Lance versus Blue Water

[uk 75]

I should know the answer to this. When does Lance first emerge as a likely replacement for Honest John and Sergeant and even Corporal, given its range. I only ask because Lance does seem to make Blue Water pretty pointless as it has better range and more mobile with its M548 based launcher. Given that the Germans are the only non US Sergeant and Pershing user ( did we or anyone else look at using them) presumably Lance wasnt a Blue Water alternate. I know it didnt arrive till the 70s but put that down to Vietnam cost cutting in the US.

 

[Mark Nankivil]

Timeline here: http://www.designation-systems.net/dusrm/m-52.html

HTH! Mark

 

[alertken]

It was the warhead.
vice Honest John US urged us and all other users to take Sergeant to “the tune of umpteen Mn.$...not a European rocket. It’s a racket of US industry.”Blue Water: “better weapon (but pressure for Sergeant) was irresistible (on) favourable terms more common (on) washing machines (8/62 forcing) us to cancel at considerable loss” (£32.1Mn.)PM Mac,Memoirs/VI, P335. This was disingenuous: no UK SSM could be sold in NATO as US would not fit their AW to limey kit. Nor did it make any sense to try to put something-solo on a US SSM.

We chose not to deploy AW Army ordnance out-of-NATO-area, so the expense of a solo-AW warhead was unnecessary. From 1965-ish we were keeping abreast of (to be) Lance and decided to pass on the Sergeant generation: Lance delays then made us, I think, the last HJ User in W.Europe.