Army asks Lockheed Martin for Long-range missiles with multi-mode targeting seeker in $4.9 billion deal
REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. – Tactical missile designers at Lockheed Martin Corp. will build long-range Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) systems to enable the U.S. Army to destroy enemy targets as far away as 300 miles.
Officials of the Army Contracting Command at Redstone Arsenal, Ala., announced a $4.9 billion five-year order in late March to the Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control segment in Grand Prairie, Texas, for the Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) increment one.
Surface-to-surface missile
The PrSM, which entered service in 2023, is a surface-to-surface, all weather, precision-strike guided missile fired from the M270A1 Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) and the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS).
The long-range precision-attack PrSM is replacing non-insensitive and cluster munition versions of the Army MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS).
PrSM provides Army and Marine Corps field artillery units with long range and deep strike capability. The PrSM will destroy, neutralize, or suppress targets at ranges from 43 to 250 miles using indirect precision fires.
The baseline long-range missiles can engage a wide variety of targets at ranges as far as 310 miles. It will emphasize imprecisely located area and point targets. Primary emphasis for follow-on upgrades will be on increased range, lethality, and ability to attack time-sensitive, moving, hardened, and fleeting targets.
Targeting enemy ships
Army officials expect eventually to use PrSM to attack and destroy moving enemy ships operating offshore at ranges out to about 310 miles. While the weapon primarily has surface-to-surface applications for use against enemy air defenses, troop fortifications, and armored vehicle columns, the PrSM is being configured with an advanced targeting multi-mode seeker to include maritime strike.
The new targeting seeker has completed a captive carry test wherein it flew aboard an aircraft against representative targets in preparation for further testing and ultimate deployment.
On this order Lockheed Martin will do the work at locations to be determined with each order, and should be finished by March 2030. For more information contact Lockheed Martin Missiles and fire control online at www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/products/precision-strike-missile.html, or the Army Contracting Command-Redstone at https://acc.army.mil/contractingcenters/acc-rsa/.
John Keller | Editor-in-Chief
John Keller is the Editor-in-Chief, Military & Aerospace Electronics Magazine--provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronics and optoelectronic technologies in military, space and commercial aviation applications. John has been a member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since 1989 and chief editor since 1995.
