Last week, the US Marines announced that they had successfully tested a prototype of the Mid-Range Interception Capability (MRIC).
According to a press release from Land Systems Program Officers, the MRIC prototype is the Marines’ proposed new anti-cruise anti-ship missile capability. During the test, the MRIC prototype hit several simultaneously launched cruise missile targets.
The system is just one of several key initiatives to Force Design 2030, which aims to address an existing capacity gap for the Marines. Land System Air Defense Program operators monitor the system.
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Don Kelley, GBAD program manager at PEO Land Systems, said: “This demonstration demonstrates that we now have the right capabilities.
MRIC, which calculates the Corps’ Joint Aviation Command and Control System and Aviation Command and Control System among its major subsystems, also incorporates technology from the proven Iron Dome system. ally of Israel. The live-fire test is designed to validate the integration of the main subsystem and the system’s overall ability to deliver critical information to Marine Corps senior leadership as they make decisions. next avenues for MRIC prototypes.
During testing, G/ATOR successfully tracked each target, from shortly after launch, and routed the tracks through the CAC2S to parts of Israel’s Iron Dome. This allows the MRIC system to simultaneously neutralize multiple missiles that are encircling the system from different angles. At its peak, multiple targets in the air, each with a unique trajectory and airspeed, surrounded the MRIC prototype. When firing, MRIC successfully hit each target with Tamir missiles.
The June event builds on a previous live-fire test in December, in which the program office launched multiple targets in sequence, with the MRIC intercepting each before the next was detected. launch. Around this time, multiple targets were launched at the same time. Prior to the event, Kelley said that engineers at the Dahlgren Naval Surface Warfare Center ran independent simulations of what would happen during a live-fire test. The results correlate closely with the simulations that have been modeled, says Kelley.
Maj James Slocum, MRIC Medium Range Interception Capability team leader at PEO Land Systems, has been working with the program since its inception in 2018. A few months ago, the Marines formed a [Urgent Statement of Need] to begin testing its anti-cruise capabilities to fill the gap in integrated air-missile defense it identified.
“The Marines and the Department of Defense as a whole have lived with the comfort of air superiority and air superiority,” says Slocum. “As long-range cruise missiles and anti-aircraft weapons systems begin to improve, air superiority is not something we can take for granted. We have to be able to resist these kinds of possibilities.”
Slocum said the aim behind the program was to take proven components and integrate a system compatible with the Marine Corps architecture, using Medium Level authorities, to rapidly develop and demonstrate appropriate competence.
“Our goal is to get this prototype into a deployable state that meets our current needs, but have it so other systems can ‘plug’ into it to make it more deadly. while maintaining expeditionary capability, portability and the ability to quickly set up Slocum says.
Kelley said the program office has one more live-fire test of the system by the end of the year with an even increased threat potential. After the final live-fire event, Marine Corps leadership will decide the future of the program, including what systems the Marines will ultimately use and the training needed to operate. completely new possibilities.
“This is a team sport between government, industry and our allies,” said Brig. General Mark Clingan, assistant Deputy Commander of Combat Development and Integration and Deputy Commander of Marine Combat Development Command, following the event. “The fact that we are discussing the training process rather than the system itself is a testament to the system’s capabilities.”
