LANCE MISSILE

U.S.-made short-range ballistic missile, adopted by the U.S. Army in 1972 and subsequently by the armies of West Germany, Italy, Belgium, The Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Israel. The Lance is about 20 feet (6 m) long and is launched from a light trailer or a modified personnel carrier. It is propelled by a liquid-fueled rocket engine to ranges of 5 to 75 miles (8 to 120 km), depending on the warhead. The missile can deliver high-explosive cluster bomblets, an atomic warhead of 1 to 100 kilotons, or an enhanced-radiation (neutron) thermonuclear warhead of about 1 kiloton. Lance missiles are deployed in NATO armies at the corps level and are intended to attack enemy armoured units and bases beyond the battlefront. Production of the Lance ended in 1980. Missiles similar to the Lance were the French Pluton and the Soviet SS-21 Scarab.