| Country: |
United States of America |
| Associated Country: |
NATO allies |
| Alternate Name: |
MGM-52 |
| Class: |
BSRBM |
| Basing: |
Road mobile |
| Length: |
6.41 m |
| Diameter: |
0.56 m |
| Launch Weight: |
1527 kg |
| Payload: |
Single warhead |
| Warhead: |
HE (unitary and submunitions), W70 100 kT nuclear, enhanced radiation nuclear W70-3 |
| Propulsion: |
Single-stage liquid |
| Range: |
130 km |
| Status: |
Operational |
| In Service: |
1972 |
Details
The MGM-52 Lance is a battlefield short-range, road mobile, liquid propellant ballistic missile. It is a tactical system developed to replace the Sergeant tactical missile. It was designed to be a small, inexpensive missile that could be deployed in large numbers and fired repeatedly. It is carried in a tracked M752 Transporter-Erector-Launcher (TEL) vehicle and is often accompanied by reload vehicles, which carry two additional Lance missiles. The primary contractor was Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control.
The Lance missile system is a tactical asset designed for use against the Soviet Union. It was developed to follow US doctrine of maintaining low-yield nuclear weapons in case of nuclear escalation in Europe. Its short-range prevents it from engaging strategic targets, but its nuclear warhead is of a sufficient size to be able to threaten population centers and hardened targets. A neutron bomb warhead was developed for use against military units, particularly armored troops. High explosive (HE) warheads were developed to allow for non-nuclear deployment, though only the submunition warheads would be feasible against specific military units. The unitary HE warhead could only effectively be used against large targets such as manufacturing complexes, airports, etc. Far more nuclear warheads were developed for the Lance than conventional, and the Lance would probably have been used to attack concentrated troops, command facilities and military bases with its fairly powerful nuclear warhead. The mobility of the Lance TEL vehicle enables it to follow movements in the front and avoid attack.
The Lance missile has a range of 130 km (81 miles), with an accuracy of 150 m CEP. This accuracy is obtained by a simplified inertial guidance system which was designed to be inexpensive, which is why the accuracy is far higher than its range would suggest. It can be equipped with a single W70 100 kT yield warhead, as well as an enhanced radiation (neutron bomb) W70-3 version. Conventional HE warheads were also developed, with both unitary and submunition types. The missile is 6.41 m long, 0.56 m in diameter, and has a launch weight of 1,527 kg. It is a single-stage liquid propellant design.
The MGM-52 Lance missile entered testing beginning in 1965. It entered service in the US Army in 1972 and was produced until 1980. In 1990, there were 90 Lance launchers in Europe as well as 300 HE warheads and 700 nuclear warheads, though by 1993 all the nuclear warheads had been withdrawn to the US. It is believed that all 850 nuclear warheads were destroyed. The Lance was deployed in NATO European countries and South Korea, and is known to have been exported to Belgium, Germany, Iran, Israel, Italy, Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Between 1991 and 1994, the Lance was withdrawn from service in all NATO countries. Iran may still have some of the originally imported missiles, but these missiles would only be equipped with the HE warhead. Decommissioned Lance missiles are sometimes used as targets for missile defense tests.(1)
Footnotes
- Jane’s Strategic Weapons Systems, Issue 50, ed. Duncan Lennox, (Surrey: Jane’s Information Group, January 2009), 198-99.
