From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

M4 (MGM-18) Lacrosse
MGM-18 Lacrosse on a XM-398 Launcher
Type	Short Range Ballistic Missile
Place of origin	United States
Service history
In service	1959-1964
Used by	United States Army
Wars	Cold War
Production history
Designer	Johns Hopkins University Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory
Designed	1947-1956
Manufacturer	The Glenn L. Martin Company
Produced	1956-1960
Variants	None
Specifications
Weight	2360 lbs.
Length	19 feet 2 inches
Diameter	20.5 inches
Warhead	Explosive or Nuclear
Blast yield	245 lb Explosive or 1.5-10 kT Nuclear
Engine	solid fueled rocket
Operational range	8-30 km
Speed	mach 0.8
Guidance system	Radio Command guidance

The MGM-18 Lacrosse was a short-ranged tactical ballistic weapon intended for close support of ground troops. Its first flight test was in 1954 and was deployed by the United States Army beginning in 1959, despite being still in the development stage. The program's many technical hurdles proved too difficult to overcome and the missile was withdrawn from field service by 1964.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Development 1.2 Service 1.3 Demise 1.4 Designations 2 Characteristics 2.1 The Missile 2.2 Support Equipment 2.3 Launching and Guidance 3 References 4 External links 5 Related Content

The Lacrosse project began with a United States Marine Corps requirement for a short-range guided missile to supplement conventional field artillery. The Navy's Bureau or Ordnance issued contracts to both the Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University and the Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory in September 1947, for the study of design aspects pertaining to this mission.

In 1950, the project was transferred from the Navy to the Army's Ordnance Corps, pursuant to a policy giving the Department of the Army responsibility over all land based short ranged weapons. Cornell and Johns Hopkins continued with the project, with the former having primary responsibility for guidance systems design.

In 1955, the Glenn L. Martin Company was awarded contracts to participate in research and development and production. Martin would take over much responsibility for the project, as Cornell moved to work on expanding the missile's capabilities beyond the original requirements (particularly in the area of aieborne control, funding for which was discontinued in 1959).

Early testing began in 1954 and production prototypes were available the next year. The difficulties encountered by the project are illustrated by the protracted design and testing periods, with the missile not entering into service until July of 1959. Problems included reliability concerns and difficulties with guidance, particularly susceptibility to ECM jamming of the command guidance signals.

In 1956, the Federal Telecommunications Laboratory began work on a different guidance system, known as MOD 1, which would have improved Lacrosse’s performance with regards to electronic countermeasures. MOD 1, however, was terminated in 1959, causing the United States Marine Corps to withdraw their participation in the project. The first units received Lacrosse in 1959, though the system would continue to be in need of development and refinement.

The first unit to be equipped with Lacrosse was 5th Battalion, 41st Artillery, based at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. In total, eight battalions would be equipped with Lacrosse, with most going to Europe, except one to Korea and one retained by the Strategic Army Corps.

The original Navy project was assigned the designator SSM-N-9. When transferred to the Army, the program became SSM-G-12, which changed to SSM-A-12 after minor changes in the army's designation scheme. When adopted into service, the weapon system was referred to as M-4 and only gained its MGM-18 desgnation months before being declared obsolete.

Designation sequence

• M- sequence: RGM-15 - CGM-16/HGM-16 - PGM-17 - MGM-18 - PGM-19 - ADM-20 - MGM-21

Related lists

• List of military aircraft of the United States
• List of missiles
• List of United States M- sequence missiles