On October 22, the U.S. Marine Corps successfully test fired a truck-mounted M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) from the flight deck of the San Antonio-class USS Anchorage. The launch took place along the Southern California coast during exercise ‘Dawn Blitz 2017,’ with HIMARS engaging a land-based target at a 70 km range with a unitary 227 mm M31 Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) rocket. “We had two training objectives for today’s shoot,” U.S. Army Major Adam Ropelewski explained. “The first training objective was demonstrating this capability and, second, we wanted to have good effects on the target. We achieved both objectives.”

HIMARS is a U.S. Army and Marine Corps weapon that can launch GMLRS rockets to a 15-70 km range. The launcher can hold six 227mm M31 rounds, or one 610mm Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) ballistic missile, the latter with a range of 300 km. The M31 round used in the recent test carries a 90 kg high explosive (HE) warhead.