M270 MLRS Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS)

The M270 MLRS was introduced in the latter half of the Cold War, adding lethal projected firepower on a modified chassis of the M2 Bradley IFV.

 Updated: 7/10/2017; Authored By Staff Writer; Content ©www.MilitaryFactory.com

The M270 MLRS (Multiple Launch Rocket System) is an American-developed battlefield support weapon produced by Lockheed Martin Vought. It is based on the lengthened chassis of the M2 Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV) to form the M993 Multiple Launch Rocket System carrier unit to which the installed launcher component is the M270. The completed system yields an impressive level of firepower for area suppression and sees the launcher house twelve tactical battlefield rockets or missiles with varying warhead types available. Initially taken on by the U.S. Army in 1982, the M270 did not see its formal baptism of fire until the 1991 Gulf War where it proved successful in its role. Today (2014), the M270 still represents the U.S. Army's primary ground-based rocket-launching platform

The M270 vehicle sports an armored cab at the front of the hull with the positional launch pod container fitted over the rear section. The launch pod consists of 2 x 6 holders. A typical operating crew is three and these personnel sit protected in the cab during action. As with the M2 Bradley vehicle, the M270 is compact enough to be air transportable in the cargo hold of a Lockheed C-5 Galaxy or Boeing C-17 Globemaster heavy-lift transport. The M270 can launch its payload through either "ripple fire" or "full fire". Ripple fire will fire the tactical payload off one rocket at a time for a staggered result at the target area. Full fire sends the entire ordnance load skyward in seconds, the rockets set to arrive on target at the same time. As with the storied multiple rocket projectors of World War 2 (1939-1945), this makes the M270 a terrifyingly effective psychological weapon as well as a tactical one.