Currently, military powers are stepping up the improvement and upgrading of tactical missiles, aiming to increase the their range, speed and accuracy. This type of missile has also been continuously deployed in recent wars and conflicts around the world and has shown its effectiveness in combat, raising concerns in the international community.

Tactical missile development trends

Currently, military powers such as the US, Russia, China, India, etc. have equipped their ground forces with different types of tactical ballistic missiles to attack valuable targets. The range of this type of missile is increasing and in fact, when it is no longer limited by the "Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty - INF", it will always be considered a priority for development.

According to a Pentagon report, in 2019, the US Army possessed only one type of tactical missile, the ATACMS, with variants MGM-140, MGM-164 and MGM-168, with a range of 300km, mounted on the M270 MLRS and M142 HIMARS platforms. However, after withdrawing from the INF Treaty, Washington attempted to enhance the combat capabilities of the Army's tactical missile force with the "Advanced Precision Strike Missile - PrSM" programme, with a range of 750km. The PrSM missiles are mounted on the old launchers with modular design, allowing for quick installation. It can neutralise targets between distances of 60 and 500km for the standard version and its range can be increased as it is no longer limited by the INF Treaty. The high-precision attack capability helps the PrSM missile launch effective strikes against targets located deep behind enemy lines, such as warehouses, command posts and other valuable targets. This is a factor that helps the PrSM missile increase its appeal in the international arms market against tactical missile competitors from Russia and China. When compared to the Russian Iskander missile complex, the PrSM's technical specifications are similar in features even though it is still in development. In the future, the PrSM will basically replace the old-generation ATACMS tactical ballistic missile, becoming the popular missile of the US Army with the ability to combat from long-range artillery to short-range ballistic missiles.

For Russia, this country not only continues to develop traditional multiple launch missile systems, but also pursues tactical ballistic missile programmes. The Iskander-M missile is the focus of development in Russia's tactical ballistic missiles. An Iskander-M missile complex carries 02 tactical missiles on each launcher, with a range of 500 kilometres and 700kg-warhead, including high-explosive shells, cluster shells, thermobaric shells and armour-piercing shells. At the same time, Russia also uses the Iskander missile complex to launch cruise missiles with a range of up to 2,500km. This is a remarkable advantage that Russian tactical missiles have over the US. When installing nuclear warheads on Iskander missiles, Russia can use them in tactical nuclear warfare situations.

Improving the accuracy and lethality is an urgent task in the development programme of tactical ballistic missiles among military powers. At present, the accuracy of the tactical missile system of the US Army is 10 metres, that of the Russian Army is 30 metres; the rest of other countries are still low, for example, the accuracy of the Scud-B missile equipped by several countries is only 300 metres, which is basically not considered a precision-guided weapon. As the accuracy of the missile is even greater than the lethal radius of the conventional warhead, it is very difficult to complete the combat mission. The main measures to improve the accuracy of hitting the target are to improve the inertial guidance system, minimise errors, use mid-course correction techniques by radar, GPS, and terminal control techniques related to infrared and millimeter wave seekers.

The US Army is determined to increase the accuracy of tactical ballistic missiles, with the ability to attack targets deep in the enemy's territory. The US Congress has approved funding for the "Advanced Technology for Long-Range Precision Fires" project to accelerate the development of multi-mode radio frequency and infrared seekers, giving this type of missile the ability to destroy enemy air defence systems. Currently, this project is being accelerated to put into operation in 2025 instead of the original plan of 2027.

While focusing on improving the accuracy of tactical ballistic missiles, many countries also choose advanced technologies to shorten the deployment time of missile systems in combat. To meet the requirements of attacking various types of targets and also enhance lethality, countries have developed multiple types of warheads for tactical missiles, including mother-daughter projectiles, fragmentation projectiles used to kill people/destroy equipment, thermobaric projectiles, armour-piercing projectiles, mine-laying projectiles, bunker-piercing projectiles, electromagnetic pulse projectiles used to attack communication systems, and nuclear, biological, and chemical projectiles.

