Field ArTillery - US Army Center Of Military History

234 The OrganizaTiOnal hisTOry Of field arTillery
In December 1979, new tables eliminated the service battery in each battalion.
Instead, the functions passed to a maintenance battalion for the entire brigade
(later command), which included a headquarters and headquarters company, three
forward support companies, a maintenance and supply company, and an aviation
support company. 61
Following standard operating procedure, the Pershing firing units were required
to serve at areas far from the rest of the battalion. The QRA mission necessitated the
full-time commitment of one firing battery (or its equivalent) from each battalion.
That battery maintained its “ready-to-fire” position at an improved but remote firing
site located a considerable distance from its garrison. The QRA mission rotated
among the four batteries about every six weeks, but the entire battalion stood ready
to support the QRA battery on short notice. 62
Lance Missile
While the Pershing battalions were being reorganized, the Lance missile became
opera tional. 63 The Lance was conceived in a staff study in 1956, but the con tract for its
development was not issued until November 1962. At the time, the Army envisioned
it as a replace ment for the Honest John in a divisio nal and corps general-support
mission. Later, it was also seen as a replacement for the Little John and Lacrosse. The
concept for the Lance was based on simpli city, ruggedness, reliability, accuracy, and
low cost. It was the first Army missile to use prepackaged storable liquid fuel. Liquid
fuel provided complete and uniform burning, advantages that increased accuracy and
resulted in a more efficient means of propulsion. Prepackaging eliminated the lengthy
onsite fueling process, the ground-support equipment, and the attendant personnel
of the Corporal and Redstone missiles. The simplicity of the equip ment used to
transport and launch the Lance gave the system far greater mobility than the Honest
John. Its basic vehicle was similar to the M113 armored personnel carrier, which had
adequate cross-country mobility and the ability to cross inland waterways without
assistance. The second vehicle, also based on the armored personnel carrier, was a
loader-transporter used to trans port the missiles and load them on the self-pro pelled
launcher. A lightweight launcher, towed by a standard Army 2½-ton truck, was
available as an alternate launching method. The components were also transportable
by helicopter and could be dropped successfully by parachute. 64
In 1966, the Army began parallel development of an extended-range Lance (also
known as XRL), which was intended to replace the Sergeant. Because of severe
60 TOE 6–615H, 15 Feb 1974.
61 TOE 9–115H, 28 Dec 1979, Maintenance Battalion (Pershing), replaced TOE 6–619H, 15 Feb
1974, Service Battery, Pershing Battalion.
62 Jolliff, “History of the Pershing,” 20 May 1974, ch. 14, AMCOM files and copy in CMH files;
Baker, “Pershing,” p. 12.
63 AMC Annual Rpt of Major Activities, FY 1974, p. 60, AMCOM files and copy in CMH files.
64 AMC Annual Historical Summary, FY 1963, pp. 87–92, AMCOM files and copy in CMH files;
Roger C. Laudati, “Lance,” Infantry, September-October 1965, pp. 24–27.