The U.S. Marine Corps has made a new decision: to abandon the Long Range Fires (LRF) program, and all four LRF launch systems that have been equipped (Figure 1) have been retired. The "Tomahawk" missiles will also be transferred to other military branches. The reason for abandoning the LRF is that although it uses "Tomahawk" missiles with a long range, it does not meet the requirements of mobility deployment, and its firepower is too weak — each vehicle only has one "Tomahawk" missile launcher.
After abandoning the LRF, the U.S. Marine Corps will focus on purchasing the NEMSIS Block 2 coastal-to-ship missile system. NEMSIS (Figure 2) is a light high-mobility vehicle as the chassis, equipped with two NSM anti-ship missile launchers, with a maximum range of 185 kilometers. Although it is much shorter than the "Tomahawk" missile, it has much better mobility and deployment flexibility. The NEMSIS Block 2 is an extended-range model, with a range nearly twice that of the current NEMSIS.
Looking at the development projects of U.S. military weapons in recent years, they are basically like monkeys picking corn, wasting time and money. An important reason for this situation is that the development speed of China's weapons and equipment has been very fast in recent years, making the U.S. military nervous and losing confidence. The rhythm of weapon development has been disrupted, and they don't know how to proceed, falling into a state of indecision. In addition, since the end of the Cold War, the U.S. defense-industrial complex has become increasingly obsessed with profit. Defense companies and the military collude to make money, which requires increasing the number of weapon development projects. As for whether they are practical, whether they can be successfully developed, and the production capacity, the U.S. defense companies and the military actually do not care much.
Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1836536846362636/
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