The emergence of new hypersonic technology continues to motivate the development of tactical ballistic missiles and opens up a new form of development. Russia has successfully developed the Kh-47 Kinzhal hypersonic missile and put into service since 2017. This is essentially an improved version of the Iskander tactical ballistic missile, developed for air launch. Military experts consider this missile as one of Russia's 06 invincible weapons. To counter competition from Russia in the field of hypersonic missiles and seize technological advantages, the United States is also paying great attention to developing new types of hypersonic tactical missiles. The US Army announced that it plans to soon put into service a prototype of a hypersonic missile.

The use of tactical missiles in recent wars

Using tactical missiles to attack targets deep inside the enemy's line has been continuously used in recent wars and military conflicts. Accordingly, the Air Force often uses bombers and multi-role fighters to launch tactical cruise missiles to attack command bases, logistics support and other infrastructure. However, gaining air superiority is increasingly difficult because air defence systems are also adjusted to counter it. Therefore, using tactical ballistic missiles with a maximum range of 500km is an indispensable "firepower punch" for army units.

In combat, tactical ballistic missiles have a special advantage. The deployment time of the army tactical missile system is only 2/5 to 1/4 in comparison to that of the air force. At the same time, it adapts to the fierce battlefield, withstands the impact of sand, dust, smoke, extreme weather with a lower expenditure. Compared to howitzers and mortars, the range of tactical ballistic missiles is longer, and can attack campaign targets deep in the enemy's battlefield.

The US Army Tactical Missile System has played an important role in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In these wars, the US Army fired a total of 516 ATACMS missiles, with a reliability rate of 99%. The ATACMS tactical missile was first used by the US Army in Operation Desert Storm in 1991 with 32 missiles. By 2003, in Operation Enduring Freedom for Iraq, the US Army had launched 450 ATACMS missiles. In October 2023, the US provided the ATACMS missile with a limited range version for Ukraine to attack airbases and air defence missile complexes in Crimea. In April 2024, Ukraine received ATACMS missiles with a maximum range of 300km, allowing it to attack targets deep inside Russian territory.

Most recently, on April 13, 2024, Iran launched an unprecedented large-scale air raid on Israeli territory, beyond all predictions with more than 300 missiles and UAVs used. Of which, Iran used 110 tactical ballistic missiles and 36 tactical cruise missiles. Notably, Iran used for the first time the Dezful tactical ballistic missile introduced in 2019 with a target deviation of only about 05 metres and a range of more than 1,000 kilometres. The Paveh cruise missile, introduced in early 2023, was also used in this raid, with a range of 1,650km, capable of connecting information to optimise lethality. In particular, Iran's powerful weapon is the Fattah hypersonic missile, reaching a speed of Mach 15, penetrating Tel Aviv's modern and multi-layered missile shield.

For Russia, the use of tactical ballistic missiles to attack key positions at distances beyond the range of artillery is currently highly valued. In fact, in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the Russian air force was supported by tactical ballistic missile units in attacking and neutralising enemy air defence systems. Accordingly, the Iskander-M tactical ballistic missile was used the most by Russia, conducting operational and tactical attacks, destroying air defence missile complexes, command centres, troop and equipment gathering points, creating an advantage in shaping the battlefield.

In addition, the role of air-launched tactical cruise missiles also comes into play. Since July 2022, Russian air-to-ground missile attacks have mainly come from Tu-95, Tu-160 strategic bombers and Su-24, Su-25 tactical aircraft operating around the Caspian Sea or the Rostov region. Variants of air-to-ground missiles, such as: Kh-59, Kh-58, Kh-31 or Kh-29 are also frequently used. The Kh-47 Kinzhal air-launched hypersonic missile is an improved version of the 9K720 Iskander tactical ballistic missile, launched from the MiG-31K fighter, with a maximum speed of 12 times the speed of sound, providing a huge tactical advantage as a ballistic missile but launched from the air, with the ability to deploy quickly, high flexibility and cannot be intercepted. It can be said that tactical missiles are showing their superiority in recent wars in terms of range, accuracy and lethality. When carrying nuclear warheads, they will play a role in deterring the use of tactical nuclear weapons. That not only encourages military powers to continue investing in research and development of this type of missile to create advantages in shaping the battlefield in combat, but also creates a trend for other countries to acquire this type of missiles, in order to enhance the ability to deter, prevent and control threatening behaviour and dangers from the opponent. This makes international opinion concerned about a new arms race, which has a significant impact on security at both regional and global scales.

Senior Colonel DANG DONG TIEN, General Department of Technology