US Army prepares to deliver Mid-Range Capability

In June 2023 the RCCTO oversaw the launch of a Tomahawk missile from the army's prototype Mid-Range Capability system. (US Army)

The US Army fired a cruise missile for the first time since 1944, completing the operational tests necessary to deliver the first Mid-Range Capability (MRC) weapon system by the end of fiscal year (FY) 2023, the service announced recently.

The US Army's 1st Multi-Domain Task Force (MDTF) worked with the US Navy to launch a Tomahawk Land Attack Missile from an MRC system on 27 June, according to an army release. The army is planning the prototypes' delivery before the end of FY 2023, said Lieutenant General Robert Rasch, director of the army's Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office (RCCTO).

“We're just really co-ordinating the delivery of those already built missiles out to the bunkers that have been certified because we realised upfront we had to have a good bunker certification,” he told the audience at the Space and Missile Defense Symposium on 8 August.

The weapon system is designed to fill the range gap between the Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW) with a range of about 1,700 miles and the Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) with a range of about 300 miles.

As the service has not fired cruise missiles in many years, the army worked closely with the navy, said Colonel Patrick Farrell, RCCTO's project manager for the MRC.