It's one of America's most potent weapons in Afghanistan, and it is also one of its most tightly regulated. Approval to use the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System is rarely given, because of its potential to harm innocents and to interfere with other military assets. But on Sunday, U.S. commanders did authorize the firing of HIMARS during the Marines' assault on the Taliban stronghold of Marjah. Something went horribly wrong. And now, at least 10 civilians are dead, including five children.
Since General Stanley McChrystal took over as top commander of allied forces in Afghanistan, the use of of force has been strictly controlled. Calling in an airstrike now requires layer after layer of approval and all kinds of evidence that civilians won't be impacted. In some parts of Afghanistan, HIMARS strikes are even more closely scrutinized.
"It as an asset available when target location is very accurate and they have the time to wait on the approval process," one Marine fire support officer and Afghanistan veteran tells Danger Room. "Air strikes were easier to authorize than HIMARS for us because of the time it took for approval and also because with an aircraft you have extra eyes in the sky looking at the target from a different vantage point to [double-check] that you have exactly the right target and ensure no civilians will be affected."
Sitting on the back of a five-ton truck, HIMARS is capable of firing a single, 13-foot ATACMS surface-to-surface missile 100 miles or more away. Or it can pound up to half-dozen, rockets in a matter of seconds at at a single target more than 40 miles in the distance; that's more than double the range of a traditional howitzer. "The advantage of HIMARS is that is can put a lot of firepower downrange very, very quickly," says an Army fire support officer. Using a radar, HIMARS can even be set to automatically and instantly fire back at enemy artillery or mortars.
In Afghanistan, however, HIMARS is used more deliberately. "The approval process goes all the way up to the top because it is pinpoint accurate and its trajectory is high enough that it alters the flight paths of aircraft for a huge area," the Marine officer notes.
The system can shoot off a number of different munitions. In addition to the ATACMS, it can fire smaller rockets, filled with cluster munitions (although U.S. forces haven't used such weapons since 2003 and NATO has forbade their use in Afghanistan in 2007). The rockets most likely used in Afghanistan have a single 200-pound warhead, to minimize collateral damage. Some of the rockets are GPS-guided; but not all. A key question in the investigation of the Marjah incident will be what munitions were used – the "smart" ones, or the less-accurate rockets.
HIMARS is relatively new for the Marines, who started using it in combat in 2007. Only two battalions in the Marine Corps are trained to use the system. Coordinates can be quickly punched in on a battlefield computer; unlike artillery or mortars, the system is relatively unaffected by weather, atmospheric pressure, or elevation differences. "It's literally push-button," the Army officer says. But a scrambled pair of numbers can mean rockets flying in the wrong direction. And lost lives.
Before the operation to take Marjah began, U.S. military commanders in Afghanistan stressed over and over again that they wanted to keep civilian casualties to an absolute minimum. Locals were told to stay in their homes, because "every effort is being made to ensure minimum disruption to the residents during the operation." And when the attack began, only six or seven of the 140 airstrike requests were approved, an Afghan government spokesperson tells the Washington Post.
On the second day of the assault, however, American Marines and Afghan soldiers began "taking intense small-arms fire from a mud-walled compound in the area," the New York Times reports. The Marines responded with HIMARS. But the barrage "instead hit a building a few hundred yards way, striking with a roar and sending a huge cloud of dust and smoke into the air. As the wind pushed the plume away, a group of children rushed outside."
The cause of the mishap is unclear. But, according to a NATO statement, "the use of the HIMARS has been suspended until a thorough review of this incident has been conducted."
