deployment option.

To prepare and programme the missile the warhead had several accessible panels. The Americans, who effectively owned the warhead, required access to unlock it and select one of the three variable yields, and the host nation also needed access to the controls that set the times for the burning of the boost and sustainer motors which controlled the flight of the missile. Should all this sound rather old fashioned and unscientific, I know that test firings showed it to be able to hit an area the size of a football pitch from a range of over 100km , the resulting bang being enough to compensate for any other inaccuracies!

The “assembly and transport” of the missiles was done by the A&T troop. This troop was responsible for transporting and assembling the missiles and warheads and doing any maintenance that had to be done on them. The assembling of the missiles was done on two M688 Loader/Transporter (LTs) vehicles. These were identical to the Lance launchers except that they had a crane fitted instead of a firing truss. These items were interchangable although in practice vehicles tended to remain in one role unless changed at REME Workshop level. Each L/T was capable of carrying two fully assembled missiles. To transport the missiles the Troop had a fleet of trucks to carry the first line supply of missiles which was three per launcher. Warheads and missiles travelled in their protective metal containers. 4 Ton Bedfords carried two warheads each, while 8 Ton Bedfords carried two missiles and the fin boxes which were separate. This was very truck intensive as we also had a spare 4 and 8 Ton truck in case of breakdowns on the move, making a grand total of 9 x 4 Tonners and 9 x 8 Tonners in the Troop!

Once in the field A&T were responsible for the setting up of an FSS (Field Storage Site). This consisted of a Landrover based command post co-located with the command post of the American detachment, another Landrover. Each Battery would have an officer and a section of Americans who would be responsible for the receipt of an authenticated nuclear release messages from the USA. These when matched with a UK release message would enable the Americans to unlock the warhead or warheads, depending on how many were authorised, and also to authorise the firing of the missile.

It was generally assumed that these missiles would only be fired at the end of a war and therefore may have to be kept hidden for some time making them ahigh priority target for air attack, fifth columnists and Spetnaz type forces. Defending the Regiment once deployed used to be the responsibility of an infantry company. However this was not a popular job and infantry companies have plenty of other things to do. The Gunner answer was to form their own infantry called the Special Defence Group. These were of platoon strength and structure per Battery and had special weaponry including the GPMG SF (Sustained Fire version). They travelled in short wheel base Landrovers and protected convoys as well as providing a fixed defence and patrols once the missiles were deployed.