Marine Corps Successfully Tests MRIC Prototype
by U.S. Marine Corps Ashley Calingo Program Executive Officer Land Systems July
20,
2022
The Marine Corps’ Medium-Range Intercept
Capability (MRIC) prototype successfully hit several
simultaneously-launched cruise missile representative targets during
the live-fire test at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico on
June 30, 2022.
The MRIC prototype provides Marine Corps
point defense in an expeditionary package. The system is just one of
several initiatives critical to Force Design 2030, addressing an
emergent capability gap for the Marine Corps. Program Executive
Officer Land System’s Ground-Based Air Defense program oversees the
system.
Program Executive Officer Land Systems Ground-Based Air Defense Program Manager, Don Kelley, shows the expeditionary launcher of the Medium-Range Intercept Capability prototype to Marine Corps senior leaders following a successful test demonstration of the system at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico
on June 30, 2022. The MRIC prototype is the Marine Corps’ proposed new counter-cruise missile capability. During the test, the MRIC prototype successfully hit several simultaneously-launched cruise missile targets. (Photo USMC by Mark Hoots,
Program Executive Officer Land Systems / U.S. Army John Hamilton)
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“This demonstration proves that we do now
have a relevant capability,” said Don Kelley, program manager for
GBAD at PEO Land Systems, immediately following the successful test.
MRIC, which counts the Corps’ Ground/Air Task-Oriented Radar and
Common Aviation Command and Control System among its primary
subsystems, also incorporates technology from Israel’s proven Iron
Dome system. The live-fire test was designed to validate the primary
subsystems’ integrations and the system’s overall capability to
provide critical information to senior Marine Corps leadership as
they decide the path forward for the MRIC prototype.
During
the test, the G/ATOR successfully tracked each target, from
immediately after launch and passed the tracks through the CAC2S to
the Israeli Iron Dome components. This allowed the MRIC system to
simultaneously neutralize multiple missiles encircling the system
from various angles. At its peak, numerous in-air targets, each with
its own unique flight trajectory and velocity, surrounded the MRIC
prototype. Upon firing, MRIC successfully hit each target using the
Tamir missile.
The June event built upon the previous
live-fire test in December, during which the program office launched
multiple targets in sequence, with MRIC intercepting each target
before the next one launched. This time around, multiple targets
were launched simultaneously. Prior to the event, Kelley said that
engineers at Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren ran independent
simulations of what would happen during the live-fire test. The
results, Kelley said, correlated closely to the modeled simulations.
Maj James Slocum, MRIC Medium Range Intercept Capability team
lead at PEO Land Systems, has been working on the program since its
inception in 2018. A few months prior, the Marine Corps established
a [Urgent Statement of Need] to start prototyping a counter-cruise
missile capability to fill the integrated air missile defense gap it
identified.
“The Marine Corps and the Defense Department, as
a whole, have been living with the comfort of air superiority and
air supremacy,” said Slocum. “As long-range cruise missiles and
anti-air weapons systems begin to get better and better, air
supremacy is not something we can take for granted. We must be able
to counter these types of capabilities.”
Slocum said the
intent behind the program was to take proven components and
integrate a system compatible with Marine Corps architecture, using
the Middle Tier of Acquisition authorities, in order to rapidly
develop and demonstrate a relevant capability.
“Our goal was
to get this prototype into a deployable state that meets our current
needs, but have it so other systems can be ‘plugged in’ to it to
make it more lethal while maintaining expeditionary capability,
mobility, and the ability to rapidly set up and be operational at
any site, anytime,” said Slocum.
The program office has one
more live-fire test lined up for the system later this year at an
even increased threat capability, said Kelley. Following the final
live-fire event, Marine Corps leadership will decide the program’s
future, including which Marines will ultimately use the system and
the requisite training needed to operate the brand-new capability.
“This has been a team sport between government, Industry, and
our allies,” said Brig. Gen. Mark Clingan, assistant deputy
commandant to Combat Development and Integration and deputy
commanding general of Marine Corps Combat Development Command, after
the event. “The fact that we’re having a discussion about the
training pipeline instead of the system itself is a testament to the
capability of the system.”
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