Bring on the Sea Gryphon!

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(aka Land-based Maritime Strike Tomahawk)

BGM-109 Gryphon GLCM (fas.org)

With the US withdrawal from the INF Treaty, the US Army and/or Marine Corps should immediately reconstitute the USAF BGM-109 Gryphon GLCM system using the modern Maritime Strike Tomahawk.   They should stand up independently deployable Gryphon companies and battalions that can be deployed to Europe and the Pacific to greatly bolster anti-ship and land attack capabilities in the region.

The Marines and Army have made noises about developing land-based maritime strike capabilities, but the weapons considered to date are just too short-ranged (e.g. 115 mile range NSM, 190 mile range ATACMS) to have a major impact, given the limited number and location of potential bases.

Maritime Strike Tomahawk's 1,000 mile range can cover large portions of the theater from a handful of friendly operating areas.

Forward-deployed Gryphon battalions in Thailand and Japan can hit targets throughout most of the China Seas and significant portions of the Chinese mainland from dispersed, survivable locations.   Stockpiles of additional missiles could be stored in hidden, hardened locations nearby.



A Gryphon company could be notionally similar to the USAF Gryphon "Flight", with four TELs each carrying four missiles, 22 vehicles total carrying 16 additional missiles with 69 personnel total, including a 44 soldier infantry platoon. (Source: Wikipedia)

A Gryphon battalion would consist of three Gryphon companies, an Air Defense platoon (Stinger or NASAM), an HQ, and supply section carrying another full set of reloads.  Perhaps a total of 3-400 personnel.

Raytheon NASMS


A battalion has 48 ready missiles and 96 reloads.

Obviously Gryphon's two hour flight time causes targeting problems when attacking moving ships, so mid-course guidance updates would have to come from sea or airborne surveillance assets such as MQ-4C Tritons, P-8s, or tactical aircraft such as the F-35.

Gryphon (aka Tomahawk) is not stealthy like LRASM, and isn't hypersonic, but it does have a low-altitude flight profile, which can't be detected by surface ships until it crosses their radar horizon.

Numbers can make up for individual missile survivability.  A battalion-sized salvo of 48 missiles would stress even AEGIS-level air defenses.  At minimum, such a salvo would force air defense ships to expend multiple interceptors per Gryphon.  Even if individual missiles don't have top-tier survivablity, multiple salvos can beat down any air defenses.  You just have to fire more missiles than the enemy has interceptors.

Obviously, Maritime Strike Tomahawks (aka Sea Gryphons) retain all of their land-attack capabilities.  Commanders can decide whether they want to use them against mainland or sea targets.

If the Army wants to regain relevance in the Pacific theater, this is the way to do it.





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