On September 19, 2022, the US Army updated and specified its requirements for the CCMS-H program, the name of which stands for “heavy close combat missile system.”
In fact, it is about the fact that the American military wants to get a latest-generation anti-tank missile, which in terms of its parameters would surpass all currently available samples, in particular – the Javelin and “Stugna” complexes.
For the first time, the US Army announced the parameters for this program in April 2021, and then the requirements for the promising ATGM looked like this. The firing range should range from 100 meters to 10 kilometers. The missile must be adapted to destroy not only the enemy’s armored vehicles, but also its concrete fortifications. The possibility of shooting from BBM “on the move” was prescribed separately.
Launching – both from a mobile launcher and from a PU on an armored vehicle.
Guidance – by an optical-electronic channel, by a laser beam, by the “shoot-forget” principle, and guidance by drone data.
In a year and a half, the US Army changed its requirements for the CCMS-H program, relying in particular on the experience of the successful repulse of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in battles against the Russians. And now these requirements look like this. The US military envisions the CCMS-H complex as a means of strengthening tactical brigade groups. But it will act in combination with other ATGMs, in particular with the Javelin.
And as launchers for a promising guided missile, 4 thousand PUs for TOW complexes will be used. In fact, it is assumed that the system under the CCMS-H program should replace the BGM-71 TOW in such a way as not to create problems for army logistics.
Requirements for shooting accuracy – 0.91 under normal conditions, 0.8 – under conditions of installation of radio-electronic interference. The CCMS-H complex must be ready to fire even in the case of chemical or radiation contamination of the area, and in the absence of contact with GPS navigation, and be resistant to enemy EW devices. The set service life of the missile is 10 years.
Requirements for guidance systems – must provide “shoot-forget” firing modes, or guidance according to the operator’s commands. At the same time, it is assumed that the missile should be able to change the target during the flight. And that shooting can be “swarmed” at once from several launchers using one control panel.
The firing range requirements now look like this: “direct fire” – from 65 meters to 4000 meters, along a parabolic trajectory – up to 8 km and more. The missile must be able to destroy all “standard wooden and concrete fortifications” according to NATO standards, hitting reinforced concrete must create a hole large enough for a fully equipped soldier to pass through.
It is obvious that such detailed requirements directly follow from the experience of the battles of the Armed Forces of Ukraine against the Russian army. And this once again confirms the trend that Ukraine’s successes on the battlefield directly determine the future of the world arms market.