MGM-18 Lacrosse
| Type: | Surface-launched missile artillery |
| Warhead | Conventional or nuclear |
| Guidance: | Command guidance |
| Propulsion: | Solid propellant motor |
| Range: | 12 miles (19km) |
| Speed: | Mach 0.8 (236m/s) |
| Length: | 19.2 feet (5.85m) |
| Diameter: | 20 inches (51cm) |
| Wingspan: | 9 feet (2.75m) |
| Weight: | 2,360 pounds (1,070kg) |
| First firing: | August 1954 |
Lacrosse was an Army general support, all-weather guided missile of extreme mobility and reliability. It had four wings of cruciform configuration swept back at 45 degree angles from the mid-section of the body. The wings, which had a span of nine feet, are interdigitated with the horizontal and vertical tail surfaces.
The launcher was mounted on a standard two-and-a-half ton truck; guidance was controlled from a forward guidance station operated by a target observer. The missile was broken down into three sections, plus wing and tail surfaces, for storage and handling. Due to its relative mobility and ease of handling, Lacrosse was deemed to be particularly suitable for airborne operations.
Designed to operate in all weather conditions against targets such as caves and fortified bunkers, the concept for the Lacrosse developed out of the experiences of the Pacific campaign during World War II. It was found that achieving effective hits on small and often fortified targets such as caves or bunkers was exceedingly difficult with indirect fire artillery.
The Martin Company began production in mid-1957. The first Lacrosse missile battalion received their new system on 22 July 1959. A Lacrosse battalion of 250 officers and men was outfitted with four launchers.
Its power plant was a Thiokol solid propellant motor. Lacrosse development was by Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory, production was by the Martin Company.
The Lacrosse also played a part in the Atomic Energy Commission’s 1958 Operation Hardtack I on Johnston Island at the Pacific Proving Ground. For this operation, a two-stage Lacrosse missile was fired into the debris cloud of one of the nuclear explosion in order to measure radiation and other variables.
Despite the claims of Lacrosse’s mobility, utility, and ease of handling, units equipped with the Lacrosse encountered difficulties and deficiencies that might not have been foreseeable in the immediate years after World War II. These included everything from user-experienced difficulties in reliable operation and maintenance to multiple stops and starts in funding the program at the higher levels of the Army.
