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SINGAPORE: Singapore's first rocket artillery system has made its debut in an ongoing exercise in Fort Sill, Oklahoma in the US.
The High Mobility Artillery Rocket System or HIMARS carries a single pod of six Multiple Launch Rocket Systems.
It is designed to shoot and scoot in less than 20 seconds, thereby enhancing crew and equipment survivability.
It is lethal - a salvo of six rockets would rain over 3,800 bomblets widely over enemy positions and punch through armour up to 10 centimetres thick.
But to the crew of three operating it, the HIMARS is a life saver.
One example of the improved protection system is how crew members can inflate or deflate the tyres, depending on the road situation, without leaving their vehicle.
The SAF will take delivery of its first 18 HIMARS in the middle of next year.
LTC Lek Seng Khoon, Commanding Officer for 23SA, the unit operating the HIMARS, said: "The HIMARS with the improved crew protection system allows the operator to operate inside the cabin without the risk of being hit by small arms or IED (improvised explosive devise).
"We know in recent conflicts, there've been many issues with regards to IED and with the improved crew protection system, it'll mitigate this risk."
Second Sergeant Darren Lee, HIMARS Commander, said: "Currently, our artillery systems engage in area targets, but for the HIMARS, we're able to engage in pinpoint target 50 to 70 kilometres away and we're also able to do so with minimal collateral damage."
The HIMARS is able to strike within five metres of its target. Though new, the HIMARS has already been battle-tested in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Captain Mark Fitzgerald, the SAF's HIMARS trainer from the US Army, on his impressions on his Singapore counterparts, said: "They run a very organised fire direction centre and the way they update the maps and track the fire direction data is very organised and something I'm going to ensure that any battery I command will have the same organisation."
HIMARS is participating in the ongoing Exercise Forging Sabre in Fort Sill, which has been touted as the SAF's most complex integrated strike exercise ever.
It involves integrated live-firing by multiple air and land sensor, and shooter assets.
More than 370 soldiers and airmen from the SAF are taking part in the 24-day exercise which ends next Tuesday. - 938LIVE/vm
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