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WASHINGTON — The US Army is one step closer to fielding its new Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) to soldiers after a “successful” short-range test of the weapon this week at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, according to the service and the prime contractor.
Lockheed Martin has been designing and testing the PrSM Increment 1 for several years, and on Monday the Army said it launched the weapon from the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) for its first production qualification test flight.
“Preliminary results from the test show the Precision Strike Missile Increment 1 missile performed nominally in terms of predicted flight trajectory, lethality, near-vertical engagement angle, and height of burst,” the service wrote. “A final flight test report is anticipated in December 2023.”
Lockheed said in a separate statement today that it cannot disclose the distance the missile flew to hit the target, but that it was the “shortest range flown” to date at less than 85 kilometers thus “demonstrating the system’s continued accuracy from launch to impact.”
“While not PrSM’s primary mission range, the short-range flight represents the most stressful, dynamic environment for the missile as it maneuvers at hypersonic speeds to align to the target,” the company wrote. “This test verifies structural integrity of the missile and trajectory control.”
If the final test report is also glowing, the service can begin accepting early operational capability missiles before the start of 2024.
The initial version of the PrSM is expected to replace the MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS), hit targets at least 500 km away and designed to be launched from both the HIMARS and the M270A2 Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS).
Lockheed has said it has received three production contracts to produce additional early operational capability missiles, with the last one awarded in September.
When the Pentagon released its fiscal 2024 budget request in March, the Army acquisition objective for PrSM Inc 1 was for 3,986 missiles. However, since then the White House has decided to begin shipping ATACMS to Ukraine; Army acquisition chief Doug Bush told reporters the goal will likely be to replace the ATACMS stockpile with PrSM, and so the Army could in theory look to increase its PrSM buy to backfill ATACMS.
However, the Army is also eyeing enhanced versions of the weapon, including an Increment 2 with a multimode seeker, known as the Land-Based Anti-Ship Missile (LBASM) seeker, and a PrSM Inc 3 which would seek to add in enhanced lethality payloads.
Earlier this year the service also tapped Lockheed Martin team and a Raytheon Technologies-Northrop Grumman team to work on competing PrSM Inc 4 designs that can fly more than 1,000 km, possibly double the range of the current version.
breakingdefense.com
Lockheed Martin has been designing and testing the PrSM Increment 1 for several years, and on Monday the Army said it launched the weapon from the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) for its first production qualification test flight.
“Preliminary results from the test show the Precision Strike Missile Increment 1 missile performed nominally in terms of predicted flight trajectory, lethality, near-vertical engagement angle, and height of burst,” the service wrote. “A final flight test report is anticipated in December 2023.”
Lockheed said in a separate statement today that it cannot disclose the distance the missile flew to hit the target, but that it was the “shortest range flown” to date at less than 85 kilometers thus “demonstrating the system’s continued accuracy from launch to impact.”
“While not PrSM’s primary mission range, the short-range flight represents the most stressful, dynamic environment for the missile as it maneuvers at hypersonic speeds to align to the target,” the company wrote. “This test verifies structural integrity of the missile and trajectory control.”
If the final test report is also glowing, the service can begin accepting early operational capability missiles before the start of 2024.
The initial version of the PrSM is expected to replace the MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS), hit targets at least 500 km away and designed to be launched from both the HIMARS and the M270A2 Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS).
Lockheed has said it has received three production contracts to produce additional early operational capability missiles, with the last one awarded in September.
When the Pentagon released its fiscal 2024 budget request in March, the Army acquisition objective for PrSM Inc 1 was for 3,986 missiles. However, since then the White House has decided to begin shipping ATACMS to Ukraine; Army acquisition chief Doug Bush told reporters the goal will likely be to replace the ATACMS stockpile with PrSM, and so the Army could in theory look to increase its PrSM buy to backfill ATACMS.
However, the Army is also eyeing enhanced versions of the weapon, including an Increment 2 with a multimode seeker, known as the Land-Based Anti-Ship Missile (LBASM) seeker, and a PrSM Inc 3 which would seek to add in enhanced lethality payloads.
Earlier this year the service also tapped Lockheed Martin team and a Raytheon Technologies-Northrop Grumman team to work on competing PrSM Inc 4 designs that can fly more than 1,000 km, possibly double the range of the current version.
Army inching closer to PrSM fielding with ‘successful’ qualification test flight - Breaking Defense
If a final test report is positive, the service can begin accepting early operational capability PrSM missiles before the start of 2024.
